A Return to SDCC - Recap of Day 4
By: Mithrandiel
(Check out what I did on Preview Night/Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3!)
At the end of Thursday I remember telling Lance "I can't believe it's only day 1..."
It felt like the weekend was going to last forever...but sure enough, the inevitable end of San Diego Comic Con was upon us. That's right: it's time to recap Sunday...day 4!
My first order of business was attending a signing for artist and comic book writer Nick Dragotta - whose iconic work on East of West earned him a spot on my "must watch" list. When Lance pointed me in the direction of Ghost Cage, I had no idea how perfectly it would align with my love of anime and manga. 3 captivating issues later, I knew it would be a trade I would add to my collection.
Mr. Dragotta was gracious enough to sign my book, and writer Caleb Goellner was also on hand for a signing, luckily for us! While we waited for Caleb to come to the booth, I chatted with Dragotta briefly on my appreciation for Ghost Cage and more importantly, East of West. I had heard some rumblings about an adaptation for East of West, and Dragotta clued me in on just how awesome the adaptation could have been: they were in talks with director Yō Moriyama of Megalobox fame about bringing the dystopian comic book to life. How crazy would that have been?!
Wandering away with visions of what might have been, I spent the majority of the day on the floor, grabbing pictures, chatting with vendors, and expanding my personal comic book collection. I found quite a few Strange Tales issues I was looking for, as well as Sub Mariner 34 and 35, which debuted the first iteration of The Defenders - a superhero team that has my two favorites: Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange!
A fun little aside for me and my friends was to visit the Dragonball activation outside of the main hall. This outdoor space was filled with cool displays, showing off Dragonball merchandise and toys through the years, as well as timeline of the Dragonball franchise films, and plenty of fun photo opportunities!
The last big piece of programming for us was the Funko Pop Talk Live presentation in Hall H - again, many thanks to Funko for graciously arranging Hall H passes so that we could participate in this exciting event!
For those unfamiliar: Funko hosts an online web series known as Pop Talk Live - where celebrities come on and are interviewed by CEO Brian Mariotti and founder Mike Becker. Gabriel Iglesias, lovingly known as "Fluffy" to his fans, hosted the event, and "helped out" Brian and Mike by bringing on 3 of his celebrity buddies: William Zabka (Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid and more recently, Cobra Kai), Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Zombieland, Ahsoka), and Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience, Shang Chi: Legend of the Ten Rings).
The conversations were a blast, and it was great to get some insights on their motivations, who their heroes were, and their various collections.
Brian and Mike also briefly reviewed some upcoming Pop lines, as well as plans for upcoming conventions including New York Comic Con.
The event concluded with a surprise for each and every guest at Hall H: a pair of exclusive, Hall H funkos! Each box contained the Hall H exclusive Freddy Funko, complete with a Comic-Con t-shirt and overall adorable ensemble...but there was also a chance to get a limited edition glow in the dark demogorgon in three different colors, or a rare Shang Chi or Johnny Lawrence pop!
And with that, 4 and a half days and over 32 miles of walking later, San Diego Comic Con 2022 came to a close.
It was a fantastic weekend - getting to meet and see so many comic artists and writers that I admire. It was my second real comic convention since taking on the hobby, which definitely helped me to get even more satisfaction out of the weekend.
We cannot wait to return to the San Diego Convention Center next year and see what amazing progress has been made in the world of pop culture in that time.
Until then - stay geeky, everyone!
