Yes indeed, I will be attending the 2005 San Diego Comic-Con! In case you live under a rock, this is "the largest Comics and Pop Culture event in North America. Period." And man oh man they aren't kidding. Comics, Movies, Video Games, Toys... all the wonderful things that make the world go 'round. I decided not to get a booth this time because it's my first time out there and I wanted to be able to wander around and see all the sights and hang out with some other friends who will be attending and presenting. Still, for those of you who bump into me, I've got some nifty I-Mockery freebies to give out, including a look at our first printed comic book! So think of me as a "wandering presenter". I may or may not be wearing the infamous Pickle Hat and Goggles, so keep your eyes peeled! Well, I may or may not be wearing the infamous Pickle Hat and Goggles at all times, so keep your eyes peeled! If you haven't seen what I look like without them, just visit I-Mockery's Info Page and you'll see my profile pic there.

I'll be updating this page each night with photos from the convention. Granted my time will be limited, as I'm sure being submerged in a sea of geeks each day will be quite exhausting and updating the site won't be the first thing on my mind. Still, I'll do my best to put up some great photos every day, and then when I get back I'll probably do a nice big feature on the whole event. Or maybe I won't because I'll be so sick of talking about it. I guess you'll just have to wait 'n see now won't you. In the meantime, you can discuss the latest Comic-Con stuff I post in my trusty ol' Blog.

Hope to see some of you guys out there... so come say HI!
 

Sunday - Day 5 I survived the 2005 San Diego Comic-Con and all you got was this lousy page update. Ok so here's the deal... it's midnight now and I gotta wake up for my flight at 4am. With that in mind, I'm gonna have to skip out on posting some more highlights from the final day of the Comic-Con tonight. but hey, that'll just make my big recap of the event once I return home all the more interesting. I did get to explore San Diego a lot more today... walked around Seaport for hours and had a great time. Also big kudos to The Behemoth and Newgrounds for making our last night here really memorable. They sold out of Alien Hominid and these DIY guys deserve it considering all the work they put into it. I'll always have nothing but great memories about this past week... getting to meet so many people who I look up to and meeting so many people who visit this site on a regular basis as I walked the convention floor for hours each day. Next year I'll probably try to give my achin' feet a rest and get a booth. And now I'm off... hopefully to dream of something other then bad airline food and jetlag. -RoG-
Saturday - Day 4 Sweet holy jebus... they weren't kidding when they said Saturday was the busiest day of the Comic-Con. It was like they somehow fit the entire country's population into that one convention center. Guess that's what happens when everybody has the day off though. Anyway, there were plenty of sights to be seen as expected and I made a point to take a ton of pictures today. So don't worry, when I get back I'll have plenty of pics to share... especially of the crazy costumes (both good and horribly bad) that people came up with. Speaking of which, there was a huge costume masquerade show (complete with skits) after the main convention area closed for the night. This thing went on for hours and some of the acts were pretty amusing. In particular, the Disney group that had Aladdin bust into an MC Hammer dance sequence and the group that had Lara Croft and Nightcrawler (from X-Men) fight each other and then make-out on stage, leaving Lara's face smeared with blue paint much to the crowd's insanely loud cheers. Again, they didn't allow flash photography at this thing, so it's one of those events that you just had to be there to see. I did see a lot of video cameras though, so who knows, maybe you can find some footage of it on the web at some point. Alrighty, enough blabber... on with a few pics from today! Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuurch! Yep, the Adam's Family man himself was signing autographs. And the creepy thing? He moves in that same slow, undead-like manner that he used in the movie. I guess it wasn't much of an acting stretch for the guy. Definitely seemed quite friendly and happy to be there though. When I said crowded, I meant crowded! This is pretty much how every area looked. You couldn't look down a lane without seeing hundreds of people in your way. For those of you who are claustrophobic, if you want to truly say you've conquered your fears, then you must attend the Comic-Con on a Saturday. Here's my buddy Pete from J-List... easily one of my favorite booths at the convention. They just have the shit you can't find at most other places, and that's because it's all straight from Japan. We'll be doing some more fun contests with them in the near future, but if you're at the 'con and haven't had a chance to check them out yet, make sure you do so before it ends this Sunday. If you don't, I assure you that Domo-Kun will come to your home and smash it to bits. How many influential heroes can I meet at this convention? The extremely approachable Lloyd Kaufman, the father of cheeze 'n sleeze b-movies such as "The Toxic Avenger" and "Class of Nuke 'em High" was there in-person today along with another Tromette. Such good times I tell ya... Ok, if this isn't the biggest Transformers fanboy cocktease of all-time, I don't know what is. Apparently they built a full-size Optimus Prime truck (the front of which is rumored to actually transform to some extent)... but here's the kicker. They're leaving it covered this year and apparently will unveil it at the convention next year! I'm all for supporting Transformers, but that's just cruel. And to wrap things up, I'm sure a lot of you are Aqua Teen Hunger Force fans just like I am... well I got to meet some of the guys behind the insanity. Here's a pic of me with Dana Snyder, the voice behind Master Shake. He's one of those voice actors that actually looks a lot like the voice he creates doesn't he? I don't mean he looks like a giant shake, I just mean he's a wacky/crazy lookin' guy when he wants to be. Really nice guys who seemed enthralled with the pickle that rested atop my head. They also just put out some great ATHF toys that you'll have to check out... they're not the cheap stuffed ones or anything that were put out a while back. These ones really look like the characters.   And as the ringing in my ears from an auditorium filled with a screaming crowd slowly subsides, I'm heading off to bed. I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow really. No doubt I'll stop by the Comic-Con again, but I'll probably also try to go out and explore San Diego a little bit more. Either way though, I'll do my best to post one last blog update late tomorrow night. Hope these quick updates have been somewhat entertaining and informative... but in all honesty, there's just no way you can grasp the enormity of the Comic-Con from any photos or writing. You really just have to see it in-person. So whether it's next year or 5 years from now, do yourself a favor and make sure you go! click here to discuss the above photos in RoG's blog!
