Wow I'm tired. I had hoped to upload pictures from Comic-Con today, but I just can't. Come back tomorrow evening, and you'll see me with Matt Groening.

I will try to write my report now, though. I'm more sore than tired, anyway, and its not yet 10:00 when I begin writing this, so I should be able to get a decent report done. Actually, immediately after typing that, I decided I was a little rank, and had better take a shower. But now I'm clean, and ready to report.

This was my first time ever at Comic-Con. I've always wanted to go, primarly for The Simpsons, but also to explore the other meats of our pop-cultural stew. But this year, my sister and brother-in-law came down, and my brother-in-law was going in full Storm Trooper uniform, to march through the convention along with his fellow Star Wars nerds. I must admit, the costume was impressive. I think about ten people stopped him to take a photograph with him before we even got inside the convention center. I was not in any costume; I simply was wearing my Princess Mononoke tee-shirt. Miyazaki merchandise was one of my goals for the day. I was especially hoping I might find the comic book versions of Mononoke or Sprited Away for a steal. But that was a tertiary goal at most; first and fore-most, I was hoping to pick up some Futurama merchandise. The Nibbler tin toy, and the tin posters, were my main target. I also took my Bender tin toy with me, hoping to get John Dimaggio and Matt Groening to sign it. And I was hoping to swing by Keith Knight's booth and get the books of his which I didn't already have. For the most part, I was a failure on these points, but I did achieve some of what I set out to do, and more.

The convention center opened around 10, and we began on what I believe would be the North side, if I have my bearings right (that close to the ocean, I really shouldn't be confused, but I am). Lots of shops, but not as much stuff I was interested as I thought there would be. Lots of Simpsons merchandise, but mostly stuff I'd already seen and, if I desired it, had. Early on, I did discover one product I was unfamiliar with, a series of Simpsons tin click toys. There's a clicker on the back, and clicking the clicker makes something small yet satisfying happen. I purchased two, for a total of $8. One features the Krusty Burger ordering box, with a shaking Krusty head; the other features Homer and Marge dancing--Homer dips Marge with just one click. As my first purchase, I thought it started the day off on a good note; I found it later for more, but never for less, so fiscally it was a sound decision.

I found other Simpsons merchandise, noting its location and price for future reference. The Simpsons Main Street environment was going for $75. Not an outrageous price, but no bargain either. A quick poke around the internet turns it up easily for a bit under $70; with shipping, its probably a wash. The Simspons playing cards were going for $7. It seemed inconceivable that I did not yet own a product so suited to me; I was certain I would be back for it. I found very little Futurama goods. I never did see a tin sign, and I saw the Bender robot I already had, but never the Nibbler one. I found little Miyazaki goods, as well. I saw plenty of DVDs, but I already had them, and one booth had the Spirited Away comics, and the Art of... books dedicated to Spirited Away, Totoro, and Mononoke. The prices, again were not necessarily unreasonable, but the comic books were $10 each (the cover price), and the art books ranged from $35-$50. Seeing as I already had a hunch this would be an expensive day, I was not willing to spend that much on those books.

After wandering over to the other end of the hall, to find Keith Knight's booth and get his books (turns out he's a very nice guy), I met up with my family and headed to the Bongo Comics booth. I bought four of the Futurama comics for $2.50 each, one of them signed. There was a guy signing comics, but after getting his name, I ascertained he was not involved in any of the comics I bought, so I didn't have him sign anything. I learned I would need to be there at 2:30 to get a ticket to get a place in line to get Matt Groening's autograph.

It was almost 11:30, so I decided to wolf down a costly lunch, and then hustle to the Futurama conference. I got to the room almost twenty minutes early, so I got to see Game Over, an upcoming show on UPN. Very funny. The plot is basically the troubled family life of a Lara Croft-type video game heroine. I hope it will have better luck than previous UPN animation.

Then it was time for the Futurama conference. After meeting Dimaggio and some of the other cast members, they screened an unaired episode (they later reminded us to thank Fox for pre-empting the show so often, they still had unseen episodes to screen). The episode, "Bender Shouldn't Be on TV" ("Fox took the name a bit too literally"), is destined to be a classic. The opening scenes from soap-opera parody "All My Circuits" started the crowd laughing, and it never let up. Supposedly Fox will eventually air this episode; if not, Cartoon Network gets the rights to all Futurama episodes, aired or unaired, in November. So eventually, you will see it. So I won't go into too much details, though I will say Bender's catch-phrase, "Bite my shiny metal ass," gets a lot of play. Having never been to Comic-Con, I didn't know what to expect, but it was a lot of fun. Just seeing the episode made the whole day worthwhile, and the Q&A session was hilarious and informative. There is still discussions regarding the possibility that new episodes of Futurama might be made for Cartoon Network. They just don't see how they could possibly pay for them. But hope springs eternal. Groening also suggested it is possible that a Futurama movie (or three!)could be made. I also learned that the episode "Jurassic Bark," the only episode of an animated sitcom (or any sitcom, for that manner) made me cry (I actually started crying earlier tonight just thinking about it), had been nominated for an Emmy. Good luck!

At the conclusion of the hour, the talent left the stage, and I had a dilemma. I had a great seat, and the Simpsons conference was in the same room. But I really wanted to get John Dimaggio to sign my Bender robot. I decided I had to rush the stage, and see if I could get his autograph. So I did, and I did. I also got a photo of him, but it was too close up, and you can't see the robot, and he's looking away. And I had to sit in the back for the Simpsons conference, but it was worth it.

