Cheers, kittens! If you'll kindly check your calendars, you'll see it's summertime and if you regularly follow the scribblings and adventures of Dr. Lucy Devereaux and Moi, you'll know summer here in sunny San Diego means just one thing: San Diego Comic-Con!

Summertime lists of entertainment alternatives for the geeky and the pale put SDCC firmly on top of the pile. It's air-conditioned fun where we ghosties and our fellow friends of pasty pallor can hide from the vile sun and retain our dewy freshness. It's a venue where geeks, dorks and nerds of every shade of pale can gather in costume, greedily clutching their comic books and collectible figures whilst dork-walking at revved speeds to snag front-row seats to panels such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Action Figure Showcase and I Can't Write, I Can't Draw, But I Love Comics!, all without fear of a wedgie anytime during the day ... as long as conventioneers don't wander too far into the neighboring Gaslamp District. The Gaslamp is no place for a lone nerd in costume, especially at night when the surfy sportos, apathetic hipsters and sloshed beach thugs roam, and own, the darkness. Travel in nerd packs if you must; but be assured, like any Star Trek exploratory mission, the one in the red shirt will be sacrificed. Don't be the red shirt.

Dr. Lucy, her EOS Canon Digital Rebel XT in-hand, and I will be covering all the geeky goodness of SDCC 2K13 for you, just as I did 2K12, and Tweeting snaps, sightings, booths of note and nerdy news all weekend long from the floor and beyond the ether! Panels will be plentiful and will run the gamut of information and instruction from Inside The Big Bang Theory's Writers' Room to Steampunk 101, and Showcasing the Best in Korean Comics to Snoopy: A Retrospective. As always, SDCC is also a bit of a celeb trek and this year, expect to see the likes of James Spader (Lincoln, The Blacklist), Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Coraline) and  J. Michael Straczynski (Superman: Earth One, Before Watchmen). Of course, Dr. Lucy is always on the hunt for Seth Green and one can hope one bumps into Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, George Lucas or Adrianne Curry in one of the aisles. (Bring the smelling salts, Dr. Lucy!)

Of course, it wouldn't be a comic book convention if I wasn't interviewing somebody fabulous for your reading pleasure! (WonderCon offered Leah Cevoli (Deadwood, Robot Chicken) and Katrina Hill (Action Movie Freak). Dr. Lucy and I will be squeezing our fine, cosplayed cabooses into the SyFy Press Room once again: this time, a table chat with the cast of SyFy's Warehouse 13. Interview and candid pics, à la last year's Being Human interview, will post after the Con concludes.

In past years, I've been ... I mean, my pally Jennifer Susannah Devore  has been fortunate enough have her articles selected for the official Souvenir Book: 60th anniversary of Peanuts (which earned her a citation in TIME magazine) and the 100th anniversary of Tarzan (which garnered her an invitation to meet Dr. Jane Goodall). One never knows what good fortune and opportunity this year's submission, if accepted, will bring her. Cross your fingers, kids!

The themes for this year's Souvenir Book are many and varied: amongst others, the 75th anniversary of Superman, 50th anniversaries of Marvel Superheroes and Doctor Who and 25th anniversaries of The Tick and The Sandman. Miss Jenny's selection? The 20th anniversary of Bongo Comics. Known as Bongo Entertainment since 2012, it is the comics publishing empire founded by The Simpsons-creator Matt Groening with three BFFs in 1993: Steve Vance (DC Comics, Disney Adventures Comics), Cindy Vance (Disney Adventures Comics) and Bill Morrison (Roswell: Little Green Man). Navigating twenty years of analog-to-digital waters is no easy task; yet, Bongo has flourished, combining classic comic core and the moving target that is modern zeitgeist.

The frosting on the Comic-Con cupcake? Getting to dress up months before Hallowe'en! Last year's costume was Steampunk, WonderCon was Abby Sciuto and this year's con will be Scooby-Doo's Daphne Blake. I thought about Velma. Surely, the scholarly, brunette geek girl does seem to suit me better. Still, Velma's sweater is ugly and unflattering and, quite frankly, she's too good of a ghost hunter. I can't abide that, really. Danger-prone Daphne, though?!  She's hot, she's nice, she's wealthy, what's not to like? Plus, I've always wanted orange hair for a day and what girl doesn't love hot pink tights, lime-green accessories and a purple micromini? Jeepers!

 

Abyssinia at the Con, kids!

*In fact, kids, JennyPop's article was accepted. Read Bartbarians at the Gate: 20 Years of Bongo on the Digital Frontier from the SDCC 2K13 Souvenir Book.

 

Hannah’s fave places to haunt online? JennyPop.net and amazon.com/author/jenniferdevore

Follow @JennyPopCom @Eslilay and @GoodToBeAGeek for SDCC floor updates!

 

Read 4596 times Last modified on Thursday, 21 November 2019 00:35
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About Author

Jennifer Susannah Devore (a.k.a. JennyPop) authors the 18th C. historical-fiction series Savannah of Williamsburg. She is a regular contributor - 10 years running - to the Official San Diego Comic-Con Souvenir Book; as well, she writes and researches all content for JennyPop.com. Occasionally, JennyPop writes under the pseudonym Miss Hannah Hart, ghostdame of The Hotel del Coronado.

JennyPop has been cited by TIME magazine as a Peanuts and Charlie Brown expert. Her latest novel is The Darlings of Orange County, a sexy, posh and deadly romp through Hollywood, San Diego and Orange County. Book IV in the Savannah of Williamsburg Series is completed and awaits publication. She is currently researching Book V for the series. She resides at the beach with her husband, a tiny dog, a vast wardrobe and a closet that simply shan't do.