Multiple Redundancies: SDCC 2013 Pre-Registration Is Over

And that’s that. Preregistration for San Diego Comic-Con for those who attended as members this year opened at 8 a.m. Pacific Time yesterday… and closed at about 9:20 a.m. thereafter.

Unlike other years, which for us have entailed either obtaining our four-day passes for the currently-starting convention and immediately doing a 180 to get in line to obtain passes for the following year, or, as last year, setting an alarm for 4:30 a.m. to catch a cab to the Hyatt to the right of the San Diego Convention Center… and then walking to the end of the line near the Hilton to the left of the San Diego Convention Center to wait for five hours to purchase the next year’s passes, this was a relatively bloodless affair. Simply log into a particular URL with your favorite Web browser, upon which you pressed the Big Green Button, and were directed to a virtual waiting room, which told you what your place in line was. Every two minutes, the page would update, and tell you how far along you were. All in all, it was simple… except for the fact that it was anything but. Not if you wanted to make sure that you could go.

Lines Online: SDCC 2013 Passes For Previous Attendees On Sale Saturday

Update, 4:20 p.m. According to CCI, passes with Preview Night will, in fact, be available when they go on sale this Saturday:

Hi Rob,

Yes, 4 Day badges with Preview Night will be available. For badge pricing information, please use the following link: http://comic-con.org/cci/cci_reg.php

Thank you.

—————————————————————-

As I intimated last night (But was frankly too drunk to elaborate on at the time), the word has gone out that advance sales for passes to San Diego Comic-Con 2013 for people who purchased passes for this year’s SDCC will go on sale online Saturday, August 4th, at 8 a.m. Pacific Time.

Here’s the deal: if you had an actual purchased pass for SDCC 2012 – press, pros and exhibitors need not apply – you’re eligible for the advance sale (You can find out if you can be in on the action here, using your SDCC 2012 member ID).

Future Shock

I was originally intending to write a pithy joke or two about this week’s comic take, but as I literally sat down to write, I received the email from Comic-Con International announcing that the presale for SDCC 2013 passes for people who attended this year’s SDCC will be occurring this coming Saturday, and Amanda and I have spent the last ten minutes figuring out how to divide our efforts across multiple networks to maximize our odds (helpful hint: I will be using my work Internet in ways that violate my employee handbook. And after I wipe my dick off, I will try to buy SDCC passes).

So fuck the jokes; we have been to our local comic store, which means that this…

…means the end of our broadcast day.

But SDCC presales or no, this is one hell of a week of comics. Biggest and bestest, we have Howard Chaykin’s first issue of his sequel to his classic (and filthy) 1980s classic Black Kiss, along with setup of the Rotworld crossover in Animal Man and Swamp Thing, a new issue of Avengers Vs. X-Men, a new Mark Waid Daredevil, and a bunch of other cool stuff!

But before we can review it, we need to figure out how many browsers we can have refreshing at once on Saturday, and we need to read the comics. So until that time…

See you tomorrow, suckers!

A Fistful Of Bourdain: Video From The SDCC 2012 Vertigo Comics Get Jiro Panel

Most of the SDCC 2012 panels we covered, we did thusly: I sat with a fat boy notebook and a pen, furiously taking notes and grabbing quotes in between taking photos of things that panelists would prefer I didn’t, while Amanda live-Tweeted the hell out of everything anyone said. As such, we walked out of each panel with a wealth of information and still photographs of each panel, but without an ability to truly absorb and enjoy some of the things we saw and heard.

The Vertigo Comics panel for the graphic novel Get Jiro was different. Amanda is a big fan of Get Jiro writer and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s TV shows A Cook’s Tour and No Reservations, and as such, she hissed at me at the start of the panel, “I will Tweet this pig, but we’ve already reviewed the book, so I want you to videotape as much of this as you can so that I can enjoy it later. Otherwise, you’re reading me Kitchen Confidential through the bathroom door while I bubble bath with the shower massager. Again.” Or something like that, the vehemence of the hissing might have led me to hear more than was actually said.

Regardless, I therefore have a bunch of reasonably clear video of a good chunk of the Get Jiro panel… and I am passing the San Diego hotel and SDCC pass savings onto you! So grab your laptop, hit the jump, sit back in a warm bath with your shower massager, and never tell me about it.

Yes Sir, Captain Tightpants: SDCC 2012’s Firefly Reunion Panel

Later on today, we’ll try to post some of the remaining videos we took at SDCC 2012, but it will be a bittersweet experience. Because the one question we’ve been getting from most of our friends and acquaintances since we got back to the Crisis On Inifnite Midlives Home Office has been: “Did you get to the Firefly Tenth Anniversary panel?” Even the owner of our local comic store, where they know me by name and ask me to stop talking about movies to the paying customers, or at least to stop talking about the movies I find on Web sites with a top level domain name ending in “.XXX”, who you would think would be more interesting in upcoming developments in the products he sells, was disappointed that we didn’t spend hours in line for Ballroom 20 to see the reunion.

But we chose not to do that because we know that all the high-demand panels, like the Firefly panel, arrive on YouTube within ten days of their occurrance.

