San Diego Comic-Con: Day Two

Yesterday, at the end of a very long day of San Diego Comic-Con festivities, I shared the highlights of the con’s first jam-packed day.. It was jammed packed, and I was especially appreciative of getting to see the Ender’s Game and Divergent panels in the usually difficult to get into Hall H.

Friday was a much different day. I spent the majority of the day in press rooms, talking to the creators and casts of The 100, The Following and The Blacklist. As planned, Keith and I also attended the Veronica Mars Fan Event – which I live-tweeted at CliqueClackTV – which was pretty awesome. The big surprise of the day was getting a last-minute opportunity to sneak into Hall H for the Game of Thrones panel.

As with yesterday, I just want to go over some of the highlights of the day. Next week when I’ve had more time to process them, I’ll post videos from the roundtable interviews I participated in.

• After two – and a half I guess – years of attending Comic-Con, I finally participated in one of fellow Clacker Michael Noble’s most treasured San Diego traditions: breakfast at Perry’s Café. It’s a little off the beaten path – and certainly not within walking distance of downtown – but my pancakes were outstanding.
• The 100 (Pronounced, for clarification as “the hundred” and not “the one-hundred”) pressroom was first up. It’s always a nice treat when there is a member of the cast there that you didn’t expect, and I wasn’t aware that Isaiah Washington would be joining us. He had some interesting perspectives on his character, especially in the context of President Obama, whose campaigns he’s helped with in the past.
• Next up was The Blacklist which, along with The 100, is one of my favorite pilots of the new season. I spoke with Diego Klattenhoff – who made a comment while in the press line reminding us that he was in Mean Girls – and Megan Boone, who is sure to be one of the breakout new stars this year.
• I’ve been fortunate enough to see the Game of Thrones panel now two of the three years I’ve been at the con. Sadly, the year I missed was the one year they were able to announce casting for the upcoming season. The panel was great, but looking at the actors that were on the dais, the only thing running through my head was, “Dead, dead, going to die, dead, going to die.” The hilariously prepared “In Memoriam” video of all of the characters – including “Baratheon Soldier #680” – probably put me in that mindset. Update: Look what the official Game of Thrones YouTube account just shared:

• Last year, The Following’s pressroom was one of my favorites. This year, we had the bonus of having Valorie Curry in attendance. She clarified that last year, while she was at the con promoting the final installment in the Twilight series, she was asked to stay far away from this pressroom for Spoiler’s sake (While I would have love to have spoken with her then, it would have ruined a pretty great reveal in the pilot).
• A long time ago, we used to be friends … with a show called Veronica Mars. The Kickstarter campaign has re-launched the fanaticism. While there was no way I’d be able to make it into the show’s Hall H panel first thing this morning, I did fund in Kickstarter to a level that guaranteed me a seat. Hopefully, I’ll be able to dedicate a full post to the goings on at the event, but in the mean time check out the official sizzle reel Rob Thomas featured at both events embedded below.

• Finally, I guess you’re probably looking for an explanation about the picture at the top of this post. Sadly, I’m not going to be able to provide one for you. There’s just some things that you just have to come to Comic-Con to understand. I will say, if you’re wondering — and I know you are — that my sweet Cap shirt is available here (Hat tip to my buddy Jason Fitchko who did the art) … or, I mean, whoever that masked man wearing the cool shirt is, because it isn’t me. Not even a little