Happy New Year!

Hello. New years is upon us and I figured I'd drop a line again about a few drinks. I haven't really been much of a participant in cocktail culture of late Spending more time drinking good beer. So I'm going to write this one about winter beers. And follow it up with a recent cocktail fave “the Rusty Nail”

Back in the day brewing was a seasonal activity and many beers had their distinct times, for instance Marzen, better known as Oktoberfest beer in the states. Was brewed typically in March, thus the name Marzen, German for March. Due to the advantages of the modern age, Refrigeration, year round grain and hops etc. Many styles of beer are now made the whole year. But there are still some brewers due to tradition or the intricacies of their brew, that choose to still make special beers for the holiday. I'm going to outline three. Sammichlaus, Cervezaria Moctezuma's Noche buena, and Anchor's Christmas Ale.

Sammichlaus.
The first of these that I'm writing about is the Swiss Beer Sammichlaus. This beer named in the Zürich dialect word for Santa Claus. Has the distinction of being the strongest beer ever brewed, at a whopping 14% alcohol by volume. First brewed in 1980, Sammichlaus is brewed every year on St Nicholas' day, December 6, and is lagered (a slow secondary fermentation wherein it is aged under cold conditions) nearly a whole year. In fact the total process, brewing, fermenting, lagering, and bottling takes a whole year as it is bottled on St Nicholas' day of the following year from which it was brewed! This brewing time and the use of champagne yeasts make the famous strength. The Beer comes in s light and dark version, but they should be called dark and darker. I bought the only type they had at my local BevMo but judging from the bottle pictured in Micheal Jackson's “Ultimate Beer” (DK 1997) I believe I tried the light one. Traditionally the beer is drank in espresso cup sized steins but as I don't have one of these, my father and I sampled it in cognac snifters. The flavor is rich and full with a wine like mouth feel. It's a little sweet and has more of a wine like acidity than typical beer like bitterness. But the flavors are all malt and hops, being a lager the yeast doesn't play into flavor. It's texture is a little oily not dissimilar to an ice wine or a single malt. It was quite good, and even in the snifter goes straight to the head. I'll have to try it in a pint sometime for science.... of course. The beer is of course seasonal, but due to it's low profile out of hop head circles it's pretty much available year round wherever good beers are sold.

Noche Buena.
Named Noche Buena (the good night) the Spanish term for Christmas Eve. Noche Buena is a great German style lager. Though known for cheaper beers like Corona or Tecate, there are many a great German style beer coming out of Mexico. In fact many styles like the Vienna lager which aren't made much in Germany Austria anymore are still quite popular in Mexico. Noche Buena is made by La Cervezaria Moctezuma, and starts to appear on the shelves around Thanksgiving. It is everything a German lager should be, good malt flavors, a nice zing of hops and a fizzy, but not too fizzy mouth feel. I believe it is Mexico's best beer. I usually find it in holiday party packs at Costco with it's popular brothers Dos Equis Clara and Obscura (itself one of the aforementioned Vienna lagers).

Anchor Brewing's Special Holiday Ale.
Commonly called the Christmas ale, due to it's Christmas card style label. It's an excellent ale made with spices. Brewed by the Anchor Brewing Company, famous for reviving “steam beer”, since 1975. Each years Christmas Ale is a little bit different. Each year gets a different group of spices in the wort, and a different Tree adorns each years label. The spices used are a trade secret, but I can usually spot coriander (a favorite beer spice), orange peel, and I suspect pine. This beer has been a family tradition in my house for the last couple of years and I've tasted two vintages. Both where actually quite similar so I'd say they have a base recepie, that they modify it to suit the spices chosen for that year. The Christmas Ale is a complex flavor. It has a very rich malt presence with a bit of nuttiness from the yeast, and a nice session bitter hop character. Then the spices hit you adding to the bitterness, in an almost medicinal way (this is a good thing). It's meant to be drank in pints, but I prefer taking it in a snifter or tumbler because it's very, very rich, and a pint would become monotonous on the palate. I highly recommend it, I've tried 2009 and 2010s. And I prefer 2010, so check it out while it still lasts. You can find it at most good liquor stores, wherever Anchor is sold. It is sold in both 12oz. bottles and magnums, I prefer the magnum as I get it as part of our Christmas feast, and it's just more celebratory. As it is a vintage ale it supposedly ages well, but I've never had it last that long aging beer and wine for me is a task.

