San Diego Comic Con // Convention Report // July 2009Â
The following convention report was written for and originally posted on the 1966 Batman Message Board, back in 2009. That original thread can be found here. The message board and the community that I had become a part of, had ultimately inspired me to jump on a plane and head out to California. This was to be the first time I had attended a Comic Con of any kind. It’s also worth noting that this was also the debut of the first incarnation of my Adam West style TV Batsuit that I had been piecing together on a budget in the year running up to my trip. As you will see from other posts on this blog, my suit improved over time, but more on that in another post.
Distance Traveled: 5800 miles
Monday 20th/Tuesday 21st July
"Where to begin?" is by definition a major understatement! So I figured the easiest way of doing this is by starting at the very beginning. I finally landed at San Diego International airport around 5pm local time, this sounds quite reasonable when you consider I set off at 9am, but when you figure in the time difference and the idea that for me I was going "back in time", its slightly disorientating! Never the less baggage collection and finding my way to my accommodation was simple enough, of which I was incredibly grateful for having been "on the road" as it were for around 16/17 hours by this point. Because of the nature of my trip this summer, I am staying in hostels and at the good grace and hospitality of truly treasured friends. After I'd checked into "USA Hostels" San Diego, I soon realized that pretty much everyone else also staying here was here for the same reason as I was, which was really rather cool! As one of the French girls who were staying in my dorm and attending con said, "We put the INTERNATIONAL in Comic Con International".
Wednesday 22nd July-Preview Night
After a surprisingly comfortable and genuinely decent nights sleep I woke up on Wednesday morning fresh faced and eager to explore the city before I started my hook ups at 11.30am. For those of you whom know San Diego or are just interested I was staying on 5th Avenue which is part of what they call the "Gaslamp Quarter" which is an area with a lot of culture, shopping and restaurants and a 5/10 minute walk straight down to Convention Center! Perfect! Time soon seemed to slip away before I had to change my now very sweaty tshirt and meet up with no other than “fanboy59″ himself, Adrian! I was so excited to meet Adrian. Sure enough as half past eleven rolled by Adrian was a man of his word and appeared out side the "B" entrance to Convention Center to meet up with me as we had arranged. Adrian was taking time out of his morning setting up the booth he helps out with to come out and meet up with me, which I was incredibly gracious of. Adrian is genuinely one of the sweetest, most genuine and truly generous people I have the privilege of knowing and I am truly proud to consider him as my friend. Even before I had physically gotten out to San Diego, Adrian had gone out of his way to make my con experience a whole lot better! It was truly a very generous and genuinely thoughtful thing to do for someone and that’s as much as I will say about that, but I want to say thank you one more time Adrian! Whilst hanging out with Adrian I also had the privilege to meet another board member who would again in the coming days turn out to be yet another fantastic guy, generous and yet again someone whom I am very proud to know and call my friend! This guy was none other than Dan Bois! Anyhow, time was ticking by and Adrian and Dan had their separate ways to go and attend to their relevant booths, after all this is the day of Preview Night!
I said my temporary good byes to Adrian and Dan and headed off towards the Marriott where at 1pm I had my next board member hook up session. This time I was due to be meeting The Sebrings! When I joined the board back in 2003, it wasn't long before Scott became quite a prominent and important member of the community there. In 2004 when Scott first displayed his earliest Adam West suit and his own write up for SDCC 2004, I set my heart on two things, one day having a suit half as nice as his and secondly getting my self over here and checking out what looked like the coolest event I had ever seen. Six years later to meet someone who not only would I qualify as a friend but also as an inspiration and as a role model of sorts was surreal, but fantastic! Now up until this point I only felt I had known Vickie through the adventures in which Scott had recounted their joint adventures together. Within moments it was as though I was in the very good company of great friends that I had simply not seen for some time. After the initial hugs and greetings in the North Tower lobby of the Marriott, we decided to head up to their room so I could dump my big black "Bat-Bag" as I will refer to it. Scott and Vickie before I even had gotten out here had offered to let me suit up in their room with its perfect proximity to the Con, this truly was a God-Send as I really didn't relish walking a quarter of a mile in the blistering midday, mid July heat of San Diego all the way to Convention Center from my hostel. When I finally set my bag down in the room and had admired the amazing harborside view, it wasn't long before I started "geeking out" (as I shall here forth refer to moments in which I was overwhelmed by all things batty ). I was "geeking out" because before me on the dressing table was Scott’s CHUCK WILLIAMS COWL! Wow, WOW was my reaction. This was the first time I had ever seen/examined a Chuck in person and it did NOT disappoint. It was only after a few seconds of excitement and discussion about said cowl that I was given the "Go on, you know you want to", go-ahead try it! Yet another, "Wow"! I will apologize now for my lack of adequate vocabulary and ways to express my awe and amazement that kept getting redefined as the con went on! It wasn't long before we found the three of us gathered around the closet discussing whilst my jaw dropped at every piece of bat costume that Scott showed me. Even just the feel of certain items was "right". My best example of this has to be trying on a pair of Gaspar gloves for the first time. Upon putting on the gloves it was as though the Adam mannerisms just came flooding out, it felt as though my index finger gracefully put its self in the classic Adam pointing position.
