<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>As usual, thanks from everybody who couldn't be there!<br><br>Go Red Sox!</div><div><br>On Jul 30, 2011, at 6:16 PM, Steve Kuhn <<a href="mailto:cankuhn@hotmail.com">cankuhn@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">I lost my bells and all of my whistles so here is the San Diego Komic Kuhn report without all the bells and whistles.</font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">July 21st, Wednesday (Preview Night)<br></font></div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">My wife and I started off our day at Sea World. Then made our way to Comic Con. We stayed in the Marriott this year with a room over looking the pool on the 11th floor, expensive but a wonderful place to stay. Went over at 3:00 to pick up our badges. There were no lines and was back in the room by 3:30. Had a bite to eat at Fisherman's village and then off to the convention floor for preview night. Say Gary and chatted a while, got in line to buy some Dexter action figures, then off to Sergio's table Click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627283618190/">HERE</a> to see Sergio's Booth). Had him sign my MAD's Greatest Artists: Sergio Aragones. He had some Sergio Aragones Funnies with Bongo comic collectables: Poster, Shirt, and comic. I also got a Simpsons comic that Sergio did the cover for and a Sergio Aragones MAD Parade that was published in Australia. I then checked in with my Comic book guy, Kenny, who has a booth, then off to see Tom Richmond's booth Click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159332591/">HERE</a> to see Tom's Booth. Tom has a book comic out which I bought from I pre-ordered from him. If you pre-ordered the book at Comic Con you got his limited edition Secret Agent men signed print, caricatures of all the actors who played James Bond. I was lucky enough to get 007 out of 250 You can pre-order yours here: <a href="http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/2011/07/21/pre-order-the-book-now/">Pre-Order The Book Now! | Tom's MAD Blog!</a> On that page there is also a link that you can purchase the Secret Agent Men print and also check out his blog. To see all the items I got click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627312839380/">HERE</a>. I then met my wife and we watched KA by Cirque du Soleil. They did did a performance on the wall of PETCO stadium. Click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159492079/">HERE</a> for a couple of photos.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">July 22nd, Thursday</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">We got up early so we could stand in line for the Burn Notice panel. When we got up at 5:30 I saw a line coming from the the Hyatt. I later found out that the line went all the way past Joe's Crab Shack. The Hyatt is where you had to go pre-order your tickets for next years Comic Con. The only sold tickets from 8:00 to 11:00 and they only had a limited number of tickets each day click <a href="http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_reg_2012.php">HERE</a> for a full description on the process. So when we left we had to figure out how we would get our tickets for next year. Burn Notice was in Ballroom 20 and the line to get in line was in front of Hall F. Our place in line was by the line from Hall H. Hall H had people waiting since Monday to get to see the Twilight Panel. While we were waiting in line some Twilight stars stopped by and handed out muffins and juice for the people waiting in line. Click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627283761874/">HERE</a> to see some photos of those stars. They then let us in the convention center to wait in line to see Burn Notice which started at 10:00. The Burn Notice panel had Bruce Campbell and Matt Nix. It was mostly the Bruce Campbell Show. Click <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159593995/">HERE</a> for the photos. I left me wife in Ballroom 20 and she watched to Covert Affairs and Psych panel. I was off to see the Dick De Bartolo panel. He talked about how he saved The Match Game from being cancelled by writing double-entendre questions. </font> He also talked about how he became a writer for MAD. The first script he sent to MAD was "A TV Ad We Would Like to See" When you send in a script to MAD you send a self addressed stamped envelope so if they didn't buy what you wrote they would send it back to you. A couple of weeks later he got his script back in his envelope and thinking that they hadn't bout it just tossed the envelope aside. He then finally decided to open the letter to see what the rejection letter said and to his surprise all that was inside was a pice of cardboard with a check stapled to it saying we bought your script and contact us to write more stuff for us from Nick Meglin. He also talked about the Gaines trips. After the panel he was doing a signing and he signed my Good Days and Mad: A Hysterical Tour Behind the Scenes at Mad Magazine and a picture of Alfred. Click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159800907/">HERE</a> to see the photos. Then it was off to The Mark and Sergio Show. Mark started off the panel by showing us some photos he had on his iPAD. Tom Luth was absent from the panel this year because he was dealing with problems with his Mom's house. They said that four Sergio Aragones Funnies for Bongo comics are complete, two comic have been completed for Groo vs. Conan, and after that is completed they are going to do Groo vs. Tarzan. The Tarzan part of the comic is being drawn by the same artist who drew Conan, Thomas Yeates. Click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627284101364/">HERE</a> for the photos. This was the 1st panel of my special assignment this year. George Karalias wasn't able to make it to Comic Con this year and he usually films some panels for Mark to watch. He contacted me and FedExed me his camera and it was my job to do the filming. George has been a great and generous friend over the years so I was glad to help him out. For the last panel of the day I went to see the MAD Men panel. Editor John Ficarra, art director Sam Viviano, writer Dick DeBartolo and artists Sergio Aragonés, Peter Kuper, Tom Richmond, and Keith Knight were on the panel. They showed a slide show and talked an hour about all things MAD and how they became Usual Gang of Idiots. If you haven't done so already MAD magazine now has a blog. You can check it out here: <a href="http://mad.blog.dccomics.com/">MAD: The Idiotical</a>. The blog allows up to the minute paradises of what happening in the world. Also to celebrate to 50th anniversary of Spy vs Spy the gave the Spy character to different artists to design. You can find the completed versions of there designs on the blog. Click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627283838444/">HERE</a> for the photos. I then made my way down to the DC Booth because they had some Spy vs Spy action figures that were designed by various artist on display and some soon to be released Alfred E Neuman statues Click </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159766299/">HERE</a> to see those.