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[Each year we try to find a newcomer to the amazements of Comic-Con to report on their adventures; it's a nice way of seeing the very real enthusiasm for what is truly a one-of-a-kind experience. This year's con virgin is cartoonist Matthew Petz who offered to both write and sketch some of his experiences at the con, starting with not even having a badge... Here's his first report.]

What day is it?

Seriously…with SDCC a day behind me I can finally get around to writing up my experiences. In a nutshell, it lived up to the hype. Good and bad.

THURSDAY:

I knew the trip was going to be all that and a bag of chips when my flight had the Comedian (Jeffery Dean Morgan) and real live penguins! Seriously, the penguins had been on the Today show and were going back to the San Diego Zoo. Mid flight the handlers brought them through the cabin to a 100 camera phones clicking away. Mine included.

I landed in SD at 8:30 local time, but 11:30 my time. Jet lag would continue to haunt me the whole weekend…no doubt the late nights and drinking didn’t help. Oh well. I dropped my bags at the Bay Front Hilton, and taxied over to the iFanboy party to meet up with friends. I was there MAYBE 5 minutes before we all bailed, I think the iFanboy thing was wrapping up and the roof was transforming into a club?

Our party of 7 split cars and headed to the Hyatt…but seconds into MY ride we changed plans and end up at the CBLDF party.

Thus is the SDCC…It’s a manic pop culture free for all that never ever lets up.

Shit happens, then it doesn’t, then it happens again, and then plans change and then you end up… somewhere. You must be adaptable. You will miss things and people, and that’s OK. Part of the fun is jumping out of the plane and seeing where you land. Sometimes it’s a private party, other times it’s drinks with fellow creators discussing what the “Haunted Tank” is…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

After the CBLDF party my friends and I left and got dinner. Walking around SD’s Gas Lamp district is pretty crazy… It’s a city full of cos players, pedicabs, lots of traffic vehicular and human… and this was only Thursday! Everything is wrapped in some sort of promotion. EVERYTHING. By the end of the weekend I was overloaded with the amount of sponsorship.

From projection screens on buildings at rooftop parties, to cups emblazoned with advertisements for TV shows that will surely be cancelled, San Diego becomes one gigantic ad you can’t fast forward through.

After dinner Thursday I went back to my hotel room at the Bay Front Hilton. It was 4:30 AM my time. Toast.

FRIDAY:

Up and at ‘em!

Still reeling from jet lag, I was up at 8 and out the door by 8:30 (I deserve a medal) I set off.

Between the Bay Front and the convention center there were all the Batmobiles from the TV show and movies. It was awesome, but I totally blew by them to get into the convention! On my way in I passed the growing line for Hall H. It was no joke. It’s everything you think it is, anime characters lined up next to

[Each year we try to find a newcomer to the amazements of Comic-Con to report on their adventures; it's a nice way of seeing the very real enthusiasm for what is truly a one-of-a-kind experience. This year's con virgin is cartoonist Matthew Petz who offered to both write and sketch some of his experiences at the con, starting with not even having a badge... Take it away, Matt.]

My First Comic Con

For most of my adult geek life I’ve know about the San Diego Comic Convention. It’ s essentially the Superbowl for comic fans. So whether it was money or just being an east coaster all my life, I’ve always done this from a far…but not this year…Oh no…this year, I’m actually going.

God help me.

I suppose I should introduce myself, my name’s Matthew Petz. I write and draw a comic called War of the Woods. In olden times it was going to come out through Zuda, then that imprint was killed off I got my rights back. Since then I’ve released it myself through ComiXology. Heres a quick link and some shameless promotion, www.warofthewoodscomic.com. You’re gonna’ love it. It has an otter with a turtle on his head, fightin’ aliens!

Anyway…

Working on a digital creator owned book is fantastic. The most common comment I hear at conventions is “when’s it going to come out in print ?” So I started testing the waters by doing some small print runs. This is all a long way to say that with from print copies on hand, I found myself invited to have some books at this years Tr!ckster event. All I heard last year from reviews of the show and fellow creators was that
Tr!ckster was the place to be. That my book was gonna’ be there is awesome.

This then immediately demanded real thought as to whether or not I should actually go to San Diego. Very quickly I realized I kinda had to. As a professional you can’t really not go. Way too many possibilities for networking and such. Plus I had good friends already going, so I probably had at least a hotel room floor to crash on. As a comic geek It’s finally a chance to experience comic book super bowl first hand. I eventually priclined a flight and here I am.

As San Diego looms, I’ll be reporting back to you as a first time SDCC virgin. I will admit I have high expectations. I’ve decided to try and do some “touristy” things this first time.

They include getting a SDCC exclusive, and attending something in Hall H.

For the exclusive I’m gonna’ try for a Bane flash drive from Mimoco, though I’ve just learned it’s limited to 500 pieces. So yeah…already not looking good.

For hall H I’m gonna’ try and see if I can attend the WB/Legendary panel. Between the Hobbit, Man of Steel, and Pacific Rim It hits my nerd solar plexus hard. The real reason though, is the rumor that Legendary will present stuff from the new Godzilla movie. THAT has me slightly woozy. I am a gigantic Godzilla fan and being at SDCC and seeing new big budget Godzilla stuff…could be awesome…if it actually even happen