San Diego Comic Con
I am here, back to the land of milk and honey, beaches and right now, comics. This is my second annual Comic Con adventure. I feel like an interloper but at least a benevolent one. I mean yeah, I had a healthy stack of graphic novels in college and I enjoyed Ren and Stimpy but this, this is a world unto itself.
I’m supposed to be there right now. It’s 9:15 am and I was told to be downtown earlier so I could actually park. I’ve garnered a super secret special exhibitor badge that lets me in to the “con” (as we like to say) an hour and a half before the masses. I wasn’t exceptionally motivated this morning because I have two more days to cash in on that particular aspect of my golden ticket. Plus, my mom sent me an email asking me to block out a half an hour to “talk” (read complain and try every which way to meddle) about my sister who is having some pretty nasty medical problems. How could I go out and have fun, knowing that I have to have this important and life changing conversation. Better that I stay here in this fluffy, pink bed and await the call.
Yesterday I flew in to the San Diego airport and took a shuttle to one of the hotels close to the convention center. I shared it with one other guy. He was exceptionally chatty and after a few back and forths I realized a bit touched. He really could have been a crazy, drunk homeless guy. But him on the shuttle from the SD airport staying at the Embassy Suites? It didn’t quite make sense. He was asking me all kinds of questions, where I’m from, what I’m doing in town in a manner that I can only describe as a vacillation between Rainman and Charles Bukowsky. When I finally got to ask him why he was in town, he said that he was here for Comic Con also. He rapidly, Bukowski style, told me about being there in THE beginning, trading comics from under his bed in the 50’s and hanging out with the guy that started Comic Con.
When I asked him if he was here for fun, he told me, Rainman style that he was here for a panel. His panel. “I have a panel, yeah, a panel, my panel. Gonna talk about all this stuff, all this stuff”. I asked him his name, still half believing that he was a crazy homeless guy that was in love with comics.
His name: Ralph Bakshi.
I know for most of you, that big reveal of the name didn’t do much, but in a former life, I did go to art school and the name did impress me. Bakshi is one of the few godfathers of modern animation.
We got out of the van and the small thought that this guy was a crazy impostor vanished as I looked down at his dirty, cartoon colored paint stained once white tennis shoes. He asked me if I had a place to stay, because if I didn’t, I could stay in his room with him. At first I thought he was hitting on me, but then as I politely refused telling him that I was staying with friends, thought that he was honestly asking from a crazy guy perspective. He thought I needed a place to sleep and he had a room, perfect match. Or at least that makes me feel better about the interaction.
His panel discussion is tomorrow at 4:30, I might go.
26. July 2008 at 13:15
Hey, sister of mine I am so surprised she is calling to complain (add sarcastic font here) She called me yesterday and told me I needed to quite my job and focus on getting better… Yeah that makes sense give up the job that makes more money per hour then my husband so I can what… sit around the house and heal myself… Then she asked me if Rick hits me… I had to laugh she thinks that my marriage is so much like hers just because my husband went on a cross country motorcycle ride without me that he is planning to leave me and is abusive.. Not that he worked for four days straight several times over the winter during some of the worst snow storms we have seen in a while and I told him to take some time for himself to re-charge…..
26. July 2008 at 14:27
She wasn’t complaining, she was worried about your health.
26. July 2008 at 18:58
Yeah i get the worried about my health but how is quiting my job going to help anything… I make more money then rick does in 4 days just by working one day… And every time she sees me she tells me my husband is going to leave me and he can’t be trusted to do anything alone. Like out of the house without me alone.
How is all of that going to help my health.. If She really learns how to be supportive instead of talking so negative all the time. Everything with my health is not right we all know that, How is telling me that the rest of my life is fucked up going to help me??? Yes I used a swear word. She is trying but it is really hard for her to look at things glass half full and I don’t want that kind of energy around me that’s not good either. Taking us up to get Elizabeth’s cast the other day was very helpful but the conversation was about how Rick doesn’t seem to be there for me and How she thinks he is abusive… He is not around when she is here because he is still upset about how she had told me she can help and watch the girls a couple of weeks ago and after watching them on Monday telling us she won’t be back “Because No One should have to deal with those children” Then after practically begging her she agreed to come back the next day but that was it. I was left not able to work for most of the rest of the week because I could not pay for child care Because Rick started the new job and was gone all day.. I was stuck. Within the week after that I lost two of my three accounts because I was not able to work them enough and keep the clients happy…