Yet again time was ticking by and as fun as talking costuming was, Scott got a call and we all ventured down stairs to meet up with Bob and Terry. The theme was continuing and it was as though I only had the ability to meet damn cool people! After we had all lined up and organized our passes and whatever, the consensus seemed to be that a late lunch would suit us all quite nicely. With Scott leading the way headed on over to "Dicks Last Resort" a cool eatery over on 5th Avenue not far from where I was staying. Everyone seemed to enjoy what was to become the first of many great meals together, with great chat and even greater people. By the time we'd finished up the meal and gotten back onto the street, it was time now to head over to the con and scope out the infamous "Preview Night". When we hit the convention floor it wasn't long before we hooked up with Wally and his friend Andrea. Once again it was fantastic to meet Wally, someone else who has been incredibly kind and generous to me in the past! As a group, Scott, Vickie, Wally, Andrea and I headed over to Dan Bois' booth to say hello etc. En route also were fortunate to bump into Adrian which was a great surprise. As I came to realize and respect over the next few days, Adrian is always on a mission of some sort when you bump into to him at Con. The mission at this point was scoping out what the vendors had to offer before the throngs of people arrived in the coming days. He did however have chance to grab a few pics of us guys together before we once again parted ways with him.
The next port of call was over at Adam's booth. I was introduced to Adams wife Marcelle, she was laughing and joking with us about having to Preview night eventually drew to a close with an incredibly cool purchase on Scott’s part of which I’ll let him fill you in. Needless to say this said purchase provided a lot of entertainment and sheer awe when we got back to the Marriott. As Scott and Vickie headed off to dinner with Wally, I politely called it a night and decided not to join them. It had been a long day and I started to feel like the jet lag was maybe kicking in, so instead of burning my self out before con officially opened, I said my gracious goodbyes and thank you's for letting me crash their con, haha.
Thursday 23rd July - Star Trek Day - "The Rise of Camera Boy"
My morning began with heading over to Ralphs' supermarket around the corner from where I was staying to stock up on bottled water for the day ahead. Believe me it is waaay cheaper than buying water at the con its self and well worth it because if nothing else, staying hydrated whether you are in costume or not is essential at this time of year in SoCal! As the morning went on I toured the floor on my own bearing in mind I had to head over to the Marriott at 12 to familiarize my self with the cameras I would be using that afternoon to capture the adventures of our TOS landing crew. But back to the morning- I spent some time photographing stuff I thought was neat and some of the early costumes people were wearing. I then thought I’d swing by Adams booth and see how Marcelle (Adams Wife) was doing, having had such a pleasant time just chatting with her the night before. When I finally made my way to the booth I found that Scott had, had the same thought as my self. We stood for a while, just talking with Marcelle. She really was such a genuine and great person to talk to and shared some great little anecdotes with us voluntarily as the conversations went on. One that still resonates with me was the story she told us about meeting Adam for the first time for a photo shoot. Scott and I soon noticed the time and realized we should be heading up to the hotel room to start Trek prep. This was my first time meeting the rest of the trek group who in later days would become the Justice League, Various Dr Who's and so on. Again the trend of meeting awesome and genuinely great people continued. Cliff and Simon are seriously cool guys both in and out of costume whether were on the floor working out poses for photos or grabbing dinner in evenings. It was only Thursday and I had already met some many amazingly cool and accommodating people, I really felt as though from the word go that everyone I had met had truly taken me on board and my fears of being "that pesky British" were fading.
Around 1pm we headed from the Marriott across to the convention floor. Now for the time being, I’ll let just a few of our pictures that I took tell the story...
