Ahoy there, Sonny Jim! check out me photos!
First of all I must apologize for the delay in uploads. I had meant to get this stuff all off my phone and onto this blog LAST Monday, but boy oh boy, I have never had my energy sapped by a big event like my energy was sapped from THIS CON!
I exaggerate, although the trip was rough, it was not nearly as rough as the last time I took it. I was NOT prepared then, and the drive was like a living hell. This time though, I had a better idea of what I was facing so I knew how to better prep for it. for starters, I got myself a kickass rental car this time around. It was SO necessary. Such a step up from my car, which I love, don't get me wrong, but this was like a damn magic carpet, oof, so danged luxurious. i was such a dork at the car rental place, though. I got up to the front desk and I was like "I know this is kind of an oldskool request, but I need a car with a CD player" and they gave me this weird look, and they were like "uhh... lemme... check..." and I was completely expecting them to come back and say they didn't have anything. I wasn't looking forward to driving all the way to San Diego, the whole eight hours, without my CDs. I wouldn't have been able to use my phone for music, mostly because I have never put any music on it, but ALSO because I was gonna need it for navigation. I've only ever driven to San Diego once before and I certainly didn't know the way by heart. I NEEDED a goddamn CD player.
To my delight, they rolled a car around and they were like "here we go, this one's gotta CD player in it" and i nearly squeed. In an amusing twist of fate, it just so happened to be the same car my friend Ian and his wife Amy bought last year, a Nissan Rogue, so I was thankfully already acquainted with the vehicle, and like I said, the ride was smooth as hell, so I was happy all around.
I arrived VERY late, or early depending on how you look at it. it was close to 1am when i finally rolled up to my friend Sophie's door. I crashed and slept the hell in because unlike most cons, there was no reason for me to be there first thing in the morning. Prism Comics had done for me a lot of the hard work that I usually need to do myself, so I felt really lucky. i think i stumbled in finally around noon, prepared to sit on a panel at 6pm. However, this next step from where I was staying to the con itself wasn't itself free from difficulties.
I took a Lyft, because I was 100% certain I did not want to try and find parking around the convention. In 2015, I used the same strategy and found it to be very successful, so I saw no reason to not rely on it again. i had a box of about 100 books that I wanted to bring with me to the booth. About 25 copies of my new Graphic Novel plus assorted copies of single issues #1 - #8 just in case! It was a heavy box, maybe a little TOO heavy, but I wasn't thinking much about it because in my mind, I jsut had to carry it into the car, and then go from the car to the convention, with a short stop in between to retrieve my badge.
BUT IT DIDN'T WORK OUT LIKE THAT AT ALL!
So it turns out, they started blockin' off the street aorund the convention center in a radius of about 3 blocks or so. My poor Lyft driver could NOT get any closer than that, so he just took me as far as he could get and I had to carry that dangedable box the rest of the way. It was grueling, but I made it, I thought I was home free. I called Tara who was inside and asked her if she could possibly bring out my badge to me. BUT! To my CHIGRIN, she did not have time to get my badge for me. In fact, considering the amount of security I had to go through, I doubt they would have LET her get my badge for me.
When we signed up for this con, they asked me for my name, as it appears on my Driver's Licence, AND the name that I wanted to appear on my badge. I gave them my birth name, and told them that Knave Murdok was the name I wanted on my badge, thinking that was straightforward enough and not asking too much. But when i got up there to the booth to claim my badge, they for some reason had totally lost the connection between my Birth Name and Knave Murdok. They kept on asking me if i had an ID that said Knave Murdok on it, and i'm like "what? dude, that's a PEN NAME! It's not real! Why'd you even ask me for a different name if I could only have a badge that said what my ID said on it???" Somehow this logic was totally lost on them, so I wound up having to show them ym Facebook, with my face on it, and the name "Knave Murdok", plus i pulled out one of my comic books with the name "Knave Murdok" on it, and eventually that was enough for them. Hooboy.
I thought that by the time I had the lanyard around my neck, it would be smooth sailing, but I got hassled about the difference between the name on my badge and the name on my ID one last time when I hopped into the line for the Hasbro line to pick up the new Defenders action figures, and despite the fact I was paying in cash, they needed me to show an ID. I mean, I GET that they're trying to cut down on scalping, but seriously, i'm paying is cash, what do you nerds want? I agued my way into line tho, there was no way in the world i was gonna let 'em deny me my precious toys, and I think after awhile, they started to realize that whatever the fuck they thought they were "protecting" was kind silly.
I was sorta on guard the rest of the con, really worried that this was gonna continue to be a problem, but thankfully, no OTHER booth asked to see my ID, so thankfully, the rest of my time at the con was hassle free.
But enough of that, let's talk about the GOOD parts of the con!
