SDCC '11

It's official: Three- and four-day passes for New York Comic Con are sold out. And fans are being urged NOT to line up to get in today due to having to line- up outside in a rain-slicked city:

While not as bloody an incident as the 2010 stabbing, this year the fever pitch of Hall H at Comic-Con was again marred by violence when Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, who plays the Lizard in the upcoming Spider-Man movie, got into a scuffle with a security guard, which resulted in a citizen's arrest by said guard. The incident was said to kick off when Ifans, who might have had a tiny bit to drink that afternoon, him being Welsh and all, went outside for a smoke with his entourage, and upon trying to get back in, found his entourage didn't have the proper credentials. After a shouting match with the guard, Ifans reportedly gave her a shove, went on stage looking pale and rattled, and upon getting offstage, was arrested.

Well, after posting my initial analysis of Comic-Con programming, astute Beat readers suggested I consider the square footage and attendance of each panel. Using the color-coded programming grids found on the CCI website, and then using the occupancy data for the convention center and nearby hotels, I created a nice spreadsheet for each room or hall. Here are the totals...

Another winner in TCJ's cartoonist diary series.

The Comics Journal is posting video tapes of several Comic-Con panels -- so avoiding those crowds was the right way to go after all! Here's one that we much desired to see 50 Years of Comic Book Fandom with Mark Evanier, Jean Bails, Paul Levitz, Dick and Pat Lupoff, Richard Kyle, Bill Schelly, Roy Thomas, and Maggie Thompson. This is where it all began, people.

But does media really dominate the programming at Comic-Con International? Let's find out!

One red-eye flight from Burbank later, and I've had the most uninterrupted sleep I've gotten in two weeks. It will take another 10 hours to really get normal, but for that I've got to hang on until the weekend. YOU CAN DO IT! I'll have more emblematic con thoughts tomorrow, but for now a few shout outs:

Okay we're not going to spend weeks and weeks rounding up San Diego memories, but we are going to share a few good ones. James Kochalka has started his sketchbook diaries account, and this is the comics equivalent of the MODERN FAMILY recap.

By Ali Colluccio Days at Comic-Con: 4 Total hours of sleep: 15 Total number of drinks: lost track after 23... Time of brain death: Sunday, July 24, 12:47am PDT, Hyatt lobby bar Items crossed off To-Do list: 10 (out of 22)

While a veil of acceptance settled over most of the attendees of the just passed Big Show, a few people were still miserable, namely those who had to sleep out over night on concrete to get a ticket for next year, with the oft-heard, but seldom-heeded battle cry "I don’t think I’m coming next year."

One of the best stories coming out of Comic-con? After they had camped out for two days, diehard Twilight fans got a huge thrill when cast members showed up with some breakfast:

By James Urbaniak -- I was planning to arrive at San Diego Thursday morning but I ended up getting a callback for one of my trademarked red herring characters on a crime procedural for Thursday afternoon. (Seriously, why do I still have to audition for these red herrings? But that's another blog post.) So I ended up taking the train from Los Angeles Thursday night. I arrived around 11:00 pm. An Adult Swim party was in full swing but I was tired and carrying bags. Dr. Venture took a cab to his hotel.