When the now quite tired Star Trek group and I finally made it back to the hotel and got changed back into more "civilian" appropriate outfits, Scott, Bob and I decided we were going to head back down to the floor and try and get in line at the Mattel exclusives booth. When we arrived we realized that there was never gonna be a great time to try and attack the Mattel line and that after a long afternoon of "trekking around" now was not the best time to get in line. En route out of the exhibition Scott and I said goodbye to Bob for the time being as he had other stuff he wanted to look into. Marcelle had mentioned that Adam may perhaps swing by the booth on Thursday afternoon, despite only being publicized as appearing on Friday and Saturday.
We turned the corner of the Adam's aisle and Scott soon spotted that Adam was indeed hanging out at the booth. At this point my recollection gets a little fuzzy, but I will do my best. I so totally not prepared for this surprise attack meeting Adam, I had gotten it into my head that it would be a Friday or Saturday kind of thing and that I would join a line and be mentally prepared for it. Mentally ready, I was not. We approached the table and Adam looked up and addressed Scott with a warm and friendly and uniquely Adam welcome of "Heya Batsy, how you doing?" WOW. I could tell Scott was stoked by that, hell I was stoked for him! Scott was a lot better however at generally holding it all together and engaged in conversation with and Fred when he came over. Just observing Scott hanging out and laughing and joking with Adam and Fred was surreal enough, it felt like I was watching yet another video of one of Scott’s previous adventures. Reality all of a sudden kicked back in as Scott turned round and kind of ushered me forward and said something along the lines of "Hey Adam, I want you to meet somebody, this is my friend Ben, he's all the way from England and he's come out here to meet you for the first time". At this point if you want to know what I actually said you'll probably have to ask Scott! Haha. Forming coherent sentences all of a sudden became more challenging than ever before-I was star truck, I couldn't believe it! I never had my self down as the type to get star struck, but when all of a sudden you are introduced to your childhood hero when you seriously were not expecting it, it can have that effect on people! Adam was cool as ever and immediately began engaging with me and joking around. "You're from England? You're from London? Does that make you Big Ben?"; "Well yeah I guess it kind of does! haha" Scott and Fred were there laughing away with me and Adam. I couldn't get my head around what was happening and the fact that it really was happening. It got to the point at which I couldn't even decide which photo to get Adam to sign so I kindly delegated that choice to Scott. Then came the moment to get what I thought was going to be THE photo, little did I know what the next few days had in store. As ever in moments in which you really cannot afford technology to fail you-it does! As Scott was there with my camera, it was doing absolutely anything and everything it could but take a single still shot of me stood with Adam. Eventually tech-wiz Scott got it working and he finally took the picture.
As you can tell from the uncontrollable grin on my face, this really was a big highlight for me!
Another highlight of the meeting Adam episode was finally getting to meet Alex Zsolt! Alex wandered up to the table shortly after Scott had taken my picture with Adam. I felt bad afterwards that I must have appeared a little nuts when I first was introduced to Alex as I said I was rather blown away by the meeting Adam moment! But fortunately he understood exactly and I re-introduced my self the next day-properly and politely this time. Haha.
The next part of the "meeting Adam tale" is where it gets really crazy, as I kept saying afterwards; you could not have made this up! It had gotten to around 5pm and Fred and Adam were ready to leave. No escort or security arrangements had been made for getting Adam in and out of the building. The location of his table was pretty central so there was no simple way in or out. Fred turned to Scott and asked him if he knew how to get across to the marina at the rear of the Marriott where their arranged transport was scheduled. Scott and I both looked at each other and words to the effect of "Sure thing" were exchanged. Adam then stood up and said that he was going to put on his disguise to assist his exit. I wasn't too sure at this point whether or not Adam was joking; I'll let you make that decision for your self as I tell you what happened next. Adam reaches into his trouser pocket and pulls out a surgical mask and places over his mouth, this caused amusement for all of us stood there Me, Scott, Alex and Fred. Adam then managed to top that by putting a baseball cap on which read "Pure West". Well need less to say that really cracked us all up! And still does to this day! even Fred appeared to be impressed/amused at this level of eccentricity/humor from Adam! So with Scott and Alex up front and me flanking the rear with Fred, we maneuvered Adam out of the building and over to the Marriott. Whilst we were walking Fred was there doing his impression of Adam saying various Batman related quips. For example we walked passed a girl dressed as Catwoman to which Fred said in Adam's voice (which he is very good at btw), "Is that the felonious feline, Caaaaaaaaaaaatwoman?!" Yet again-WOW. Now this was surreal! Half an hour ago, I was a very nervous Adam fan, now I was his security detail! haha. We eventually got Adam and Fred to their desired location and said goodbye.