And last but not least the one new drink I've discovered this year. The Rusty Nail. It's a simple drink made of Scotch Whiskey and the cordial of Drambuie Drambuie is one of those super secret cordials that everywhere in Europe seems to have, So I have no idea what it is other than Drambuie The drink goes thus.

1.Old Fashion glass (tumbler)
2.4oz. of blended Scotch Whiskey.
3.1oz. of Drambuie
4.Ice.
Fill the glass with Ice and build the drink by first pouring the Scotch, then topping it off with Drambuie Give it a stir then drink.

Well that's it for me this year so I hope you have a great new year and keep safe on New Years Eve.


David

A Week of Unlikely Concerts.

Last week I had what I like to call my week of awesome improbable concerts. I call it this because I got to go to two concerts that I never believed would happen. The first was Roger Waters performing, his and Pink Floyd's opus "The Wall" On tuesday November 30th, and the second the first and (so far) only U.S. concert of the Japanese Prog Rock outfit Luna Sea on Saturday December 4.
First Was "The Wall" by Roger Waters. I would have never thought that Waters would ever tour "The Wall" again, it having been an exceedingly difficult show to pull off in 1980, and a historic debacle when performed again for a one off in 1990. Also it's from a period of his career that the artist is typically touchy about. So imagine my surprise when my dad sends me a newspaper clipping announcing the tour.
Pink Floyd's "The Wall" in all honesty has never been my favorite Pink Floyd album, and I detest the movie. But to see that Roger Waters was re creating and reviving the the famous stage version (which I have always been partial too, despite my lack of love for the album) I knew I couldn't miss it.
The Show was great, many of the original concepts of the show where still in place, the giant wall erected between band and audience, The massive inflatable puppets, and projections. But now the show has been moved from an internal view (the character pink's move from the world into his emotional wall) to an external one (society's move from the world into it's emotional wall). Thus the show has a much more political theme this time around. The projections are mostly new, in fact only three animated sequences from the original show are present in the current show, These are "What Shall we Use Now?" aka the fornicating flowers, "Waiting for the Worms" the hammers marching, and the trial. An interesting aspect to this new performance was the use of projections on the wall in the first half of the show. For those who aren't aware in the original show the wall is erected between the audience and the band, as if it wasn't happening, no projection's, the band performing in their spots with only traditional moments of coming to stage front, such as guitar solos and such. The idea was startle the audience with this bold idea of blocking off the connection between performer and audience, as well as providing a literal dramatization of the concepts of the show's narrative. While it still is bold and still enforces the narrative, everyone knows about the wall (the literal barrier) from books bootlegs and documentaries, so knowing that there would be no shock factor to a forty foot wall being built during a rock concert, Waters and Co. decided to use it as theater straight away. One of the highlights being in, "The Thin Ice" where they project a picture and name of a victim of war, beginning with Waters' father and transpose each one to a different brick, with ever brick filled with an image by the end of the number.
The performance was great. Waters newest band being in top form, kudos to the singer Robbie Wycoff for his great renditions of the songs originally sung by David Gilmour and to Guitarist David Killmister for his reproduction of the guitar solo's of the same. Also performing was a local kids group who danced and sang along with the children's choir part of "Another Brick in the Wall" part two. The stand out bits for me, was what is the first side of the second record "Hey you", "Is There Anybody out There", "Nobody Home", and "Comfortably Numb" the boldness of playing out the pieces completely or mostly behind a wall. makes these numbers, the best on the album in my opinion, quite memorable and bold. More a piece of theater than a typical concert. Roger Waters Wall Tour was a great experience.
The Second unlikely concert was that of Luna Sea. Luna Sea is a Japanese rock band from the nineties that has been not just a favorite J rock band of mine, but one of my favorite bands for some time. it's hard to describe their music, a blend of hard rock, Metal, Goth, and Progressive rock. I choose to call them a prog rock band as it is the part of the previous description that doesn't preclude the others. In any case they are a very unique and exciting band , that broke up ten years ago, though they preferred to call it a prolonged hiatus even back to when they split. and if you've never heard them I recommend you check them out, they are available on I tunes and there are many videos of them on You Tube. Recently many J rock bands have been touring the United States, and I have seen a couple of my favorites but, of all of the J rock bands I've listened to Luna Sea seemed least likely to want to tour the U.S. especially as, despite a couple of one off shows in 2007, where still split. So imagine my surprise when I found out that they where not only going to be touring this year, but playing at the Hollywood Palladium, on their one and only stop in the U.S. For someone who pondered going to Japan to see their (then) final concert and their reunion, it was no question, I had to go to this show. This was the first time I had ever been in the Palladium, and I was surprised at how big the place is, from the outside I expected it to be like a club, but when you really look at it and go inside, I found that it was actually a pretty good size theater. The place was full with an interesting crowd of American, anime fans general concert goers, and the Luna Sea faithful, known playfully as Slaves. There was a film crew there as the concert was being filmed for a 3D concert film to be released next year. The stage was a simple setup with a back drop of a reflective full Moon and the band's logo. The House music faded over to Luna Sea's techno intro. And the audience came up to a frenzied pitch when the ominous LOVE intro to the opening song "Loveless" echoed. The opening track of their fourth album "Mother" it is a wonderful sparse crystalline song and a perfect opener for the concert. The biggest shock to me about Luna Sea live is how loud they are, of course all rock bands are loud so I'm speaking relatively. But it was not a noisy loud just a big fully enveloping sound that made the atmospheric nature of their music the dominating force of the evening, brilliant! The guitars weaved around the room and the bass and drums where strong. The concert that followed was a triumphant trip through Luna Sea's greatest hits. The big songs where all there, Dejavu, Rosier, Ra se n, In My Dream (With Shiver), and so forth, and the performance was as energetic and strong as the band ever played in their 1990's heyday. Ruyichi the Lead singer did some of his MC ing in English, but unlike some J rockers the language is not his strong suit so he spoke more in Japanese, but we didn't need English to understand their passion and thankfulness to play to an international audience for the first time. I do believe that musicians greeting the audience in their home language is quite an honor so I thank Ryuichi for his effort. The concert was a great experience and the best concert I've been to in quite a while, you know those shows where you feel both tiered and refreshed at the same time? this was one of them. Stand out moments for me where. "Ra se n", this is a cyclic song of moods culminating on one of lead guitarist Sugizo's greatest solos. His Guitar tone in person is so large and penetrating, its almost as if it's coming from within you. "Face to Face" a moody goth song a favorite, "Storm" a great rocker with a solo almost as great as "Ra se N's" the violin lead "Providence" and "In my Dream (with shiver)" the earliest of Luna Sea's anthems and an epic moment. Also a stand out for me was Drummer Shinya's playing I feel you can only truly experience that art of a drummer in person, so much is lost in recording. And Shinya in person was an amazing experience. He is a drummer with a Taiko back ground and he plays drums with such authority (read he hits them really hard). After about a two hour show the band ended the concert with the popular closer "Wish" starting with a shot of confetti cannons, we where the band's for one evening as the band was ours.
So that was my week of unlikely concerts. both where great experiences and I can only hope that I can have rock concert experiences like that more often.

