Per My Brother:

Well, the party’s over. The show has come and gone, and I’m still recovering from it all. I spent an entire week based in San Diego, just to cover Comic-Con, and I still didn’t get to see and do everything. I did plan to see and experience some things, but San Diego Comic-Con is so much more about hearing word of mouth, about finding out last-minute guests invited to certain booths, some giving autographs, others just there to enjoy the show and to do a meet-and-greet with the fans, as a sort of Thank-You-For-Your-Support Moment.

Moreso than previous years, my best experiences were totally unplanned and were totally by happenstance. Best examples are experiencing The Walking Dead’s Escape Obstacle Course, True Blood’s sponsored Masquerade and enjoying post-con free adult-beverages and appetizers with fellow fans.

I got to visit quite a few interesting booths before their lines snaked all the way around the Convention Center, such as the XBOX 360 booth offering an early preview of Halo 4, made a freaky-looking avatar at the South Park: Stick of Truth booth, visited some amazing people at the Funimation booth (where I created the above spiffy looking Mass Effect ID badge, as well as pre-ordered the Mass Effect: Paragon Lost DVD anime), swung by to say hi to the amazing folks at the Quirk Books booth and shook hands with the folks of Hollywood Treasure.

There were quite a few things I only caught a glimpse from the corner of my eyes. Just a few seconds too late, but I still saw a bit of: walking past the cast of The Big Bang Theory, cast of The Hunger Games and The Expendables 2 signing autographs in nearby booths and getting a quick glance of Brent Spiner (aka Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation) in a no-photos-allowed booth.

Sadly, there were plenty of things I missed, such as panels of The Walking Dead, Max Brooks: Zombie Survival 101, Expendables 2 (with full cast in attendance), Firefly 10th Year Anniversary, Iron Man 3, Elysium and Quentin Tarantino presenting early footage of Django Unchained.

It’s only been two years since The Walking Dead premiered (with the third season set to premiere this Fall), but zombies felt played out, appearing everywhere, from panels to video games, books and movies. Everywhere you looked, there was a zombie.

The Zombie Walk, itself, was amazing, continually packing a a huge crowd every year, lurching down the (blocked off) public streets of the Gaslamp Quarter and showcasing impeccible costumes, makeup and even (Anti-Zombie) politics. The Walking Dead Escape obstacle course was an ingenious addition to San Diego Comic-Con and I look forward to its evolution next year.

I only got a few souveniers this year (the fewest out of all the shows I’ve attended). I purchased a sealed Marvel Zombies: The Covers hardback book for $3.00 and visited with cosplayers during my downtime. Hanging out post-con at the C/NET & Gamespot Base Station for free adult beverages and appetizers (as well as Tomb Raider and other video game demos) was obviously a highlight as well. And how could I forget the Sunday staple of George Takei doing voicework as Geoff Peterson, the talking robot skeleton of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. That talking robot cracks me up!

Having attended San Diego Comic-Con for four years in a row, I can safely say this convention is easily the highlight of my year, totally geeking out to all things science-fiction, fantasy and pop-culture. I will be doing some traveling throughout and look forward to covering other conventions, such as various anime shows, DragonCon, ScareFest and various zombie 5k races.

Stay tuned, true believers! Zombies In My Blog hopes to go every major zombie/monster event to bring you all the news that’s fit to print… and everything else that isn’t!

San Diego Comic-Con 2012 – Review: 5/5