There and Back Again: How Some Silly Fan Art Sent My Family to San Diego Comic-Con 2011
July 30th, 2011 |Preamble
Hey hey hello my friends! I wanted to make a little travelogue so you guys could see what you helped make happen. Before we get into this intense photo and video-filled post, we need some atmosphere and stuff. Let’s pretend this youtube is, like, uh, a record. Yeah! And pressing play will drop the needle. Drop it. DROP IT!!! Or don’t. Whatever.
Chapter 1: The Poster
By now you’re probably familiar, but here’s a recap of the chain of events that got us to Comic-Con. Starting around May our family was struck with a series of unfortunate events. The consequences of which totally devoured our Comic-Con savings. Oh what to do, what to do? I had this idea for a Lost + Star Wars mash-up painting kicking around my noggin for a while, so I thought maybe I could do a limited run of prints. The actual painting took up my free time for a couple of weeks (I think around 40 hours), but I finally finished:
Along the way I showed some peeks of it to a few friends in the Lostie community and the reaction was way beyond I’d anticipated. Ok, maybe we have something here! But with Comic-Con only a few weeks away, how do I get this in front of the number of people I’ll need to sell out?
Aha, a video! That part happened so fast. I really just had to point the camera at the kids and let them tell our story.
So we had the poster and the video ready. We put them up and the reaction was UNREAL. The karmic universe flipped upside down for us as we found ourselves blessed by a series of very fortunate events including a tweet by Damon Lindelof! We were in total disbelief of everything going on. I could not keep up with wave of emails and comments coming in!
Before I knew it, we were sold out and Damon’s assistant, Josie (rock star!), was sending me messages inviting us to come out and meet with Damon at Comic-Con! Not only that, but he wanted to buy a batch of the posters to give to fans at the LOST panel! What the what! Then they saw that I am a member of the 501st Legion and suddenly a plot was brewing. Josie asked if I knew any Stormtroopers that were going to be in San Diego and fit Carlton’s build (he’s very tall!). Well, it just so happened that my best friend, Ruel, is exactly Cartlon’s build, he was going to Comic-Con, and he has TK armor that we built together. The coincidences were uncanny.
The level of excitement at our house was reaching terminal velocity! Like that feeling you have when you’re in line for a big roller coaster and you feel like you have to pee but you don’t really have to pee.
We tried our best to calm down. We set out to fulfill all of the poster orders and make our travel arrangements. Next stop: COMIC-CON!!!!
Chapter 2: The LOST Panel
We arrived in San Diego on Thursday. The weather was just perfect. We stayed on Coronado Island, which is right behind the convention center and so pretty. Every day we enjoyed a quick ferry ride directly to and from the convention center. The kids loved it!
But enough of that. You want to hear about the big LOST panel! Entertainment Weekly’s Totally LOST panel was Friday afternoon. After a couple of phone calls with Josie we figured out where we were supposed to be. Josie met us with our special secret friendship bracelets that would get us into the club as we made our way into the green room. Ruel has worked on shows for ABC doing set design, so he’s used to this kind of stuff, but I was filled with butterflies. Of course, on the exterior, I played it cool and professional.
It was so calm in there. Very different from the hustle and bustle of the con halls. I was introduced to Carlton and then Damon–both of whom are as friendly and approachable as you can imagine. Carlton was sincerely grateful that we were there and could help out with his costume for the panel.
Ruel was packing a suitcase full of Stormtrooper armor for Carlton, so they kind of scooted off to a corner of the room with Cory, Carlton’s assistant, to get him suited up as I chatted with Damon for a bit.
A dork and Damon Lindelof
I really wanted to chat with Conan. Mainly because my good friend, Jess Smart Smiley, has been running an art campaign to get on Conan’s show. Jess has a brilliant all-ages graphic novel coming out this fall from Top Shelf and it would be amazing if he could get on to promote it.
Conan was having a quiet conversation with some folks, and I was there for LOST, so at the time I felt like it would be pretty rude of me to be like, “Sorry Damon, I gotta go talk to Conan for a minute about some comic books.” Although in hindsight, that woulda been kinda awesome. I’m sorry, Jess!
Cory lacing up Carlton
TK-Carlton’s first steps. We’re so proud!
Ruel, Carlton, and Me
Some nerds escorting Carlton from the green room to the panel
Damon and Carlton’s big reveal!
The mysterious “Marbled Rye” clip!
The amazing thing for me was getting to see people’s reaction to it firsthand. Michael Giacchino was in the audience, too, and people were bringing their posters over to him to sign. At first I was like, “Oh my gosh that’s awesome!” Then I was like, “Awww, I want a poster signed by Michael Giacchino!” Hahaha. You can’t have it all I guess!