Moleskine notebooks.

The Moleskine Notebook, is a cheap leather bound notebook that has caught on with artists, especially it seems animators. I always thought that these notebooks, which seem really cheaply put together, made in china, and $10 for a 3.5”x5.5” one, where just another hip status symbol object. I just could not figure out what the appeal of these sketchbooks were. Well, while I was at A.P.E. I sat next to some animators who were sketching in Moleskines, I started to wonder about them again. Later I was at Barnes and Noble I noticed that they had Moleskines for 20% off. So I figured I'd see what the hype was all about. I took the plunge and bought one. And well, it's hype and a status symbol... mostly. The one I got was a hard bound, but it really is not well bound, however, this actually works in the things advantage. Because since the perfect binding breaks on every spread, you can draw freely across the gutter. The paper is a very smooth slightly toned surface that's kinda hard. It takes to my beloved Col-erase pencil beautifully (probably why Animators like 'em). So I have to admit that it is a nice drawing experience. But here is the part that sucks. A 3.5”x5.5” sketchbook costs the same as a 9”x12” by most other companies. And while the texture of the pages is great it's nothing that can't be obtained in a less expensive notebook, made in the first world. So basically it's a nice book, but way overpriced in my opinion, especially since they are made in china. So it won't replace my Strathmore's and Canson's any time soon. But that said, I may keep get the 3.5”x5.5” type as a travel notebook in the future, epecially if I can find them on sale. Because it fits into the pocket well, without the discomfort of the spiral bind. So there you have it they're good, but no greater than other makes of sketchbooks, so my conclusion is that Moleskine notebooks are hype and status symbols.

