Mood: a-ok
Topic: Comic Cons
I was really looking forward to this year's San Diego Comic Con, or as they call it now: Comic Con International: San Diego... Well whatever You want to call it by, it's still the SDCC to me and seem to be used that way in most blogs, wall posts and discussion threads that I see online! However, what I wanted to do with this post today is to let those of You that didn't attend this year's Con to hear about what was in the Souvenir Book for this year. Oh, and it's NOT the special 40th Anniversary Book that I blogged about earlier before the con happened. (Click here for that post.) The above pictured publication is the regular sized Souvenir Book that is distributed each year at Registration, along with an events guide and possibly other goodies that are enclosed in your welcome bag. What made this year's souvenir program book edition so special, is that it printed several pages in a special section about the earlier 39 con years. Year by year from the very first ones including Con #0! So for those of You that have made it to the SDCC in earlier years, whether once or twice or multiple times, this would be a great memorial issue for you to have in your possession! I myself have not attended every year, although I started with Con #1, and then started selling as a dealer at Con #3 at the El Cortez Hotel. So the in depth account of each year's con was either a nostaligic look back for me, or looking at what I had missed those years I didn't attend... The cover itself showed some familar faces to me. First were the Comic-Con Toucan and Expo Boy, (created by Rick Geary), atop the El Cortez Hotel. And then they were standing under the simple yet poignant Comic-Con 40 lettering. Inside were the credits, and then the table of contents. The 2009 Special Guests were introduced first, very artfully and tastefully displayed. Then the Special Section starting on page 39. Comic Con @40. Worth the price of admission alone IMHO! Following were the Special Anniversaries of several features, which is a standard feature in this souvenir book's history. Since we as readers can't pick out in advance which features deserve to be featured in the souvenir book, it's always a wonder to me why certain features do get chosen, and sometimes a surprise that others don't. But that is the choice of the publishing group of the book, and I for one am usually more than pleased with the overall book each year. The first feature shown was the 50th Anniversary of Green Lantern, starting on page 124. Good Choice there! And a well written featurette along with several fan illustrations chosen to be run after the text article. The second feature was the 50th Anniversary of Rocky and Bullwinkle, another good choice! A well written and researched featurette. Plus the fan illos afterwards were well drawn. Third feature was on the 25th Anniversary of TMNTs, and Yeah that would be appropriate for this souvenir book! I remember my kids in front of the TV set watching that series when it transformed from comics to cartoon show. Heck, I even joined them to see what all the fuss was about! The fourth feature chosen to be celebrated was the 25th Anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo. That is sure to make fans of that feature happy. Then the listings of Awards that have been presented by the Comic-Con during its' many years. I found this to be extremely interesting, as it covered the 2009 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees, the 2008 Will Eisner comic Industry Award Winners, Will Eisner Hall of Fame past inductees, The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award winners, The Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award winners, Bill Finger Excellence In Comic Book Writing Award winners, the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award winners, and the Comic-Con Award winners, the Inkpot Award winners.... whew, that's a LOT of awards that have been presented at this Con! Definitely worth reading if You haven't seen these award winners lists before! Finally, there was the 'In Memoriam' feature... Which is always a rememberance past of those that have passed since the last Con souvenir book was published. Sometimes I missed seeing the mentions of several persons that are comics or pop culture related passing during the previous year. I am also sometimes saddened, and then again recharged into mentioning in my Blog about works by those that have passed on. Too many were taken from us this past year, including Uncle Forry, Frank Springer, and more... For me, this 2009 Souvenir Program Book is one of the best in recent years. A Souvenir Book to be proud of by all that were involved in producing it! My Thanks to all that were part of that team! For those of You that didn't attend the Con... If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this 2009 Souvenir Program Book, and can't obtain it elsewhere, you are welcome to try our online eBay Store at: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Make-It-So-Marketing__W0QQ_sidZ2986211?_nkw=2009+comic+con&submit=Search Currently it is only listed for USA buyers, but we will ship it internationally upon being asked. Please contact us via email at that site for shipping costs to Your Country if you are outside the USA. BTW, unless we are on site all day and night during a three day or longer comic con... we normally blog daily on comic book creators, comic book reviews, comic book conventions, and pop culture news and events! Plus for purchases of items that our blog posts are based on; please check out our listings of comics, graphic novels, Comic Con exclusives and more pop culture items for sale in our own online eBay Featured Store! Thanks again to all of YOU reading our current and archived blog posts! ~ Michael
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