For footage of the entire panel, Jay and Jack TV have it broken into 4 parts on YouTube.
Josie Fett!
Chapter 3: It’s all about the kids!
Riding the ferry to the Con! Every morning!
Look at that face!
The Spongebob that moves creeped them out just a little.
Chapter 4: Adventure Time!
If ever there was a year for Adventure Time fans to be at Comic-Con, this was it. Finn and Jake were all over the place! For Adventure Time nerds like us, It was totally amazeballs.
We heard that Pendleton Ward, Adventure Time’s creator and all around fuzzy awesome dood, would be signing at Entertainment Earth on Saturday morning. We scooted right over there and luckily not many people caught on that he was doing this. No rushy rushy, move along now, move along. We even met his sweet mom! Pen was wicked cool with the kids and totally catered to their every request.
Later that afternoon we had the time of our lives at the Adventure Time panel. The room was filled with so much energy it was amazing! Hard to compare with the LOST panel the day before, but seriously, SO much fun! As a family, it had to be our most memorable experience.
Magnolia, Pendleton, and Venture
Chapter 5: The Loot
We did not come home with a ton of stuff. Good for the wallet! Here are some of the highlights…
Each of the kids got a set of these algebraic Finn & Jake action figures!
The End
I just wanted to say THANK YOU again to everyone who helped make this happen. It’s been a couple of years since we were able to take a nice family vacation like this and we will be forever grateful. As a parent, it’s the experiences that you share with your kids that they will always remember, not so much the stuff you buy for them. Thank you so much for helping to make this such a wonderful experience! We could not have done this without you!!
Our little champions of the con on the last ferry of the last day
Emails and tweets of thanks have been pouring in from people who have already received their posters and even from people who got them at the con! It makes me so happy to be able to share my love for LOST with so many who obviously feel the same. I LOVE hearing from you and I will do my best to catch up on emails soon!
As you can imagine there is a long list forming of folks who missed out and are dying to get one of these posters. I know there were a handful left at the panel because we ended before everyone could ask a question. I’ll try to find out what is happening with those, but otherwise this edition is totally closed. Oh, but I will say that even though this is a good-sized print at 22 inches tall, I would love to do a much larger jumbo print for myself someday. Maybe I’ll do a short run and offer them up! We’ll see.
Oh yeah, also here’s this new thing I’m working on…
ALGEBRAIC! This is a tale for the grandkids, for sure
aw Jess. you are a king among men! I fear I’m going to regret my inaction forever!
Count me in on the sequel poster!!!
you got it, John!
So happy you guys had a good time! Thank you for documenting it so well and sharing it with us!
Can’t wait to see your next masterpiece! Definitely going to get one. I absolutely LOVE the one I already have. Framing it ASAP!
So good to hear from you, Eric! Thanks!!
JJ. I’m so glad everything worked out so well. Did you ever think you’d help escort Carlton around Comic-Con with him dressed as a stormtrooper?! You’re my hero!
And the kids look like they had a blast. Puts any other possible vacation to shame!!!
(and even though you already know this, Return of the Jedi) should have Empress Eloise looming over
Congrats dude!!
hahaha thanks, Matt! It’ll be hard to top this trip, huh! also, I’m beginning to suspect you’re developing a teeny obsession with Eloise.
This post is just full of awesomeness! Glad you all could go and have the best experience ever!
thanks for your help, Ben!!!
Hey JJ,
Shoot me an e-mail of what the missing pin looks like. I think I actually got that one. I can mail it on out to you.
later
Phillip
Phillip! Oh man! That would make a certain little boy very happy if you do! Emailin ya!
You should totally make the whole trilogy!
I can’t wipe the smile off of my face after reading this post. I vote for trilogy too!
Thanks for all your support, Bonnie! You’re the best!!
JJ!
Thank you for this awesome post. It looks like you all had the time of your lives! So, so cool. Not only to go and experience Comic-Con, but to actually be a part of the behind-the-scenes is awesome. It appears that all of you were in geek heaven, a truly great place to be.
Love the idea for the Empire poster!
Oh Justin, thanks so much for helping to make it all possible!!
Great story! My fam and I just moved into a new place, going to get my LOST is the new Star Wars poster this week. Count me in for the second one as well. God Bless you and the fam. Thanks for making great, fun art.
Great story! My fam and I just moved into a new place, going to get my LOST is the new Star Wars poster *framed* this week. Count me in for the second one as well. God Bless you and the fam. Thanks for making great, fun art
Great post JJ! It was great reading about all the awesomeness that took place that trip! I can’t tell you guys how great it was to hang out with you all there! You are the man!
Holy Dharma I want one of those. Glad to hear y’all had fun!
count me in for a sequel poster!