Day One: Thursday.

I woke later this morning after Preview Night. The night without fans, overwhelming as hell and rows upon rows of exhibits. This is not a small Con, this is the big game Con.

Deciding to arrive later today, instead of braving against early morning traffic and long lines into the convention center, I arrived downtown. Downtown I learned an important lesson: Get a hotel by the center, you moron. Parking was impossible. An hour after arriving downtown we parked and trekked to the Con.

After 6 hours of traveling to San Diego, I find myself face-to-face with the one Con to rule them all. I have embarked on a journey to the center of Geekdom. I have traveled to the end of the continent to...The San Diego Comic Con.

Tonight I will pick up my official 4-day badge and venture into the preview night. Traffic will be horrible, but it is worth the pain. They bait people with the satisfaction that there "may not" be as many fans tonight. I laugh at their optimism. Tonight, I face bliss of the comic world and then some.

The Crew

Kris X aka M.Neils (Pocket Kitten)

Spriteville (Spriteville, USA)

Nanda (Ugly Girl)

Stinky (Head Doctor)

Post-Con...

After being sucked away down the river of that which is The Con, I can now report what happened to it and its survivors.

After traveling for 2 hours from MA to CT, we crossed the bridge into Convention Land. No joke, we actually crossed a bridge. The water was not seen from the bridge, but we assumed it was there. Our tank rolled us into the parking garage and the strange events began to occur.

Part I: The Fear Sets In

After spending my time bumming around Boston and searching for ninja stars in Chinatown, I had a strike of fear. The Con was 2 days away now and there was no way to turn back. My comrade Sprite of Spriteville, USA and I had earlier that morning discovered the journey alone to The Con was nearly 2 hours. We now had to purchase and pack rations of Hello Panda candy and Pocky while in Chinatown for the car trek (Unfortunately we had already ate most of the rations during the time in Boston). We were still hardly ready, but filled with excitement, good or bad, of when we'd face The Con.

In about half a week I will be treking over to the ConnectiCon. I've never been to a comic convention before, rather, I've never been to any convention of any sorts before. My first reaction is to throw things in the air and duck for cover in fear of my dignity, but I digress...

I am more or less going to observe what exactly this strange gathering of people is, this "con" many artists and writers have attended and chatted about idly in forums. They say it absorbs geeks and creators of nerds alike and swarms over all who join it like a life-sucking mass of need for self promotion. I've viewed and moderatored it before on the plains of the internet, but in real life... No one can lock it. I will see this beast in the face and either harpoon it, or cower in the shadow of its stacks of adorable plushie stock.