Loving every minute of everything is hard, but I think disappointment is based on false expectations. If you want to go to X con and you find Y con in its place, you’ll be disappointed.

I have to say that this was the Year of the Overly Intrusive Security. There were a few too many of the people in the red ELITE polo shirts directing traffic even at times when it would not have been a problem, and it made it a pain to get to the pro refreshment room among other places. However, they kept there from being riots when rooms got over-impacted, so I can understand the logic. I was having to make snap calls of which to humor and which to simply bull through since they didn’t have time to go chasing after people who ignored them.

I will probably be attending Wondercon so it’s good to know that it’s a bit lower key than Comicon. (Will go to APE as well)

I really felt bad about not liking Comicon. I felt like there must be something wrong with me or that I was missing something because I know of (and have a lot of friends, even my brother) who can go for all four days and love every minute of it.

If I go next year maybe it will be better???

Honestly I love them all, but Comicon certainly takes getting used to.

Totally agree about your take on The Dark Knight. I don’t know. My girlfriend and I agreed that Iron Man was a lot better. There was some Iron Man stuff at Comicon but much much more Batman stuff.

Anyway, our first time. It was crazy. And, to me not in a good way. I was there to promote my new graphic novel - actually it’s my screenplay which is being adapted into a graphic novel by author Stephen Stern (Zen: Intergalactic Ninja, War of the Worlds, Beowulf, Shygirl). Bill Maus is doing the artwork. (he is great by the way - both as an artist and a person).

Anyway, it was crazy. It felt like everyone was pitching something or selling something or buying something. There were too many people and sometimes too little room to get around. I don’t want to be a downer but I didn’t like it much.

I mean this is crazy right? I have a new comic property but don’t love Comicon?

http://www.ninjazombiesmovie.com

On the Twilight/Bella end, I picked up a Bella pin I think from the floor (there was a lot of schwag to be picked up where people discarded it, including an incredibly nice poster tube printed with all the Fox shows, which I ended up giving to Albert because he was doing the free poster hunt). Oh, and there were a few Twilight posters around.

With Amy Ackerman, I’ve seen her in other roles than Fred, and I think Joss chose her for her versatility. In any case, we’ll see how it goes.

Love, C.

Glad you enjoyed the rundown, and sure, no problem:

I was trying to find a seat in the dark while the Dollhouse preview was playing so I missed the intro and some of the details, but here it is in a nutshell: Show is present day; The Dollhouse is an underground Fantasy Island sort of shadow organization run by this bitchy martinet who appears to be a cross between Leona Helmsley and Dr. Moreau, but instead of turning people into animals, she scrubs their memories and makes them think they’re new people and she gets really put out when some of her dollies start remembering things anyway, including recognizing the other dolls as well as the recurring private investigator played by the guy from Battlestar Galactica; the investigator keeps encountering Echo (Dushku’s character) in her various guises, and will probably end up having romances with some of them.

On the casting end, one fan asked if Joss was going to use any other Buffy alumni, and Joss’s answer was that he didn’t want the show to be a reunion of all the same actors, but yeah, Amy Ackerman would be on the show too, and it was intimated that down the road, if he knew the perfect actor for the part and they were available, he’d probably be drawing from people he liked working with again, same as any director.

On a slightly related note, Tom Lenk was at the Atom Films booth signing baseball caps to promote a new show that Comedy Central may be picking up, but was overshadowed on the floor by the giant Tower of Harold and Kumar next door. Anyway, Lenk’s new project is basically a comedy about three guys in Arizona who are self-appointed border patrol helpers. It sounds like a redneck version of Reno 911.

With Doctor Who and Torchwood, there was a fun with when the actress whose character was just killed mentioned that it was the second time she’d died in John Barrowman’s arms on stage, since the first was when they’d both been in Miss Saigon. After a request from a fan later in the panel, they did a duet. But the Doctor Who/Torchwood panels were mostly fun and promotion and pretty much nil on previews except for showing a preview of the next Doctor Who Christmas special, which will feature Cybermen in 1851 and a supremely evil but well-coutured woman in a red dress played by some immensely good actress I’ve never seen before but probably quite familiar to British fans.

I am so, so, so jealous that you got to attend the Doctor Who/Torchwood panel! I would love to see John Barrowman in person. He’s such a tremendously talented man. I have watched a good number of Youtube clips of him from some UK variety shows (why don’t we have those in the States anymore?) and he’s got a great voice and is a truly funny guy. I’m green with envy, sir, positively green.

Yes, feel free to expand on things you felt were of interest in the panels, and etc.