</font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "> I then met my wife at Joe's Crab Shack and went to bed early.</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">July 23rd, Friday</font></div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">From talking to security guards and people who stood in line the day before to get tickets for next years Comic Con we found out that the line didn't start getting long until 3:00 in the morning. So at 3:00 I planted myself in line to buy tickets at 8:00. At 5:30 the line started to move. One of the security guards said to avoid what happened yesterday the would start selling tickets before 8:00 to avoid the long line. Well that wasn't true. What they did at 5:30 was crowd us into a room at the Hyatt and made us wait there until they started to sell the tickets a 8:00. We were about 250th in line and was out of there by 8:15. Tickets are not sold out yet. They will become available on the Comic Con website some time so keep checking the website, <a href="http://www.comic-con.org/cci/">Comic-Con 2012</a>, for when that will be happening. After I had my tickets in hand I was off to the DC: MAD About MAD panel. This panel was for the MAD cartoon on Cartoon Network. John Ficarra, Sam Viviano, Peter Kuper, Dick DeBartolo, Sergio Aragones along with MAD series producers Kevin Shinick and Mark Marek were on the panel. I watched the show a couple of times and didn't particularly care for it. What was cool to see at the panel was a bunch of kids. MAD is now visible to the younger generation, that makes Alfred happy. Sam showed another slide show and we watched some highlight of next season. Click <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159765067/">HERE</a> for the photos. After that panel I was off to the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton to see a bunch of Adult Swim Panels. I saw the </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159511959/">The Venture Bros</a>, </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159746279/">NTSF-SD-SUV</a> a new show on Cartoon Network, </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159532705/">Childrens Hospital</a>, </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159735721/">Black Dynamite</a> a new show on Cartoon Network, </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159717827/">Robot Chicken</a>, and </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159695157/">Eagleheart Panel</a>. The panels had all the stars for the above mentioned shows. The panels I really wanted to see were Robot Chicken and Eagleheart. By the time those panels were on I was seated in the front row. If you want to see the photos I took click on any of the above titles. Back at the hotel to watched fireworks from our balcony.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">July 24th, Saturday</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Today was my biggest assignment video tape Quickdraw and Cartoon Voices I. Got there early to get the best possible seats for the filming. On the Quickdraw panel were the regulars Sergio Aragones and Scott Shaw! the 3rd member of the team was Mike Kazaleh. As usual the panel was great. To play guess the word Mark choose Laraine Newman for one game and Dick DeBartolo another. This is where Mark gives the artists words and they draw those words and Laraine and Dick tried to guess the words. The video taping this was complicated from the 4th row so I didn't take any photos of this panel. For Cartoon Voices I panel Mark allowed me to sit in the VIP section and I was able to put the video camera on my tripod and enjoy the show, occasionally changing the battery and tape from the front row. The voice artist on the panel were Wally Wingert (The Avengers), Saratoga Ballantine (Spider-Man), Tara Strong (The Powerpuff Girls), Townsend Coleman (The Tick), Rob Paulsen (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and Robin Atkin Downes (Thundercats). The script they read was the same as last year, Snow White. </font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; ">Saratoga Ballantine took the part of Snow White</span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> As usual I laughed until I cried at this panel. Click </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627283870326/">HERE</a> for the photos. I was then off to Hall H. I saw the </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627283969108/">Knights of Badassdom</a>, </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627283956024/">Snow White and the Huntsmen</a>, </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627283941908/">Further over the Rainbow</a> panels, click on the movie titles for the pictures. The panel I really wanted to see in Hall H was the panel after Further over the rainbow, Kevin Smith. Right before Kevin went on stage there was an open seat besides me that someone took. I asked him how long he has been in there and he said he just walked in. Hall H never filled up until Kevin Smith went on. So much for planning ahead. Click </font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159637291/">HERE</a> for some photos of kevin.</font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "> Then met Lee by the Marriott pool for some pizza and fireworks on the balcony.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; ">Jul 25th, Sunday, Last Day</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; ">My one and only panel and my last filming assignment was Cartoon voices II. On the panel were Chuck McCann (man of a million voices), Bill Farmer (Goofy), Laraine Newman (The Goode Family), Jason Marsden (The Fairly OddParents), Gregg Berger (The Garfield Show), Vanessa Marshall (The Avengers). They also did the Snow White script with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; ">Laraine Newman as Snow White. My only comment for this panel is Chuck McCann is amazing. Click </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627283812040/"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">HERE</font></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "> for some photos. I then wondered the floor, said by to all my comic book friends and began counting down the days until I do it all again next year. To see photos of what was on the convention floor click </span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/sets/72157627159421141/">HERE</a>.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">I hope you have enjoyed my take on Comic Con. Just incase you scrolled all the way to the end of this post and didn't want to read what I wrote click </font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuhnster/collections/72157627284122112/">HERE</a> to see all the photos I took.</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Comically yours,</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Komic Kuhn</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Groop mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:Groop@groo.com">Groop@groo.com</a></span><br><span><a href="http://mailman.newdream.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/groop">http://mailman.newdream.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/groop</a></span></div></blockquote></body></html>