Comic-Con Diary 7: Saturday

Michelle and I let Anita sleep in on Saturday morning while we went over to sell swag. Sales were decent - they topped Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday had been significantly better. Foot traffic in the dealers' room was brisk, but it wasn't turning into sales. Generally, the weekend is spent by many of the guests in panels and pursuing celebrity appearances, so I wasn't surprised.

Since we got over to the convention center earlier, I took another crack at the toy exclusives. This time, things went swimmingly - the Mattel ticket table (in the autograph area) was almost completely deserted, so I snagged my allotment (the ticket lasts for two hours - mine went from 9-11AM) and headed downstairs. I think I was only in the line for a half hour or so. I happily discovered that once you were at the counter with your ticket, you could get all of the exclusives if you wanted them (rather than having to get a ticket for each toy). I snagged a Justice League Unlimited Giganta figure set and one of the Cars Lightning Storm McQueens.

Anita was able to savor a hotel waffle, joining us later on - I had my sandwich for lunch, and was preparing for another run through the dealers' room when who should appear but John Landis! I'd met him a few years ago at a San Francisco screening of An American Werewolf in London and invited him to visit the studio. He gave such a good talk that it set a new benchmark for visiting lecturers - he's still mentioned as one of the best!

He's a Comic-Con regular, but he had an extra-special reason to attend this time - his wife Deborah was presenting her new book, Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design. We exchanged hellos, and he 'berated' me for not having seen his latest film, Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project. D'oh! He took his leave after a couple of geeky pictures, and I began another round of shopping and picture-taking. My camera was still battery-bereft, so I borrowed Anita's here and there. I did pick up some more toys, but the specifics have slipped my mind.

Anita went to watch Karen rehearse for Red Fraggle's Sunday appearance, and I wandered up to the Acme Archives Ltd. booth, promptly running into David Silverman and Mike Anderson, long-time buddies from my way-back stint on The Simpsons (season two)! Who needs celebrity panels?

Unfortunately, Mike had to bolt, so David and I caught each other up on our recent mischief. Acme's Lisa McLain and Chris Jackson had been chatting with David earlier - so we all began talking, and Chris mentioned he was a fan of my work, and would I be interested in contributing to Acme's line of custom, limited-edition Lucasfilm-inspired art? Well, yes!

Leaving David, I floated over to pick up Michelle and meet Anita over at McCormick & Schmick's for dinner. We were gathering there to celebrate Karen Prell's birthday, which we did in grand style! The Skellys joined us, as well as several more of Karen's puppetry friends. Mr. Silverman was going to join us, but sadly missed our group and wound up fêting elsewhere. The food was great and the conversation was lively - I was going a little hoarse from the week's relentless gab, but it was lots of fun!

I was so tired from the demands of the convention (and the previous late nights of blogging) that I collapsed without writing anything. More tomorrow about three days ago!