I know, I know. This is very late. Hence, the ‘belated’ part of the title. Honestly, I didn’t think people would want to hear about my Comic-Con experience, so imagine my surprise when I kept getting asked about it. So, here it is!
As a disclaimer, this is not formal by any means. In fact, I’m just considering it a giant love letter to Comic-Con and all the beautiful people I spent time with while there. Part of the reason this was so belated is because I couldn’t exactly figure out what I wanted to say. How do I properly recount all of my experiences, and thank the people that need thanking? I’ve thought about it for days, but nothing really felt right. So, right or not, I am putting pen to paper (well, words to screen, or whatever computer equivalent of that is) and getting it down.
Going to Comic-Con this year was not my original intention. Tickets were long sold-out, and the window for press applications had been closed for months. I’d been planning to do it right for 2020, get my Cheshire cosplay in order, plan out what panels and signings I wanted to attend, and so on. However, my karma points must have stacked high this year, because thanks to Eric (our wonderful YJ.tv admin), I lucked into an extra press ticket.
What came next happened in such a flurry, I honestly don’t remember it all. I scrambled to book a plane ticket and find a place to stay. I spent hours on my computer, trying to cram months of comic-con prep time into a few short days. I didn’t have the slightest clue what I was doing, and yet, I enjoyed every second of it. At some point, I stopped researching and just decided that I was going to have fun. My only priorities were meeting the YJ.tv team, the DC Universe panel (duh), the She-Ra panel (also duh), and the YJ fan-meetup at Ghirardelli's. Other than that, my plans consisted of a giant question mark.
I didn’t plan on not sleeping before my 6:30AM flight to San Diego, but procrastination, nerves, and the unfortunate return of the pupper I was watching made sleeping a little hard. By the time I arrived on Thursday, I’d had exactly zero hours of sleep and was thriving off a single pitaya bowl. You know, the true California essentials. In hindsight, I sincerely apologize for anyone who met me on Thursday, because I’m pretty sure I had all the graceful tact of a walking zombie.
Despite the lack of sleep, I was determined to enjoy my first official day at my first-ever Comic-Con. The first task on my list? Acquiring a Young Justice tote. Surprisingly, this was accomplished a lot quicker than I’d originally expected. No sooner had I acquired my Batwoman bag did I spot an unsuspecting attendee, carrying the item I so wanted in my possession. As luck was still on my side, the nice person kindly agreed to trade bags with the rabid gremlin (me), and I quickly scampered away, muttering ‘my precious’. Kidding; I think.
With the YJ bag acquired and time to spare, I hunkered down to study my events guide and people-watch for a while. Given that this was my first venture to Comic-Con, I was eagerly waiting to see some wicked cosplays. Obviously, the cosplayers did not disappoint. Throughout the afternoon, I attended a couple of smaller panels that piques my niche interests, and then ended the day by going to dinner with the YJ.tv crew. I cannot even tell you how excited I was to meet them. I’m sure that Eric and Kelsey (his amazing wife) were quite terrified to meet the little demon who’d been crying over Jade Nguyen since January, but they were both incredibly kind and undoubtedly hilarious. Hopefully I made a bit of a better impression on them now. In all seriousness, I am so grateful to have finally met them in person, especially because my trip wouldn’t have been possible without them.
Side note: I finally got some sleep.
Feeling a tad more refreshed on my second day, I woke up bright and early to attend the She-Ra panel. Or, I woke up bright and early so I could get in line for the She-Ra panel. It was here that I met with a beloved friend from Tumblr (ittybittytatertot), who saved our space in line while I ran fashionably late with breakfast. Said breakfast ended up spilling on me while waiting, but thankfully Taters had some napkins on hand so I didn't look like a complete mess. While waiting for the panel, we (obviously) talked about all matters of Young Justice, and how excited (and terrified) we were for the remaining episodes of the season. Also, I just want to note that the She-Ra cosplayers really brought their A-game that day. Next year, I’m absolutely cosplaying as Catra. Cheshire and Catra… I sense some kind of theme. Which is odd, because I’m totally a dog-person.
