I'm going to Comic-Con!

I'd been sitting on this info for a few weeks while budget, reservations and travel were all up in the air and indefinite, but I just booked my flights and consider it safe to announce that I'm going to the 2008 Comic-Con in San Diego next week!

As geeky as this is to admit, attending the world's largest comic book convention has always been a dream of mine. Some people dream of traveling the world--I dream of attending mega geekfests. And this one is the king of them all. Even better, it's not just a comic book convention anymore. There are no less than thirty TV shows and over two dozen feature films parading their cast and crew to the convention to show off sneak peeks, meet the fans and try to gain eyeballs for upcoming seasons/releases. It really has become a multimedia extravaganza, drawing celebs from Hollywood as well as game developers, toymakers, and anything else that would remotely appeal to the young male demographic.

I've only looked over the schedules for Thursday and Sunday in detail, but I've already seen a ton of sessions I'd love to attend. Just on those two days, some of my favorite shows (Dexter, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica) are hosting Q&As with their stars. And those aren't even the big days--I can't wait to see what they've got planned for Friday and Saturday.

Turner will have a pretty big presence at the Comic-Con this year, as they always do, but it will once again be mainly Cartoon Network. Cartoon is sending a TON of people to show off all of their kids' shows and their Adult Swim properties. TNT and TBS won't really have a presence--we sort of missed the boat with at least one or two of our new shows--but maybe we'll make a better effort next year.

If you're also going to Comic-Con or you just live in the San Diego area, let me know before next Wednesday and I'll look you up. As excited as I am about the convention, I am a little nervous about being totally alone out there. I have friends at Cartoon Network who are going, but the Cartoon group is notoriously cliquey and (with the exception of my friends, of course) a little stuck up. I think they hear way too often how cool their jobs are, because a lot of them won't give you the time of day, even on campus, where we all work for the same company, eat in the same cafeteria and get our checks from the same source. It will be interesting to see if even the nicer Cartoon people will give me the time of day once they're off-campus, among their snobbier coworkers and surrounded by adoring fans who continue to kiss their feet and tell them how great they are.

Heck, I might even become a snob if faced with that level of worship.

Anyway, I could spend four days wandering the floors of the convention center all by myself, followed by four nights of sitting by myself in screenings before taking a cab back to my lonely hotel room. It could be a very lonely time--despite the hordes of people. If you'll be around that weekend, let me know. I'll be glad to see a familiar face.

I'll post more details when I have more time. I'm anxious to look over the Saturday and Sunday schedules to try to plan my weekend. I'll probably write a post about the sessions I plan to attend, just to get myself organized. If you have recommendations, let me know. This is sure to be an exciting--if overwhelming--event!