Case in point: please enjoy the video of the entire Firefly reunion panel, available after the jump.

…And His Amazing Friends: Amazing Spider-Man SDCC 2012 Panel

There was one minor, eensy, tiny problem with Marvel Comics’s Amazing Spider-Man panel Sunday. The panel wasn’t really about Spider-Man.

Oh sure, the panel opened with news about the Amazing Spider-Man and Avenging Spider-Man comic books, but those updates took about seven or ten minutes of an hour long panel. After that, we got updates on Carnage, Venom and Scarlet Spider, which are at least Spider-Man related… but we also got status reports on Captain Marvel, Punisher War Zone, Space Punisher, and last but not least, Daredevil, whose status report was, in effect, “Yeah, we have no idea what’s going on with that triple-Eisner Award winning book! But Eisner Awards are cool! And Daredevil won three of them! So who doesn’t love Daredevil?”

Which actually brings to mind another minor problem with the Spider-Man panel, and with every other Marvel panel we went to: Moderator Arune Singh, who is Director of Communications for Marvel Comics and possibly the most irritating and repetitive public speaker on the planet. Here are some of my notes from the panel, verbatim from my notebook:

• If I hear Arune Singh say, “How many of you are loving X” again, I will shit.
• At least 4 “How many of you love…” so far. Fuck.
• Fifth. Fucking. “How many of you LOVE…”
• SIXTH. SINGH WILL DIE BY MY HAND.

(Intellectual Property) Crime And Punishment: Thomas Jane Debuts Punisher Fan Film at SDCC 2012

We are back in the Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office with wretched reverse jetlag and crippling hangovers. And while I am working on my recap of Sunday’s The Amazing Spider-Man panel by Marvel (Teaser: it wasn’t really about Spider-Man!), I have learned that, while we were frittering around in actual comics panels on Sunday, Thomas Jane, the actor who played The Punisher in the 2004 movie adaptation and therefore had the unique joy of blowing John Travolta’s head off, ran a panel to promote his Raw Studios project that he started with cover artist Tim Bradstreet.

And at that panel, Jane debuted a new Punisher movie. Not an authorized Marvel Studios picture, and not a true sequel to his Punisher flick, but a ten-minute long fan film. Which rumor has it is better than, frankly (“Frank.” Ha!) both Jane’s original edition and the Punisher: War Zone move that came out a couple years ago. The dude fronted his own money, and got a cameo from Ron Perlman, to put it together. Why? Who knows? Maybe he’s courting Marvel Studios to get the nod for another round at the front of a full-on Punisher movie. Or maybe he’s just a giant comics geek (I’ve read that the dude went to the Rocketeer anniversary screening wearing a full Rocketeer costume) who wanted to make something really fucking cool. Regardless, I’m bummed I missed that screening.

What’s that, Internet? We have the video? And it’s right after the jump?

SDCC 2012: Incriminating Photographic Evidence

SDCC 2012 is over now, and last night’s buzz has been replaced with this morning’s hangover. And all of this means that it’s time to pack up the books, original art and… shall we say paraphernalia from the convention, bring it to UPS and ship it home to avoid a TSA inspection (“Son, is this your white, owl-looking face mask? Howsabout this detailed line drawing of a man with three guns by someone named, ‘Darrow?’ I’m gonna need to to step into this windowless room and remove your trousers…”), and return to the Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office in Boston.

This means that we will be in the one place that has less Internet access than the area directly surrounding the San Diego Convention Center: an airplane. So while we cross the country in an aluminum tube while quietly whimpering for nicotine, please enjoy these snapshots we took at this year’s SDCC. Some are of cosplayers, some are of just cool shit, but regardless, they are a small document of what happens at SDCC when you’re not haunting Room 6DE to live-Tweet comics panel discussions. Click any of them to see them full-sized.

And as an added bonus, we also have Amanda’s video of Nicholas Brendon’s introduction to the screening of Once More With Feeling to close out the convention, all after the jump.

Enjoy, and see you tomorrow, suckers!