Long Beach Comic Con and the Neuropsychosis World Tour

Hey lo. Last weekend I finished up the Neuropsychosis World Tour with the Long Beach Comic Con. The Con was a fun experience and my first at a big Convention's artist alley. It was completely different from A.P.E. I felt it had a similar vibe to it as an Anime Convention. I did poorly sales wise, but did very well as far as making connections and learning stuff was concerned. I made one connection that may get one of my short stories into print, so that was pretty cool. I was surprised though, because I expected A.P.E. To be the show that I did poorly at. Aside from my exhibiting I found some cool new comic stuff, visited with my neighbor from A.P.E. Josh the artist from "Assholes", and got a drawing from the amazing Dean Yeagle. I also got a hold of Mobieus' new Arzack series which will probably be written about here later. Long beach seemed to be a big cosplay show, which is cool, of course that might be due to the fact that it was on Halloween weekend. All that plus a weekend with my cousin equals a great time.
With the first Neuropsychosis tour finally wrapped up, I can reflect. It was a good learning experience in how to promote your book. I learned that you need to have a single sentence in which you can entice someone into picking it up. After looking around I decided that I need to go with some form of print house for my comic as the 'zines just aren't attracting people, in fact most people figure them as freebies. So that was the Neuropsychosis World Tour. See ya on the next go round.

Day and Night.

I know I'm a little behind on this, but I just got back from seeing Toy Story 3. And it was great, really Pixar's great movie streak is almost getting into “deal with Satan” territory. But I'm not writing about Toy Story 3, which has had plenty written about it. I'm writing about the short screened with it Day and Night. This short was brilliant. It features two guys representing night and day coming to an understanding with each other. But what's awesome about it is it's a 3D animated movie inside a 2D animated movie. Night and Day are two completely hand drawn 2D animated characters but instead of ink and paint, They have Pixar 3D animation of their respective days filling them. So as they walk a 3D scene scrolls through them. As they come closer the 3D scene fills up more of the screen. It's an effect so mind blowing that your amazed at every moment, but a concept so simple your amazed no one had thought of it earlier. It also is an excellent use of the Real D system, as the figures make a proscenium for the action inside them. This was a genius new idea in animation, the sort that reminds one why animation is so special and I hope we see more neat stuff like this in the future.

A.P.E. Was the Shit

This year I decided to broaden the scope of the promotion of my comic, and so I decided to do two new conventions. The Alternative Press Expo (A.P.E) and Long Beach Comic Con. I just finished A.P.E. And it was a blast. A.P.E. Is a quirky little con, put on by Comic-Con International. In San Francisco. And it is a really fun show. It takes place at the concourse event center, an old wood framed Looong convention center that looks like it was once a shipping depot or an abattoir. Which makes it quite suited for the very self aware “indie” event that it is. The event is a very laid back convention, in fact it doesn't start until 11:00 and most people don't really show up until 1:00 (at least where I was). Also this is the first con that I've ever been to where there have been a number of people drinking, there was even a bar on site. This all led to A.P.E seeming more like a party than a con. Bur the biggest thing I liked about A.P.E. Is that about 90% of the exhibitors are artists. Not that I mind toy sellers and companies but this is the con that I feel is the most about comic books and their contents.
The drawbacks are that it is a mostly artist con in San Fransisco, you probably know where this is headed. This means that there was the blight of smug artsy types to contend with, but for the most part it was comic book readers (note reader not fan) and artists sharing their love and shootin' the shit.
You ask me how I did, well sales wise it was not my best con, but it was better than my recent ones, but nearly everyone that came to my table talked with me and actually looked at my stuff (believe it or not this was a victory). Many people took my card so hopefully that will pan out into some online readers. But I did meet some cool people and traded for some good books (that's a cool thing about art exhibitors we don't tend to by each others stuff we trade), The people around me where cool, and I will probably write about their stuff in future posts. So all in all A.P.E. Was a good experience and I will be doing it again next year.

What this blog's about.