That evening was the first of many trips to the Seaport Village food court to grab something to eat. The village food court is really great, out seating, people choose whatever they wanted from all the different types of places there and then we would pitch back up at a table and just enjoy great food with great people reviewing and re-living the day’s antics. It really in retrospect is the times spent like this that really made the comic con the experience that it was for me. I made so many great new friends and after all like everything in life, it is made sweeter by the people you get to share it with and I wouldn't have changed that group for the world.
Friday 24th July - Justice Friends Day
Friday was definitely going to be a different kind of day for me. It had a different kind of excitement about it, as today was the day I was going to debut my Adam inspired Bat-Suit in public! Actually getting suited up and out there wasn't gonna be easy however! One incident nearly de-railed my costume plans completely.  As many of you who suit up your selves know, zipping up a tunic behind your back and on your own can be very difficult at time! So I gave Scott a shout from the other room and asked him if he would be kind enough to do me the honors of zipping me up. "No problem".........."Err Ben, I don't mean to worry you but the zipper has just snapped clean off in my hand right here!" BIG PROBLEM! Before I even had time to compute what this meant for me, Scott disappeared off and produced a spare of tights and a tunic that he had brought as a back up if his own should have failed him in any way-"Try these on...." Wow! A perfect fit! Scott saved my hide there big time! That single action literally changed the fate of my convention and for that I will be eternal grateful as without those tights, I would have not gotten the opportunity to have taken the photos in which you see later of me suited with Adam! I owe Scott and Vicky so much (and not just for the tights mind you, but again that is a whole other collection of stories!) They were already treating me like family and then this BIG FAVOR took it to a whole new level. Having just read the last statement again, I don’t want that last sentence to read as if Scott and Vickie “bought” my affection by the way, from the word go I loved and respected these two people for who they are as humans, ha.
When we were all suited we had some photo ops together down by the Marriott pool in the great cave area, I set off out on my own to walk the floor and do my own thing. It was great! It was the most fun I’ve ever had on my own, put it that way! The reaction people have to the Adam West Batman is amazing. It really feels as though people have a special sentimental place in their heart for Adam and the show. Comments most frequently heard were, "Now that’s the real Batman!" or "The old school Batman rocks!" It just goes to show that if the show ever does get an actual home release, the fan base would go through the roof!
Friday was also when I literally bumped into, Franklin, who has since joined the message board as "Katomania". Franklin very quickly after this encounter became a very big part of my con experience and some of the fun I've had since con. I was initially taken back by how cool and accurate Franklin’s suit is. He then started to pose as people stunted our conversation by asking for photos (duh, this is comic con after all! Haha!). I realized when I saw the moves he was busting out in pictures that this guy is serious about portraying his character! The enthusiasm and professionalism with which he did it was really inspiring. I told Franklin that tomorrow there would be a 66 Batman Group that would have a Green Hornet and that he HAD to get some pics with them! Eventually after the photo demands died off I continued over to Dan’s booth to let him a take a look at my suit! In terms of the way my suit colors read in photo below of me and Dan, this is one of my favorite pictures of con. It was also amazing how much better the tights that Scott had kindly loaned me were bringing out the blues and the yellows! Amazing!
4pm soon came around and it was time to head up to the area specified for the DC Character cosplay gathering. This was also the location at which I had agreed to re-convene with the “Justice Friends”.
After three or so hours in costume we began to make our way out of the convention knowing that it would take us at least another to do so due to photo requests etc. Once we had made it back down from the Sails Pavilion we decided to pay one last visit to Adam’s table for the day. Sure enough Adam was at his table and once again we had arrived at the exact moment at which Fred was trying to get Adam out of the building. “Scott, can you get us out like you did yesterday?” At this point I have never seen a more shocked expression on anyone’s face. Scott looked around as if Fred was crazy, “I’m dressed as Batman and I have the Justice League with me, this isn’t going to be subtle!” With that said before I knew it the group, this time with Fred and Adam in the middle, made our way through the convention floor and out of a service exit with Batman and Wonder Woman at the front and me as Batman and Alex as Robin either side of Adam at the rear. This once again was a major moment for me! Just to look to my left whilst dressed as my beloved incarnation of the caped crusader and not only see the man who made that role as magical as it was but to see Robin there as well was truly breathtaking. We once again delivered Fred and Adam to their destination safely and made our way back to the hotel chatting away as regards the escapade we had just performed and as ever posing for photos along the way. What a day! What a way to debut my costume!
Saturday 25th July
Saturday was my second and last day in costume. As the previous day we all got suited and booted in the Sebring’s room over at the Marriot. This time the group consisted of the Dynamic Duo, Catwoman, Batgirl and the Green Hornet. Saturday also became a tale of the two Kato’s when both Tony and Franklin later joined the group. You can never have enough Kato’s!
