We’ll have our big long meditation on Comic-Con and What It Means tomorrow or (more likely) Wednesday am, but in the meantime, Sunday wrapped up with FAR MORE crowded floors than Saturday, and reports of mixed sales, fewer costumes, and the same “It was brutal but it was great!” vibe from 97 percent of the folks we talked to. Most of the Hollywooders had decamped in the night, leaving only glitter and sparkle and the drying drops of Joss Whedon’s sweat on the the rooftop bars of San Diego. With Brigadoon moved on, it’s back being just another economically challenged, meteorologically superior average American city.

A few quick notes on the cabbies and service workers of San Diego. People around town were unequivocably more friendly than they had been in past years. We were told by several people that there had been both informal and formal meetings — including one at the Haytt! — devoted to telling the workers to “be nice to the Con people so they will keep coming back.”

At our traditional Sunday night dinner, our server couldn’t have been better or more solicitous. Hotel workers were cheerful and helpful, something that has not always happened in this town. According to Jackie Estrada, the Bayfront Hilton couldn’t have been any friendlier in helping get the Eisner Awards set up.

In addition, the locals were uniformly enthusiastic about a chance to get inside the big show. Many had been trying to get tickets for months. Others were wistful that time and access had not come through, but were hopeful about next year. While we’re not sure that wandering the strictly policed, security-rampant, giveaway-choked floors of the Convention Hall was all that fun in the abstract, it’s still one of the places to be.

Speaking of dinner, nothing was slaughtered before our eyes, and we enjoyed tapas, sangria, and talk with Ben McCool, Anina Bennett, Paul Guinan, Larry Marder, Todd Klein, Stuart Moore, Peter Gross, Kevin Cannon, Zander Cannon, and Steve Leialoha. Smarter, nicer dinner companions couldn’t be imagined, and it was as always a wonderful way to wrap up the show, followed by yet more chatter at the Dead Dog Party.

We’ll have more when we’ve had even more sleep and filed a few more deadline sensitive stories for tomorrow’s PW Comics Week.

2 COMMENTS

  1. so, re: that live fish slaying in the earlier post…..that was real?!?!?? O.O

    Which restaurant??

    -A foodie/cook, who wants to know

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