The Best of San Diego Comic-Con, and Goodbye to All That

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Best thing I saw: it’s a three-way tie between Ponyo, Tron: Legacy, and Kick-Ass.

Surrealest moment: having a dude dressed in some kind of mechwarrior armor blow past me while I was in line for Iron Man 2, and realizing that the dude was Jimmy Fallon

Best-dressed: I want to say it was the flock of Monarch’s henchmen from Venture Brothers. Or the massive steampunk presence, awesome both in every particular case and in aggregate. Or the many, many hopelessly sexy fangirls swanning around getting their cosplay on. But I have to give it up for Hayao Miyazaki. The man can rock a white suit.

Purchase I regret not making: an uncolored production proof of a page from an old Defenders comic

Purchases I don’t regret making: the rest of the Penny Arcade books I didn’t have, plus a giant Japanese pink octopus.

Best things I missed: Where do I start? Comic-Con is so overscheduled, it’s more about missing stuff than seeing stuff. District 9, Avatar, and Iron Man 2 (much of the press got shut out due to a SNAFU). Plus MC Frontalot’s show on Saturday night.

Best line: It was in Kick-Ass:

Kick-Ass: How do I get ahold of you?
Hit-Girl [she’s 10]: Just contact the mayor’s office. He has a signal that shines a light in the sky. It’s in the shape of a giant c___. [This was followed by a standing ovation.]

Worst meme: Free hugs.

Most painful irony: By winning, nerd culture has lost. When I was a kid the fact that comics and games and fantasy and whatever were awesome was a secret, and people gave me a hard time about it. Now suddenly everyone’s all, hey, no, this stuff is great, Iron Man, woo! Which means instead of being our little secret, now it’s all about big corporations selling nerd culture to as many Joe Douchebags as it can pack into the multiplex. And where am I in that transaction? I don’t want to be anywhere near it.

Best sign: There was a guy crashed out on the carpet on Sunday afternoon. Before he passed out he had managed to scrawl on a piece of cardboard: TWILIGHT RUINED COMIC-CON.