by Sara Black
For those of you looking for a cool blast of Pop Culture this hot summer there is no better place to overdose than at the San Diego Comic Convention.
Don’t let the name fool you, there will be a lot more than comics filling up the ample space of the San Diego Convention Center. Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, DC Comics and all their friends will be there, but so will the Sci-Fi Channel, cast and producers from Heroes, Nintendo, Laurell K. Hamilton and so many more.
Besides the endless booths of enticing comics, art and toys there are the panels and presentations. Upstairs small rooms show animation all day to exhausted convention goers, larger rooms offer anything from workshops on sculpting to discussions with artists, and in the largest rooms big studios share what they’ve got up their sleeves and put on panels with the stars.
All that is a ton of fun, but my favorite part of the comic convention is the small and independent press area. This is the best place to meet artists and writers (often they are both) and talk about their craft.
I always stop by Lark Pien’s booth for her adorable Long Tail Kitty Comics, and she remembers me every year. Top Shelf usually has several authors there, my favorite is James Kochalka and his meditative American Elf series. Last year he even had comics drawn by his three year old son. Dumbrella is a collective of artists who besides writing comics have an impressive line of T-shirts.
The comic con runs from Thursday, July 26th to Sunday the 29th. Typically Saturday is the busiest day and the wide aisles look like the Los Angeles freeway during rush hour. For this reason I recommend, if possible, you go on Thursday or Friday. Saturday can have some of the best panels and presentations however, and Sunday is the best day to bring kids. Best to come early to find parking somewhere near the convention center.
Sara Black has a degree in Cinema/Television from USC. She watches far too much television, eats way too much sushi and is always writing a romance novel. For someone who religiously stays out of the mainstream, she knows an awful lot about Pop Culture. This is the fourth in a series of posts on the subject.
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