Comicon 2012, by Michael Stradford – The Tall Guy’s Gear Guide | @MDWorld

July 16, 2012 Michael Stradford 1 Comment

Last week I made my annual trek down to San Diego to partake in the hurricane that is Comicon.

Over 100,000 sentient beings made their way to the San Diego Convention Center to imbibe in all things pop culture: Comics, movies, games, toys, and almost anything else entertainment related.   As a selective collector not looking for anything in particular, it was a relaxing visit (as relaxing as anything could be when you’re bumping into all kinds of aliens, robots and kids).  Fortunately, the hygene at Comicon has vastly improved, so there was no need for gas masks this year.

(The 3 Stooges never die, they go to Comicon)

Below is a selection of photos that generally speak for themselves.  Captions are added as needed.

(Colin Farrell’s getaway car in the upcoming ‘Total Recall’)

(Aisha Tyler from ‘Archer’ and ‘XIII’ meeting fans)

(All in the Family)

(James Bond’s boat from ‘The World Is Not Enough’)

(The Engineer from ‘Prometheus’ with his assistants?)

(Darwyn Cooke and Scott Dunbier at the IDW booth)

(Two legends: Howard Chaykin & Tony Raiola)

(My good fortune: I ran into the incredibly photogenic Cowan Clan outside the con)

(Michael Davis raising all kinds of hell at The Black Panel)

(Outstanding artist and world class deviant, Frank Cho with his latest calendar)

The highlight of the con for me is the annual dinner that I have with several good friends that I rarely get to see outside of San Diego.  For the third year in a row, we’ve been at The Palm downtown, where the food, service and atmosphere is top notch.

(The lovely Anna Manning, Assistant Manager at The Palm)

Howard Chaykin used to be the ring leader until he decided to leave the con in his rearview, but we called him from the restaurant, pass the phone around to give (and receive) abuse.  Our get-togethers is consistently one of the year’s events that I can count on to be funny, profane and always memorable.

(From left, Michael Polis, Axel Alonso, Frank Cho, David Armstrong, Brandon Peterson, me  and Royd)

That’s a wrap til next year.

Have a great week, I’m getting ready for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, Thursday night at midnight!