Friday - Day 3 Finished up a little earlier today and got to walk around San Diego a bit in the evening... seems like they must have a really active nightlife here. Tons of restaurants and lots o' clubs around. The weather here continues to make me dread returning to the East Coast. Planning on attending a "schmoozefest" after-party tonight with Young American Comics, right after I catch a bit o' shuteye for an hour or so. Anyway, the Comic-Con itself continues to amuse the hell out of me. I think I've finally seen every exhibitor's booth now... only took me three days! Also got to attend "The Masters of Horror" presentation / Q&A session. For those of you who don't know about it, it's gonna be a new series on Showtime in which "The Masters of Horror" will each create a 1-hour film with no censorship or anything. Unfortunately they didn't allow photography at this event so I can't show you anything from it, but getting to see people like Don Coscarelli (creator of one of my all-time favorite horror flicks - "Phantasm") and John Landis (creator of An American Werewolf in London) in person was great. The show definitely sounds like it has a lot of potential... and a lot of gore! So yeah, for those of you who are horror fans, this definitely looks like a must-see series. I also did some more promotions for I-Mockery today, wandering around handing out the freebies. The shiny stickers I made continue to be a huge hit... I even snuck them into the big "freebie" table (they don't want stickers on there cuz people just stick them all over the convention center) and it was one of the freebies that just about everybody was picking up as they walked on by. Awesome. I had even more people track me down today going, "You're the guy from that I-Mockery site, right? The pickle hat gave it away!" I'm actually quite surprised... I'd figure anybody who was a fan of this site would have to be a complete asshole, but it turns out all the fans I've met so far have been extremely nice. So to those of you who've been coming up to me and saying "hi" - thanks! Also had an indie tv film crew stop me to interview me about the site and PickleMan. Even signed an autograph today. Madness. Ok well I suppose I've blabbed enough, so how about I share a few pics with you guys. I didn't take nearly as many pics today as I did the other days, but I was distracted by all the other shit going on... what can I say. I'm here on vacation. Fuck yes! What a way to start off my day than walking into the upstairs area and to find none other than "wrestling superstar" VIRGIL signing autographs! Well, as long as you paid him 20 bux he'd sign one. Hell, I wouldn't pay 20 bucks to see Roddy Rowdy Piper and Hulk Hogan in a wrestling match for the privilege of signing an autograph for me. Okay, that's not true... I'd pay that and a whole lot more. Still, while Virgil's autograph fees were too high, he was nice enough to let me take a picture of him no charge. Thanks Virgil, no go kick the Million Dollar Man's ass for me, ok? There's definitely no shortage of life-size sculptures for people to pose with. Still, a sculpture of Ash just can't compete with seeing Bruce Campbell in-person yesterday... Blizzard Entertainment's booth was busy as hell (big shocker) as they displayed videos from their latest games, including the upcoming Starcraft: Ghost. For a first-person shooter, it definitely looks nice, and the cinematic scenes were stunning as always. Still, I wish they would just hurry up and release a true RTS sequel to Starcraft... that game was just too perfect. These orange gals were promoting the Adult Swim network, another booth that was constantly crowded with a million Aqua Teen Hunger Force fanatics. I'm not sure why the hell these girls were orange though. I guess adults like to swim in Tang or something... You may not recognize him, but this guy deserves a lot of respect. He's none other than Lou Scheimer - the creator of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Really nice guy, and unlike a certain "wrestling superstar", he wasn't charging for autographs. I didn't get one since I honestly don't care about people signing a piece of paper for me, but still, it was great meeting the guy. His daughter, Erika, was there too... and she provided quite a few voices for a lot of the old characters. Like I said, sculptures galore. But hey, it's just a sculpture, I wasn't nervous at all when I stuck my finger in between those razor-sharp teeth. Nope... not nervous at all. Seriously. I mean it damnit! Stop laughing! And last but certainly not least, probably the most entertaining game I've played at the Comic-Con so far is the upcoming "Jaws: Unleashed" for the X-Box. This game actually allows you to play as the shark! That's right, you get to swim around and tear everyone and everything in sight to shreds. I even figured out a way to have Jaws jump up onto the shore of the beach and catch a person in his... uh... jaws. There's lots of blood and bone-crunching sounds anytime you kill a human or another fish. I actually had a hammerhead shark try to attack me. A hammerhead vs. Jaws!? That thing must've had sea-rabies or some shit. I love sharks. Jaws is the king of all sharks. This game allows me to be that shark. It's a match made in heaven and I can't wait to play the full-version when it comes out this fall. Apparently you'll get to have jaws fight Giant Killer Squids! Can this game possibly get any cooler? I seriously doubt it.   Alright kiddies, I'm off to go get some sleep before the after-party later on tonight... hope you guys have been enjoying these little daily updates. Rock on... click here to discuss the above photos in RoG's blog!