The panel was incredible, and because I’m obsessed, I live-tweeted everything so that the people who couldn’t be there would still get some information. After the panel, Taters and I scrambled down to the exhibition hall so we could get our hands on some exclusive She-Ra pins and other merch. Sadly for me, by the time we got in line, the Catra and She-Ra pins had sold out. I didn’t walk away completely empty-handed, though! I purchased a Bow and Glimmer pin to support the wonderful artist. Then, because I was in a very YOLO mood, I decided to wait in the Overflow line for the She-Ra signing. Because I got my ticket so late, I didn’t have time to sign up for any exclusive signings. But, like mentioned before, I had zero other plans that day so I figured why not? My luck quickly changed, as they ended up taking 10 people from overflow, and yours truly was lucky number 7.
I wish I could tell you that I played it totally cool when meeting the voice actors and Noelle Stevenson. I’m pretty sure that I just barely kept it together when they signed my poster, and I did sober up enough to tell Noelle how much of an inspiration she is to my writing. One day, if I can write something half as compelling as Noelle can, I could rest very peacefully.
At this point, my day instantly transformed from an amazing con, to an absolute fairytale. And it’s pretty much thanks to Rich. If you guys don’t yet know who he is, he is one of the spectacular co-hosts of the Whelmed Podcast. I’ve gushed about them plenty on this site, so if you haven’t checked them out yet, please run to your nearest Spotify/iTunes/Wherever you listen to Podcasts and get on it. That afternoon, I met up with Rich and Cameron Bowen (the voice actor behind Tim Drake) for some drinks, laughs, and overall gushing over Young Justice. You know, a typical Friday afternoon.
I thought I’d make it into the Bob’s Burgers panel later that afternoon, but I quickly found out that you cannot line up for a panel in the Indigo Ballroom an hour before. Womp. Perhaps that was for the best, because I took the opportunity to go pick up my DC Universe exclusive Young Justice poster and then head along to dinner.
Guys, I cannot even describe how amazing this dinner was. First, the company. Zeno Robinson (the voice actor behind Victor Stone) popped in for a little while before he left to pick up a letter a fan wrote for him. Fun fact! That fan actually follows my Tumblr and reached out to me yesterday. I had no idea it was them, so it was a hilarious coincidence. I also met my new Con-buddy, Jaime Catania, the man behind DarkSuperBoy, Michael Greenway, and another member of the Whelmed team, Richard Kreutz-Landry. Oh and Cameron was there too (she said, so very casually)! I won’t go into too much detail, but each of these beautiful people are incredibly kind, have wonderful hearts, and big appetites. Which, in retrospect, was good considering how much food we ordered. If you ever find yourself in the San Diego area, please head to Eclipse as soon as you can. Every bite you take is a symphony on the tongue, delicious with every morsel and cleverly concocted.
Veering away from food and back to the Young Justice business…
Later that evening, we headed to the Young Justice fan meetup at Ghirardelli's. Listen, friends, if you told me seven months ago that I’d be in the same room as the cast and crew of Young Justice, I probably would have laughed in your face. I still don’t really believe it happened. I’m 53% positive that I dreamt up this entire weekend; it would be higher, but the photo evidence is pretty resounding proof. I honestly don’t have enough good things to say about the cast and crew. It was pretty hard to stay whelmed while meeting them all. I tried to keep a few details from each conversation I had, and I’ll keep those close to my heart forever.
I do remember Greg telling me I should be scared for the remainder of the season. Never fear, Greg; I’ve been scared from the first episode.
Saturday was far more low key. Jaime and I tried to get into The Good Place panel, but I was yet again denied access to the Indigo Ballroom. I’m coming for you next year, Indigo. Just you wait. Instead, we decided to hit up the Cartoon Voices panel, thanks to a suggestion from Eric Lopez, who would be on the panel. After attending that panel, I can say with absolute certainty that we made the perfect decision. It was incredible hearing these actors riff off each other and create new voices on the fly. I just wish we could have sat closer!