Since I haven't had a chance to write a new entry last week, I figued now would be a good time to re declare the intentions of this blog. I originally set it up to plug my comic Neuropsychosis and I still will. But as time has gone on I've decided to evolve it's concept into something else. The Neuropsychosis and David Arroyo blog will now be fundamentally a blog about comics. The comic material will be written from three angles the first will be of course a fan angle. This will be reviews observations and examinations of comics that I want to opine about. Comic culture falls under this heading. The second will be a scholarly one. These entries will be about comics as literature and art. And the third angle is a creators angle. These will be about the creating of comics as I've come to understand it over the last nine years of writing and drawing Neuropsychosis. This will be the main thrust of the web log. But I will also write occasionally about other things that interest me too. Including movies, music, Disneyland, Mixology, Beer, and my own comic's universe. But these entry's will be occasional. All entries will be well written and there will be no schedule, as I will write when I have something to write about. But I am planning for it to be frequent, I recommend the RSS feed if you wish to follow it for some strange reason. So with out further ado. My blog Version 2.0.

Why Comic Con Shouldn't Move to Anaheim.

Another Comic Con International has come and gone. And now in the wake of that enormous show comes the topic that has been on many people's minds for about the last three years. “will Comic Con be moving after 2012”. It's been big news up here with the OC register almost acting like it's a fact. But is it a good thing? True the Anaheim Convention Center (A.C.C.)is supposedly larger, but I've been to conventions in Anaheim and I believe it unsuitable to Comic Con International. Here are some reasons I believe that Comic con Shouldn't move to Anaheim.
First, it's the San Diego Comic Con International. Sounds silly, but Comic Con has a regional identity. The convention began in 1970 as the Golden State Comic Con but quickly took on the name San Diego Comic Con, The international came around 1990. As such it is part of the fabric of San Diego and San Diego part of the fabric of it. It would be like moving the Rose Parade from Pasadena, true there are towns with wider streets, without that overpass, but Pasadena is part of it's identity.
Next, it's much hotter in Anaheim. A big part of my love of going to Comic Con is to get out of the Hellish 106 Degree summer temperatures I live in. It's a little cooler than that in Anaheim in July but not much. Speaking of July. There is this little thing right next door to the A.C.C. called Disneyland. And I bet you can guess what month is their peak season, you guessed it July. You think it's crowded in the Gaslamp district, Just wait until you mix the Comic Con crowd with a Disneyland crowd. Which leads me to.
Hotels will be harder to get because many of the nearby and some of the distant rooms will already be booked by Disneyland guests, trust me I've had the problem with Anime Expo, and Comic Con would be much larger. Also as there is no public transit on the level of the trolley system so everyone at a distant hotel will have to drive to the convention Center, and thus pay Southern California Parking prices leaving less money for the con. Another Problem I have with Anaheim, is I find that other than Disneyland there is considerably less to do in Anaheim after con Hours. There is enough eateries though so score one for Anaheim. Also, the city of Anaheim, I think would be far less willing to let stuff spill into it like it does at the Gaslamp district. I can't see Cafe Diem setting up in Downtown Disney. Or the Hornetmobile parked outside of The Disneyland hotel. I can't even see it happening in the new mall just down Katella as everything there is a corporate shop.
But finally, the toughest thing is I believe that Comic Con will outgrow The A.C.C. as well. While the A.C.C. Is larger, Having Been there I can't believe that it has more actual open floor space (this is just conjecture correct me if I'm wrong) The size may solve crowding but it won't change the line situation, as long as admissions are up this won't change, there will always be huge lines when a large number of people all want to do the same thing. Also if Comic Con ups registration numbers the crowding will return. So from an operational standpoint I don't think the Change of convention centers will really make a difference, and if there is no difference, why make the change.
Now I love Anaheim I go to Disneyland often and I have family in Orange so I know and enjoy the area and I don't believe that Anaheim will make a good home for Comic Con international. I also believe that the only way the crowding issues will change is if Comic Con sells less tickets, No matter where it's held. Which leaves me with the conclusion that changing where Comic Con is held won't make a very big difference in it's problems therefore they should stay in San Diego and solve it's problems there (see my previous post). Comic Con is a part of San Diego, and San Diego a Part of it.

How to Fix Comic Con

Okay how to fix Comic Con is a little extreme of a title. As I don't feel that San Diego Comic Con International really needs fixing. It is by far the most well organized Convention that I've ever been to. But having Just come back from my ninth Con (which I thought was wonderful) I figured there are some little bits that could be addressed.