Thursday - Day 2 So it's like 1am here in San Diego (which probably means it's something like 5 days later on the East Coast) and I'm just now finally able to connect to the wireless network. Apparently they were having trouble with the router here all night, but it's working again, and you people couldn't care less. All you want to see is more tidbits from the Comic-Con. That's fine by me, because I want to go to bed, but before I share some pictures of you... get this. I was walking around the main convention area when I ran into some comedy heroes of mine... cast members from The State & Reno 911! They were just walking around casually and not a single person there even recognized them.  Got to speak with them for a little while and they were real friendly. I didn't want to take any photos of them though, didn't want to draw attention to them so that a thousand comic-con fanboys would rush them upon discovering that they were actors. Still, definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me so far. Anyway, here's some more pictures to quench your collective thirst for another 24 hours. Today marked the first day that I took on the role of a wandering promoter, armed with a big-assed bag filled up with I-Mockery freebies including promotional postcards with details about our upcoming comic book, PickleMan buttons, and shiny stickers which read "i-mockery.com gave me something shiny. now i am happy." that were a big hit so far. It's been a blast meeting all sorts of people so far, but even cooler is when I'll be walking around in my pickle hat and goggles (yes I did wear them for a little while today) and some people actually chased me down. I dunno, I guess there's just something nice about being recognized and meeting people who appreciate all the hard work you put into something... even if those people still live in their parent's basement and have insanely huge hentai collections... Yeah, I guess I wouldn't look too happy if I was in my late 20's and a bunch of teenage nerds were dreaming of caressing my big bushy tail. Don't worry though, she was put out of her misery shortly after I took this picture when a geek with a ninja sword chopped off her head for drawing one of the whiskers on her face 2 inches too high when. When it comes to dressing up at a comic-con, your costumes must be 100% accurate or the hordes of pimpled warriors will kill you. Seeing the Scarcrow costume from "Batman Begins" was cool 'n all, because it is nicely done, but the fact is he was defeated by a girl with a stun gun. What kind of evil villain gets beat by a friggin' stun gun!? Ah well, the other Batman props were pretty schnazzy as well. Where does he get those wonderful toys? Now I'm not one of those guys who knows the name of every single character from Star Wars, so please correct me if I'm wrong here: isn't this guy a just a pilot? Can someone explain to me what the fuck he's doing with a Jedi light saber? Well, maybe he landed his ship on a Jedi and stole his saber. Then again, maybe he's just some douchebag who never saw the movies in the first place and was hoping he could show one lucky lady his other saber later that night. Here ya have it, the first peak at the next game from The Behemoth (the guys behind Alien Hominid and Newgrounds) which is currently has no title. It's a 4-player game with knights that smash 'n bash the hell out of everything. Trust me when I say that this game is gonna kick ass. If you like the old 4-player bash 'em up games like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, this one will be right up your alley. The demo still has some bugs 'n stuff they want to work out, but there's plenty of fun stuff to be seen. Keep an eye out for more info on this one, it's gonna be one hell of a party game! I also met up with Tom, Synj and their gals later that night on the roof of this really nice hotel. Crazy thing is that it was this rooftop bar where the ground was all sand and it had a bonfire going 'n everything. A lot of people were walking around in their bare feet. Being on top of a building yet feeling like you're on a beach was just too cool for words. I'm probably gonna go there again before I leave San Diego next week...  Yes indeed Bruce "the man" Campbell was there to talk about some of his latest projects such as his new movie, "The Man With the Screaming Brain," and his latest book, "Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way." Afterwards, they had about an hour of Q&A with the fans, which was great, because Bruce is one of the most sarcastic bastards you'll ever meet. Seeing him mock fans who would ask stupid questions like, "When you're with a woman in bed, do you say 'hail to the king baby?'" was absolutely priceless. Replying with a completely straight face to that question and saying "You sir, are an idiot." had the crowd in hysterics. It's obvious why this guy has such a good career even without starring in a lot of big Hollywood movies; he just comes off as a really down-to-earth guy who always make a point to keep Hawaiin shirts in style.   Alright, that's all for tonight. Must sleep so I can drag myself back to the Comic-Con tomorrow. I look forward to paying 8 bux for another shitty little microwave pizza at lunchtime. But I stole a cup o' fries from the same place and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. Hey, revenge has to start somewhere. click here to discuss the above photos in RoG's blog!
