Fan Expo Day 1: Through a Convention Centre, darkly

August 22, 2008 – 11:48 PM: Day 1 of Fan Expo is over, and what a day it was.

It all started out with what was easily the finest example of poor planning and organization as we, along with several other members of the press, sat in a little room on hard plastic chairs for 5 straight hours on the promise that our press badges were going to be delivered to us “any minute now”. It absolutely has to be said that, considering its size and importance in the Convention circuit, the Fan Expo team certainly has a lot of work to do in the public relations department.

Nary half a day later, with press passes in hand, we were ready to set off into a world of geeky delights.

Among the more interesting people we got to meet are Boba Fett, Rainbow Bright, the Submariner, Goku, Darth Vader (and his various twin siblings), The Joker & Harley Quinn, and two Team Fortress teams, one Red, one Blue, ready to do Epic Battle.  (My money’s on Red…they had a spy. …or was he Blue?? ooOOoOoo….)

After a good headshake, we were able to get some good facetime with independent comic publishers Fantasy Prone, the guys from Pure Pwnage, the director of the gaming documentary FRAG, and lots and lots of eager fans. All in all, a pretty productive half-day.

A highlight of the day was a Q&A session with legendary comic book artist Brian Bolland, perhaps best known for his seminal piece “The Killing Joke”, which was authored by the equally legendary Alan Moore (Watchmen). We were there with cameras in hand covering the town-hall-type discussion and we’ll be posting that video in the very near future.  Fans of Bolland’s work, which includes “Animal Man”, “Judge Dredd”, and a portfolio of some of the finest cover art pieces ever to grace a newsstand, will definitely want to settle in for a very informative show.

We’ll be back Saturday after some much-needed sack time.  We’re gonna need it….Saturday is the day we Boldly Go where many a fan has gone before.

Of course we’ll be posting new stuff as it comes all weekend, including lots of video interviews with guests and fans alike. You can check out the videos by clicking HERE.

Cheers