First, Growth can no longer be Comic Con Internationals' Business plan if they want to run a fun show. The convention is just too damn crowded. It has become largely unmanageable, It's already outgrown one of the biggest convention centers in the state, and even if it moves (I hear you Anaheim) it will outgrow that too, and while the crowding has not created a bad atmosphere, yet, I can't help but see it on the horizon. Every year I experience more pushing and bad attitudes. While Comic Con has put a cap on the amount of admission sold, I think they need to decrease the amount sold (I hear you in the back yes I realize that this may mean I might not get in too, but that's fine if it means it'll be good when I do) . I know many people want to go and in recent years Comic Con has amazingly become the thing to do. But what good is a really popular con if no one can enjoy it or get into anything. Which leads me to...

Clear the panel and viewing rooms after panels. Panels and viewings create huge lines many of which do not all make it into the panel. Now I feel First come first serve is fair, however I believe that when people are waiting up to three hours to go to a panel they deserve a proper chance to actually get in. The people inside the room have already enjoyed a panel and they need to move on for the next group. I know someone's saying “but, but what if they want to see both.” Well to that I have to say too bad. Comic Con programming is all about tough choices. Many interesting panels are at the same time as well as following each other. And one has to decide just what is important to them. It's just not right for someone who has spent long amounts of time in a line to not get at least an honest chance. Which leads me to my next point...

Have a knowledgeable staff maintaining the queues. Most of these points that I'm making are from a more observational point of view. But This one is personal. My brother and I were trying to get into the screening of the season finale of Doctor Who. We where following the line to it's logical end getting directions from the very helpful, usually friendly staff to where the end of the queue was. At least until the end of the line when we asked a staffer where the line to the panel was. Now we didn't ask “where's the Doctor Who panel” that would be absurd and unfair to the staff to expect them to know the minutia of the Convention. No we asked “is this the line for room 6E” as that's how the staff refers to the events. The staffer said this is the line. Looking around nothing was wrong. Everyone had sonic screwdrivers and costumes etc. Now when the line lets in where does our part of the line go. A showing of the highly un-re watchable JJ Abrams Star Trek movie, in room 5A. I guess all that mattered to this Woman was keeping people in lines and fire code at bay. Because she either didn't listen to the people she was hired to help or she didn't know what was going on or worst yet... Didn't care. Needless to say We didn't make the panel. I'm actually surprised we were only Ten people away from getting in. We may not have gotten in if we were in the right line but We'll never know. This cannot have happened to only my brother and I. Especially since there were people with Sonics in our line. So I felt I needed to add it. I do have to say that every other staffer I encountered over the week was a pleasure. Speaking of staff though.

Ease up on the badge checks. This is the basic Setup. You need a badge to get into the convention center (unless your in the pre reg line). And you need a badge to get into any of the con's venues. So in other words you can't get in without one. You can't enjoy anything without one. Why then do they need four badge checkpoints in the entry foyer?

Next not really a fault but an observation promote comics at Comic Con. All anyone hears about in the run up to Comic Con is what movies and TV shows are being promoted there. Movies and TV are fine by me as long as their one of the Genres that fans care about (sci fi Fantasy), everyone forgets that Genre film has always been a part of Comic Con . However I've noticed more and more of the film and television companies other slates are getting in. I'm not talking about Twilight as most con gripers like to, as much as everyone likes to hate on it Twilight is Genre. I'm talking about stuff like Glee and Hawaii 5.0 fun shows but where do they fit? Conversely the Comics have Done it to themselves. The comic companies barley even promote their panels. My brother and I walked into the great Jeff Smith's (Bone RASL) panel. No one who wasn't there seemed to know about it. How many people reading this know about “the Comic Arts Conference”. Didn't think so. It's a series of panels at Comic Con that are about all of the interesting topics in Comics today. Such as gender in comics, comics as art and literature and other such things. But it barley gets promoted. I only learned of it because it has a cool T shirt. On the bright side the Eisner awards were full as usual, but how many people there weren't industry? I don't know While I love genre film and some TV (I did try to get into a Doctor Who panel after all) Comic Con is the biggest Comic Convention in the United Stated shouldn't they, and we, be using to, say, promote comics?

Now by this point I'm probably sounding like a bit of a curmudgeon, But I really do love Comic Con. Where else are people wearing costumes, talking about comics Sci-fi and fantasy, and people offering free hugs to everyone in sight normal. I meet a lot of people and have a great time whenever I go. And none of these things that I have mentioned are complaints except for my panel experience. These are just ideas that can make this already great con even greater


Next in my series on San Diego Comic Con International: Why Comic Con shouldn't go to Anaheim.