The BIG highlight of course was the panel, which i always love being part of. I've said this before and i WILL say it again, one hour is NOT enough! We had SEVEN guests this time, which means each of us only had a little over eight and a half minutes to talk. we did our best to keep it short and sweet, but I know there was so much more each one of us wanted to say, and we hardly got to any audience questions.
I dunno what it'd take to get MORE time for all of us (I'm sure the answer is "money") but I'd love to do a TWO HOUR panel sometime. Really leet us RAMBLE like we all know we wanna :D
Maybe someday...
Anywho, the rest of the con was the rest of the con. it was good, it was GREAT even. I got to bring my pal Sophia with me on one day, and on the LAST day i let her husband use my badge so they could go together. He was so stoked cuz he's lived in San Diego for years and has NEVER had a chance to make it to Comic-Con so I was stoked i was able to hook him up in that way so he could nerd out on all the awesome Star Wars shit. I used that time to see San diego a little more than I got to last time. I didn't go far, cuz time is always limited, but i managed to check out some awesome eateries in the city. The highlight was definitely Sushi Kitchen 2, what an interesting place! It's a sushi place with a kind of Hawaiian/Caribbean theme to it. It was GREAT. I sometimes curse the finite nature of the self because if I COULD have, i would have eaten SO MUCH MORE sushi! I highly recommend the Giant Scallop Nigiri if you ever wind up in that direction. That thing was decadent as hell, like eating pure buttery, salty sin. MMM!
The other place was called Filippi's Pizza Grotto, which is apparently a chain but it's all family owned. Like, every location is owned and run by a member of the same family, it's pretty cool. Despite it being a pizza place, I wound up getting the lasagna, because it just sounded so damn good. If I had one criticism, it would be the baked cheese option they had. you could, for like an extra dollar, opt to have a layer of mozzarella cheese baked on top of your piece of lasagna, which, you know, of fucking course I'm gonna do that, are you crazy? Hop on that CHEESE, nerd! And it WAS delicious, but it was a THICK layer of mozzarella, so if you don't eat it FAST, it's gonna cool off and harden, making the rest of the lasagna very hard to get to, and why would you wanna eat such a delicious dish QUICKLY? I was trying to savour it, but I wound up having to dig my dinner out from under this impenetrable shield after awhile :P
One thing I will say was fucking EXCELLENT was the friend calamari appetizer I got. I am SO picky when it comes to calamari, there's a very thin window of acceptable chewiness/crunchiness that to me is just perfect. Like, I'll eat it still if it's too crispy, just cuz I like squid, but when it's perfect, it's soooo perfect, and brother, lemme tell ya, this calamari was PERFECT. Dang! I kinda wanted to say forget the lasagna and order another plate of that instead, but I was certain they were already like, half done baking it. Next time! ;-)
The next day me and Sophia wound up at this weird little seafood place that was near the convention whose name I have officially forgotten. It was nothing fancy but it was pretty good! I wound up getting a "Ceviche of the Gods" which was a ceviche full of different kinds of fish, shellfish and mollusks, garnished with pico de gallo and lime juice. It was delicious, no doubt.
And finally, on the last day, Sophie and Ryan took me to this place called Raising Cane's Chicken, which sounds like a weird bible story, but was actually a really good friend chicken place. Again, it was a chain, but i guess this one is indigenous to Southern California, which is why I've never heard of it. It runs along the same lines as a place like Popeye's or Chick Fil A might, but in my own personal point of view, it was a definite cut above all of those places. Very simple menu, just chicken and chicken sandwiches. I wound up with chicken strips and a combination of different sauces, like I said, very simple. I liked it, definitely, would go back.
Sadly, that's all I really got to check out while I was there, since most of my time was allocated to the con and driving home. Maybe next time i'll try and block off a whole week with which to see San Diego, or maybe I'll try and come down during a time there ISN'T a convention going on? Ahh, who knows?
BUT! That wasn't the end of the fun, because I even got to have some fun on the way home! In between San Diego and home is the small town my friend Kempo lives in! Kempo, you might remember, is the author/artist of the series FU! and creator of the characters "Nacho Cat" and "The Mouse of Pain", two characters that I've been wanting to have guest appearances in TransCat for awhile now! Me and Kempo finally got to talk face-to-face about HOW we would go about writing such a story. i don't wanna give away too much, but it'll definitely involve inter-dimensional portals, a blind date, a fighting off wave after wave of mall security robots! i'm really happy with what we came up with, my theory is that it's gonna be TransCat issue #13, LUCKY NUMBER THIRTEEN if you will! It's gonna be a little bit before i get to draw it, but I can't wait.
...and that was it, that was the whole trip. I drove home, unpacked, and have been recuperating since then. Well, that's not ALL I've been doing. I managed to finally finish the penciling in TransCat #11, and starting TOMORROW I'll be uploading it to my Patreon! One page per day. You can't afford NOT to sign up!
See you all tomorrow, hopefully!
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