Yesterday’s SDCC Live Tweets: 2012-07-16

• Getting ready to live tweet #DC Entertainment: Meet The Publishers from Room 6DE at 11:15am PDT. #SDCC #
• Jim Lee and Dan DiDio are opening the panel by summarizing the new #DC offerings (Talon, Sword Of Sorcery, Team 7, etc.) #DC #SDCC #
• Justic League Annual is bridge book btw Justice League 12 (read it 1st) and JLI (wraps up those characters stories). #DC #SDCC #
• Justice League events from 12 on set up Trinity War. #DC #SDCC #
• Stuff at this panel is recap from previous #DC panels (Green Lantern:Rise Of The Third Army,etc.).Useful if u only had Sunday pass, I guess. #
• At least Dan DiDio and Jim Lee generate a palpable and honest enthusiasm about the #DC line that makes me mind the lack of new info less. #
• Jim Lee is discussing 10 page Digital First .99 cent books. New titles daily from Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman families. #DC #SDCC #
• If you don't do digital, all titles will be bound for traditional publishing at "a later date". #DC #SDCC #
• Joe Kubert Presents – series of one shots. Looks good! #DC #SDCC #
• Also reviewing MAD magazine and Get Jiro. More nontraditional graphic offerings now available through #DC #Vertigo. #SDCC #
• Interesting to hear Jim Lee talk about Get Jiro- fascinated by the obscure food stuff, like the ortolan scene.Serious, geniune enthusiam.#DC #
• Jim Lee also worried Anthony Bourdain would "eat his baby" when they met. DiDio checks w/Wayne to see if they've "gone off message". #DC #
• Now recaps of Girl W/Dragon Tattoo and Django Unchained (adaption of unabridged script). Also,new Sandman from Neil Gaiman + JH Williams #DC #
• Bob Wayne – "I will be attempting to moderate this panel while maintaining employment." #DC #SDCC #
• We're in fan Q and A territory now. #DC #SDCC #
• Dan Didio – There are other characters like Wonder Woman and Green Lantern being considered for Earth Ones books. #DC #SDCC #
• Also, Grant Morrison is still working on the Multiversity books, hopefully for next year. Buy your LSD in preparation now. #DC #SDCC #
• Dan DiDio – There were 2 months where Aquaman beat the entire Marvel line up. Oh, Dan… #DC #SDCC #
• Jim Lee – DiDio hired other artists to draw JL behind his back b/c of his tendency to run late. He was outraged, but liked the art.#DC #SDCC #
• DiDio on his chemistry w/ Bob Wayne at panels – "We drink heavily before panels." Wayne – "And we practice b4 we get here." #DC #SDCC #
• Jim Lee – Don't try to draw Batman; try to draw Mr. Potato Head with Bat ears. #DC #SDCC #wordsofwisdom #
• Parting #DC Panel words – No. There will be no Wally West. We mean it. #SDCC #
• Now getting ready to live tweet #Marvel Amazing Spiderman panel in Room 6DE at 12:30pm PDT. May bail early. #SDCC #
• Yes. I know Spider-Man is hyphenated. #Marvel #SDCC #
• Panel is comprised of Axel Alsonso, CB Cebulski, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Humberto Ramos, Cullen Bunn, Frank Tieri, Arune Singh. #Marvel #
• So, more writers and Arune just got Dan Slott on speakerphone. #Marvel #
• Slott is summarizing AS. Then issue 692 is 50th anniversary issue with intro of new sidekick, Alpha. #Marvel #SDCC #
• Alpha is everything Peter Parker wishes he was in high school. Everyone sees/knows about the super powers, says Slott. #Marvel #SDCC #
• Dan Slott says Humberto Ramos drawings of Alpha are "gorgeous". #Marvel #SDCC #
• Kelly Sue Deconnick asked for help pronouncing Zakim Bridge. Avenging Spider-Man will take cast to Boston, where Carol Danvers is from. #
• Cullen Bunn on Venom – "He's the super hero I'd be because he screws everything up." May be a change in venue for Venom soon. #
• Stage has just been invaded by Spider-Men/boys. #Marvel #SDCC #
• Bunn now previewing Minimum Carnage. Flash and Scarlet Spider will learn how bad a symbiote can be. #Marvel #SDCC #
• Venom/Flash gets a glimpse of what evil a symbiote can actually effect in this series. #Marvel #SDCC #
• And now, Captain Marvel. Not a Spider book, but there you go. Focus on Danvers as bad ass pilot w/ control issues. #Marvel #SDCC #
• Readers will learn about women/pilots who preceeded her and her history w/ Avengers. #Marvel #SDCC #
• Punisher: War Zone will be a 5 issue limited series run that will wrap up Greg Rucka run on Punisher. #Marvel #SDCC #
• Showing Daredevil slide. Waid's not here. Cebulski has no info to offer about the Eisner winning title. Helpful. Not. #Marvel #SDCC #
• Frank Tieri is previewing Space Punisher thing."Crazy space versions of #Marvel characters."If fan support is there,there'll be more titles" #
• Sing along panel for "Once More With Feeling" accomplished. More audience participation/Dawn hate this year. Good times! #Buffy #SDCC #
• Goodbye, 2012 Comic-Con! #SDCC http://t.co/ecuKFTxR #
• Hello, Hyatt bar! #SDCC http://t.co/cTMqpx9f #
• You don't.It's an opportunity to go shoppingRT @juliebenz: Heading back to Toronto this week… How does one pack for 4 months?!?! Argh!!!!! #
• @CamComicCorner Bar has whiskey. Whiskey is warming. #
• It worries me when I realize that The Rock has more potential to put the ass kicking funny back in Lobo than Rob Liefeld. #
• Moving party to bar at Hilton by the water. Whee! #
• @GailSimone But, there is Spider-Pig so there's that… #

End Of Line

The annual screening of Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Once More With Feeling (introduced by Nicholas Brendan) has just concluded. The main floor is closing, and SDCC 2012 is all over bar the shouting and the fuzzy, hungover flight home.

We still have a few panels we attended to report on, so our coverage of SDCC 2012 will continue over the next few days.

But for now, it’s time for a few cold ones at the Hyatt bar while we watch for celebrities. If you’re there, come look for us. We’re the ones being thrown out.

So for the next few hours at least: see you later, suckers!