Lots of people for a Wednesday! Felt more like a Saturday... Got in around 4PM and took the shuttle to the convention center. Picked up our badges then reviewed the programming schedules for awhile...the annual pre-con ritual! Check out the Con Program with a cool Lone Wolf and Cub cover by Frank Miller:
As we reviewed the schedule, Kari turned to me and suggested we go get our tickets for Clerks 2 at the Pacific Gaslamp Stadium Cinemas for it's Friday night opening asap in case they sell out. Who was I to argue? We headed up 5th street and got tix for the Friday night 9:55PM showing...yes!!! Clerks 2 and the SDCC in the same weekend...what more could you want out of life...??
Went to get dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, dressed in my dark gray UYD Albedo NR 2 sleeveless shirt (super special limited edition). Headed to the convention floor afterwards...man, the people! Then I realized it was jam packed because there was absolutely no programming during preview night...but we'll get a better idea from tomorrow.
Headed over to Stan's table to deliver the UYD Albedo NR 2 raffle box and tickets for the t-shirt giveaway. Greeted Stan and Sharon, who were both busy as usual greeting fans and pro's alike. It was great. Got my Usagi metal mini's as well as a special surprise: the original artwork for Page 22 of UY #88 (eat your heart out estee!). That's my holy grail of UY pages...the first ever Usagi-Tomoe "moment". I believe this marks the 2nd time Stan has let go of an original page. Needless to say I was in shock...and still am. I had offered to acquire the page from Stan after estee was able to get his, but with no luck. What a way to begin the con!
Also met up with a couple Usagi Dojo members...both had UY tattoos! I should have taken pics. If I see them again, I will take some. This one guy had a Gennosuke tat on his leg. Another guy, Joe from Chula Vista, had a really awesome Usagi tat on his left shoulder...too awesome! He'll be around all four days so I'll be sure to bring my camera! For now here's a pics of my metal mini's:
After making preparations with Sharon for the UYD T-shirt giveaway, decided to explore the floor...what a madhouse!! Probably ended up seeing about 15% of it in what little time we had (only 3 hours). I spent the entire time trying to find a protective cover for the art...I didn't find anything suitable, so I shall try again tomorrow...
I do that too. Last year there were some cool pieces of art that have never shown up on the net. The $13 item looks like the 2006 calendar to me.