I loved the Futurama conference, so I had high hopes for the Simpsons conference. I'll say now I was disappointed. Instead of a new episode, they showed a recent episode, "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can," including scenes that were cut when it first aired. I'd cry foul, but for one thing; one of the cut scenes was a parody of Randy Newman's famous score for The Natural: Bart hits a home run, the now-ubiquitous song starts to play, and Bart runs the bases and fireworks erupt. It was dead-on, I thought--perhaps a bit too on the nose. It wasn't particulary funny, but I was just excited to encounter an unexpected Randy Newman reference. (If memory serves, Randy's Natural score was parodied on The Simpsons once before, in "Homer at the Bat") The Q&A had its moments, but often reverted to things already discussed at the Futurama conference, or the always-asked pointless question, "Where do you get your ideas?" Still a fun conference, but a let-down.

I approached the stage, just in case Groening would sign Bender for me. He posed for some photos (not with me), but wouldn't sign anything, so I headed downstairs to get the tickets for the autograph session. But first, I swung by the Adult Swim booth, where Maurice LaMarche, best known as The Brain of Pinky and the Brain, was signing autographs. The line was actually quite short, and he was very friendly. I took a picture ("The first flash took care of the red-eye," he said, "and the second blinded me"), and he signed an Adult Swim montage poster I purchased, made out to "Capt. Mike." I assume he is unaware of the retired San Diego weatherman of the same name. He joked with me briefly and sent me on my way.

Unfortunately, that would be my last autograph fix. There was a mob at the Bongo Comics booth. I didn't really understand where exactly I was supposed to line up for the autograph tickets. It was soon a moot point, as I learned the tickets had ran out. The good news, however, is Matt had come down to the booth, and was posing for photos, so some of us who missed out on his autograph got a nice consolation prize. As I say, I'll hopefully get that photo up here tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Around this point, I was beginning to get a bit bored. The convention was now far more crowded, so it was harder to just browse around. I went and got a few things I had initially passed on, like that deck of playing cards, and a DVD of Takeshi Kitano's Getting Any? I hear its terrible, but its one of the few movies of his I don't have, and as the last film before his motorcycle accident (suicide attempt? I've never been clear on that), marks a turning point in his career. I got that at Drunken Master's booth, which had lots of DVDs I wanted, at very fair prices, but I ultimatly decided on just the one.

Finding less stuff left on the floor I was interested in, I headed to the room where the next conference I would be attending was to be held. That room was currently hosting a presentation with some famous cartoonists regarding some of their most controversial strips. When I arrived, Dan Piraro of Bizarro was discussing some of his most controversial. Jerry Scott of Baby Blues also spoke. It was enough to hold my interest until it was time for the next conference, "Oh, I've Wasted My Life," about Simpsons collectables. This was well-worth attending, if only for the generous gift of B-Sharp Barney figures to all in attendance. They also raffled off several products, including an animated cel, but I sadly did not win. It was interesting, but I must admit I am not as hard-core as most in attendance, so at times it was a bit beyond me. It was supposed to end at 4:30, at which time Brendan Small of Home Movies would be joining C. Martin Croker and Andy Berill (Zorak and Brak, respectively) at the Adult Swim booth to give autographs. With the raffle still going on, I didn't want to leave, but I really wanted Small's autograph. Finally, around 4:50, I hustled off to the Adult Swim booth, to be told the line was full. I noticed Small was about half-way down the line, which went past several more booths before hitting the other two, so I probably should've asked if I could just get in line for his autograph, but I didn't. If I had something Home Movies-related, I probably would, but not having anything specific for him to sign, I didn't care too much. Autographs aren't that big a deal, really. So I hurried back to the collector's conference, and I don't think I missed any raffle, so that was good.

The last event of the evening for me was the Adult Swim conference. This was probably the most crowded of the conferences I attended, and for the most part, I found the crowd a bit annoying. The questions basically involved, I like this show, I like that show, put it on. It was worth attending, however, just to see the clips of upcoming episodes (Space Ghost Coast to Coast isn't my favorite, but the Shatner interview should be good), and to get the T-shirt and DVD they handed out afterwards. Of course, handing this stuff out at the door was probably a bad idea, creaing a horrible bottleneck. Fortunately, a bunch of people near the back kept screaming, "Move your ass," and whatnot, which helped things immensely, of course.

And so my day neared its conclusion. I thought I'd go look around a bit to see if I could find any good Simpsons T-shirt before I left, but had no luck. As I was leaving, I saw Brian Posehn, apparently just there as an attendee. I decided not to bother him.

To recap: I got John Dimaggio to autograph Bender, but not Matt Groening (there's always next year). I did get my photo with Groening, however. I got some free goods, most notably the Adult Swim T-shirt and DVD (one full episode each of Space Ghost and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, to promote the upcoming boxed sets). I purchased:

--2 Simpsons Click Toys (Krusty Burger and Dancing Homer and Marge)

--4 Bongo Comics (all Futurama)

--2 Keith Knight Comics

--1 Chuck the Ugly American Comic with Complimentary Print (he said nice things about Mononoke, and it looked cool, so I figured I'd buy one

--1 Takeshi Kitano DVD, Getting Any?

--1 Comic-Con exclusive Adult Swim Print

I think that about sums it up. My first Comic-Con. I wasn't quite prepared for it. Next time, I'll have a better battle plan. Next time, I WILL get Groening's autograph. I spent a lot of money (less than $100, but just barely, and only because Mom paid for my admission), but for a once-a-year event, it was a lot of fun, and well worth it.

Photos to follow soon.