San Diego stuff

Here are links to a few sites with notes and pics from the con:
Mike Manley’s blog
Heidi MacDonald’s blog
Newsarama

My only news is that my feet hurt. I’m staying in a hotel that’s a bit further away from the convention center than usual, so that’s a factor. Also, I’m not as young and spry as I used to be. But I haven’t actually collapsed yet, so that’s good.

Strangely, I didn’t buy anything at the convention on Friday or Saturday. (I did pick up a few things on Thursday, and on Wednesday night.) Today’s the last day, so if I’m going to go on any kind of buying spree, it’ll have to be today. Also, strangely, I haven’t bought a single (traditional) comic book. I picked up some trade paperbacks, but no standard 32-page comics. The fact that I have about 200 comics in my “to be read” pile at home is probably a factor here.

Illustrated History of Union County

I noticed something interesting in the Westfield catalog this month: An Illustrated History of Union County, by Frank Thorne. There are some sample pages here. Based on this message, it appears that this strip was originally published in the Daily Journal back in 1951. As a former Union County resident, and Frank Thorne fan, I think I’ll need to pick this up. Actually, I may need to pick up a few copies and send them off to other former Union County residents, too.

Wizard World Philly

I went to Wizard World Philly today. I spent a few bucks on comics, went to a JMS Q&A, and the “Cup ‘o Joe” panel with Joe Quesada. Very entertaining. The con was crowded, but not annoyingly so. Plenty of room to move around, and no problem getting into the panels.

Comics

Just for yuks, I’ve been looking at the major online comic strip services. As far as I can tell, there are basically three big ones. All include daily comics by email.

  • Comics.com — Run by United Media. $12/year for the basic paid package. Comics available include Peanuts, Get Fuzzy, and Dilbert. Lots of mainstream strips, along with a few oddballs.
  • DailyInk.com — Run by King Features. $15/year. Comics available include Mutts, Zits, Zippy the Pinhead, Spider-Man, and Prince Valiant. Generally includes more adventure strips than the other services.
  • MyComicsPage.com — Run by uclick. $12/year. Includes Foxtrot, Doonesbury, and a bunch of others. Mostly mainstream humor strips.