In the late afternoon, I started to prepare for our roundtable interview with Greg and Brandon. You know, Grandon. Super chill. While the interview was shorter than originally anticipated, everyone got some good questions in. I especially liked the answer that they gave for our question about Halo. Thank you both for taking the time out of your day to do the interview!
With official business done, it was time to get into the ballroom for the main event: the DCU panel. This time, I made it in. Probably because I tried about two hours before, but still! I’m not sure what to say about the panel that hasn’t been said already. We did get to watch the first episode of the new Harley Quinn show! If you didn’t know, I’ll be covering Harley Quinn after YJ finishes airing this season. I don’t think I have enough words to describe the essence of Harley Quinn. It’s definitely not what I was expecting. The show is wholly outrageous, violent, and dripping with obscenities; quite unlike anything that’s on television right now. Because of that, it hits a certain key and becomes absolutely incredible. I definitely enjoyed it; it’s not for everyone, I’ll admit that, but I think if you like raucous, witty humor and a feminine kick-ass fest, you’ll definitely enjoy it.
I know, y’all probably came here to read all about the Young Justice portion of the panel. I promise, I’m getting there. Originally, they’d intended to show the audience episode 19 before the panel with Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti. Given that they had news to share, they decided to flip it. (Thank you, kind gods.) As I’m sure everyone is very well aware, they announced that Young Justice was renewed for a fourth season. If you’re wondering, yes, that was a chorus of ‘hallelujah’ that just sounded. If you watch the video where the camera pans to the audience, you’ll probably spot me. I was the one who hopped up, right beside Zeno Robinson. What can I say? It’s not like I’ve been waiting for this news since Season 3 started, or anything. A girl is entitled to feel some excitement!
Admittedly, I couldn’t even hear much of the discussion that followed; my mind was still reeling with the reveal of Season 4. I was also busy updating our Twitter, and my Tumblr, so that probably had something to do with it. My mind was spinning, though. I came in to the panel entirely unsure if the series would be picked up for another season. It wouldn’t have surprised me if it hadn’t been picked up; I’d long prepared myself that Season 3 would be the last season of this show. Thankfully, for both my mental state and the delight of many others, that was not to be our reality. Sure, it may take a long time for the season to come out, but I’ve been patient before. What’s two years in comparison to six?
After the panel, I spent a little time with the cast and crew as everyone celebrated the news. I can’t even describe the overwhelming emotion encompassing the room. Most of the cast and crew hadn’t known, and everyone was so excited that they’d have the opportunity to keep telling these amazing stories. That night, I went to bed feeling whole and entirely grateful to have been there in person for this incredible announcement.
After three exciting, jam-packed days, I was ready to take it easy on Sunday. Rich, being the generous, kind-hearted person he is, opened up his home and invited me to join them for brunch. On the menu? Breakfast burritos. Entirely fitting for the Young Justice fans in attendance. I’m sure you all have had enough of my gushing, so I won’t get into details. But I will give a little thank you to Rich and his wife Megan for opening up their home and hosting us all.
I don’t have much to say beyond this. Jaime and I went back to Con to get some last-minute shopping and soak up the final moments. I stayed in San Diego for another day, if only to savor one last Pitaya bowl and burn on the beach.
So, there you have it: my long weekend at San Diego Comic Con. I cannot even begin to describe how incredibly grateful, and thankful I am for this experience. So, I’m going to end this with a few personal words of thanks. To the amazingly talented cast and crew that I met, thank you for being a part of this show, for being so kind, and for the wonderful conversations. To Rich, his family, and the rest of the Whelmed podcast team, thank you for having me on your show, for being my companions this weekend and for just being generally fantastic people. To Greg and Brandon, thank you for putting so much heart and passion into creating Young Justice, the show I’ve loved for many years. And finally, to my YJ.tv team, thank you for taking a chance on me and inducting me into your little family. This weekend, and the past few months wouldn’t have been possible without you. I’ve had an absolute blast writing for this website, and I look forward to continuing in the time to come.