Wednesday - Day 1 Well, so far this trip has been trouble free for the most part, so I can't complain. Amazingly enough, there were no delays whatsoever in our two flights over here. We had a connecting flight in Dallas, and while I had an urge to run outside and shout "the stars at night are big and bright!" just to see if everybody would stop in their tracks, clap their hands four times and say in perfect unison, "Deep in the heart of Texas!" Hey, they did it in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" so it must be true! Anyway, I've got a few pics to share with you guys before I crash. We actually got into the Comic-Con tonight since we have full passes, which was nice cuz there were some cool promos going on and the crowds were slightly less... uh... crowded. So here ya go, hooray for pictures! (please excuse me if this page looks like shit, doing web design on a laptop is about as easy as convincing one of these convention fan boys that Darth Vader isn't a real person.) This is the view from our hotel room window. $75 a night for this view, a free WiFi connection, and within a few blocks of a 7-11 and the Convention center? I believe we have a winner. [click to enlarge] Here's my pathetic attempt at taking a panoramic view of the convention center by taking 3 simultaneous snapshots. Well you get the idea, I just wanted to guys to see just how massive this convention center really is. If somebody was to bomb this place, I'm pretty sure the entire comic industry would implode on itself, because ever nerd on earth would be eradicated. I was really excited to see a nice big display for Aeon Flux, one of the greatest animation shows from back in the days of Liquid Television. You know, back when MTV had programming that was actually worth viewing. Anyway, they're finally releasing all of the original episodes on DVD this fall, fully restored 'n all that jazz. I'll definitely be picking up that set the day it comes out. I've spent the last 10 years trying to catch a fly in between my eyelashes like she does, and by god I will be able to do it before the DVD is out! Jackpot. One of the benefits of getting to attend the pre-show is that there's some cool exclusives going on. For one hour, the people in the Aeon Flux booth were making t-shirts with the logo on 'em. You had to get a voucher ticket and stand in line for 15 minutes, but considering they had episodes of Aeon Flux running on some big screens, that 15 minutes went by really fast and now I have me a spiffy Aeon Flux t-shirt. There's a lot of other exclusives at the 'con for purchase, and it's pretty sad to see how many people are there just to buy up everything in sight simply so they can sell it for insanely high prices on eBay. I'm sorry, but if you walk out of the 'con with more than 2 jumbo bags on any given day, you're a greedy asshole. And no, this isn't up for debate. Ah yes, my pal Tom from Newgrounds is here promoting the hell out of Alien Hominid. He was hoping to unveil his "top secret" new game (which I already know about, ha ha ha suckers) but there were still a few bugs that need to be worked out. Still, he's promising to have a playable demo of it ready by the first "official" day of the Comic-Con - tomorrow. I could douse myself in turpentine and scrub my skin raw with a Brillo pad and the stench of fanboy geek would STILL be all over me. And this is only the pre-show, I can't imagine how insanely crowded it's gonna be tomorrow. And what better way for me to end this first day of photos from the Comic-Con than with a pic of me and my new best friend... CAVEMAN ROBOT! I mean really; he's part caveman, part robot... all awesome. You just can't go wrong with a combination like that, it's humanly impossible.   It's been a great first day so far and San Diego has already made me hate the town I live in that much more because the weather is insanely perfect out here. Roughly 70 degrees with a nice breeze and no humidity. Do I really have to go back to the shitty humidity of Richmond, VA next week? Somebody hire me quick so I don't have to go back. I'll mow your lawns, I'll feed your fish... just give me a job so I can stay out here on the West Coast! I have more pics that I'll share later probably, but right now I'm tired as hell and want to go enjoy the thing I'm really paying this hotel for... a bed! Check back again late tomorrow night and I'll hopefully have some new pics to share! Until then, keep listening to that Fabio album over and over... I know you guys love it. click here to discuss the above photos in RoG's blog!