The next part of the story is really Scott’s as Adam had personally asked him if the group would come up to the signing area during his afternoon session to insight a little more interest and excitement every so often when the line calmed down…..and that is as much as I will say about that bit.
Ever since I had decided I was going to comic con I had decided that SDCC was my deadline for finishing and finally debuting my Adam style Batman suit. Once I heard the news Adam was going to be appearing at the convention, I couldn’t believe my luck! I was finally going to meet Adam!  I soon had what I thought was quite a naïve idea but in an ideal world, could I possibly manage a photo with Adam and myself whilst I was in costume?! Getting my photo with Adam in plain clothes was cool and it is certainly an encounter that I will never forget for too many reasons to name…but, my encounter on the Saturday certainly will hold a place in my heart for a very long time to come. So when the time appeared right, Scott asked Fred if I could do so what the group had just done and get a picture behind the table with Adam. What I thought was going to be simply a 15sec photo op turned into a few minutes of actual conversation with Adam behind his table. Truly amazing, I was there in costume, having a genuine conversation with the one and only Adam West. What really blew my cowl off so to speak was the fact he remembered and called me by name! WOW! So before I ramble on enthusiastically any further I will let the photo’s tell this part of the tale better than I ever could…
Saturday evening was the masquerade ball and although none of us intended competing, I once again became photographer for Scott and Vickie as they morphed into “The Phantom” and “Jill Kismit” and we headed on over the professional photo area where accredited photographers take photos of cosplayers against a back drop and others can gather around and also take pics.
The Doctors were also out in force chaperoning a overheated Cyberman to one of the Doctor Who panels that night. Saturday had been a very long but very rewarding day.
After everyone had finally got back into their normal clothes and Bob had begin to cool down from the Cyberman oven he had encapsulated himself in, we once again had a bite to eat and great conversation regarding anything from the day at con to varying opinions and encounters with a certain Mr John Barrowman.
Sunday 26th July
Sunday had a different vibe as Friday and Saturday had been the biggest two days and there was a sense of sadness for me personally that the convention was coming to an end and that I was going to have to say good bye to the great friends I had enjoyed and treasured every minute with. As I said I wasn’t costuming on the Sunday but I had signed up however to be “Camera Boy” for the last time.
On Sunday afternoon I also got to say good bye and thank you to Adrian one last time before he went back to start the pack up preparations at the booth he is involved with.
Wally had also returned from his reunion to appear at a panel he was. After the panel, Scott, Vickie and I caught up with him in the hall way out side the panel. At this point Wally introduced me to the legendary voice actor and performer Chuck McCann. Meeting Chuck was great as I had grown up listening to him performing the voice of “The Thing” in the Fantastic Four animated series. Scott told Chuck that I was a big fan of that series and without any prompting Chuck burst out with “Its clobbering time!”, that truly made my night! Such a privilege and such an unbelievably great guy.
I was very fortunate on Sunday afternoon to meet and spend a few moments talking to the legendary comic artist Gerry Robinson whom created such influential characters as Robin and The Joker! What another amazing honor to meet someone who was such and incremental part of the very early days of Batman! Once again, as with everyone I had met, Mr Robinson was such a lovely and kind man.
After a final afternoon of posing and interacting with the crowd, Comic Con drew to an end that none of us had predicted which was the acquiring of a rather unique item on Scotts behalf. As we were exiting the exhibition for the last time at 5pm, people running the booths looked exhausted yet eager to start dismantling their displays. Whilst passing the Star Trek cologne booth with the Enterprise bridge back drop, Scott quipped to the gentleman running the booth “So who has to take the Enterprise home then?”, to which the guy responded “You if you want it”. Scott, Vickie, Tony and I stopped in our tracks as it became apparent that the guy was deadly serious.
So what better way to end my comic con and officially the greatest yet most surreal week of my life than by exiting the convention center and returning to the front desk area of the Marriott carrying a 9ft tall and 20ftish wide Enterprise bridge backdrop assisted by the Phantom and Wonder Woman, with The Crow opening doors for us!
I just want to end by saying one last thank you to absolutely everyone who made my convention such an amazing experience and to those who have shown generosity towards me that will never be equaled and I only hope one day I can return such favors and kindness. I have made some friends whom I shall never forget and will cherish the time that we spent together for a very long time to come! You truly gave me the time of my life!
And that folks brings my Comic Con 2009 adventure to an end….
Stay tuned! Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Blog!
