Welcome to our WizardWorld East Saturday wrapup. Sadly, we were only able to attend the show on this one of the three days it ran, but we picked the most exciting for certain. Walking into the place hit you with immediate information overload -- The room was so vast with colorful booths that we wanted to head eight different directions. A line had already formed towards the Wizard booth, which was where they were handing out a limited amount of tickets to get Kevin's autograph during the scheduled 2 hour signing. This was a new concept for us, as we'd always figured you'd stand in line for a signature and that would be it, but this way, a limited number would be allowed to get stuff signed, in order to get Kevin done in time for his Q&A. A tight schedule, so we can see why they did it this way. A lot of folks didn't know about the system though, and sadly got turned away by security when they attempted to get in line at Kevin's table. Tickets were also handed out for the Q&A session with Kevin, as again, limited seats were available and they had to draw the line somewhere (or probably break the fire code or something) -- We had to stand in line for about 45 minutes for these, and that was before they even started handing out the tix. After the line started rolling at 11 PM, we'd made our way through it, and were good to go. We spent the next part of our day at Kevin's signing -- Kevin ran a tight ship, and interestingly enough instead of sitting at the table, walked THROUGH the line of folks waiting for their autographs to greet them in person. Kev also stopped to take photos and sign a few things for folks who didn't make it into the line on the way through. We brought up the end of the line, which Kevin made it through surprisingly fast, even after taking a break in the middle. Our crew had Kevin sign some stuff and took some photos, which you'll see on your right. Yep, right over there. Chris managed to track down Paul Dini and get a few books signed. As you know, Dini is the guy who created the Harley Quinn character and wrote that awesome Batman Beyond series for TV. His comic and TV accomplishments are too numerous to list here, but he’s always been a good guy and a big fan of View Askew, even delivering one of the funniest line reads in Jay & Bob in our opinion. There were precious few minutes until the Q&A was to start, so we had to divide and conquer for about a half an hour, giving us time to visit the View Askew booth and also see Mike Avon Oeming, creator of Powers, Hammer of the Gods, and of course the artist behind Bluntman & Chronic. Mike's table was very busy, as he had a lot of folks with books to sign, questions to ask, and sketches to request. Mike was cool enough to hook me up with a page from Hammer of the Gods' issue #1, which will be one of the first pieces in my collection of original art. Mike's always very gracious and friendly at all the conventions we've seen him at, and we congratulate him on all his success. Thanks Mike! Check out some of his work, his stories and art are great. After chatting with Mike, we had to make a run for the Q&A session, as it was already after the 1:30 start time. Luckily, we got into seats minutes before Kev took the stage, introduced by Wizard editor Jim McLauchlin. Kevin's Q&A was again a memorable time -- If only folks wouldn't ALWAYS ask the Superman script question, then again, folks seem to love hearing Kevin tell the story so much it'll probably be his "Freebird" as long as these things go on. It's still a damn good story. There were quite a few of the old classics told at the show, but some good new details on his plans with the Spiderman comics, Jersey Girl, and the Clerks cartoon feature film. Kevin took non-stop questions from 1:30 until amost 4 PM, when it was finally time to hit the road -- We hear he made his way to the View Askew booth after that to sign stuff for folks who didn't manage to get an autograph ticket earlier in the day. Some other Q&A highlights included... Kevin's draft of Jersey Girl wound up being around PG or PG-13 material, according to Kevin (and those who have read it). The film, if it stays as it is (and it likely will), will be the "PG" Kevin's always mentioned he'd had in him. Jersey Girl will likely end up filming in TORONTO over Philly (much to the crowd's dismay), due to a $2 million cheaper budget if they take it up North. Filming starts this August. Kevin gave some minor details on Clerks: Sell Out, the animated Clerks film. The film will defintiely be R-rated but not as obscene as Jay & Bob Strike Back. The project is still in the planning stage but moving along. Fletch Won will follow the book very closely, but Kevin will NOT make the film unless Jason Lee is cast in the lead. Kevin (for certain) & Jay Mewes (unlikely) will not appear in Jersey Girl. Kevin will be catching an advance screening of Episode II tomorrow afternoon. Chances are he'll comment on the flick sometime early this week. For us, it was time to head outdoors (ack! sunlight!) and find a bite to eat. Not knowing our way around Philly, we couldn't manage to stumble onto a quick fast food joint, and, with the food court at the convention center upstairs, we were outta luck -- Chris and his gang opted to go back and finish out the show right away, but Aimee and I had to hit the Hard Rock for a quick bite, which ended up taking til almost 5 PM (and the food was pretty crappy, too boot. Ah, if only we had more time to find a decent joint to eat or had even found that market RIGHT outside the Convention Center. Stupid.) At 5 PM, with just an hour to go, it was crunchtime. It's a shame the show had to end at 6, cuz there was still a TON of stuff to get done. Unfortunately, neither of us were ever able to locate Matt Wagner, as we were looking for him to put his brand on a couple Green Arrow issues (as you may know, he's done some fantastic covers for the books). In the final hour though, we did manage to catch Joe Quesada at the Marvel booth, who was nice enough to sign a book for me, even though his session was long over (thanks Joe!) We also ran into Jimmy Palmiotti, who had brought along some original artwork to check out -- He had some amazing stuff as well, including some work on Punisher that was absolutely incredible to behold. In the end, I bought a page of Daredevil, issue #9, which I'm planning to eventually frame and add to my small, but growing art collection. As we looked at the art, a few folks came up to Jimmy and had him critique their personal artwork and concepts -- Jimmy was full of fantastic info for the folks, who really seemed to appreciate the advice. Jimmy's a really good guy all around. We spent about the last 20 minutes of the show, until the lights went down, running around hectic trying to find a DD#9 for Jimmy to sign to go with the art. The books were sold out everywhere, and I hadn't had the foresight to bring mine along. When 6 PM hit, those lights in the room went off in a flash, and folks were politely given the "Get the hell out" message. In short, it was a fun, but hectic day. Hopefully, when WizardWorld comes back next year, we'll have a better map of the show, telling us where artists will be and what times they're scheduled to sign. It's not a problem if some guests can only spend a couple hours at the signing table, but it would be nice to know where and when to find them ahead of time, so some sort of schedule can be worked out. Regardless of that, we'll certainly be back next year, and probably with a 3-day pass in hand! Be sure to check out the small handful of pics we managed to nab during the day -- We got so wrapped up in things that we forgot to get out the cameras, but on your right you'll find shots of Chris and his crew getting some signatures, a silly shot of Kevin and I, a shot or two of Paul Dini, and one of Kevin doing the Q&A thing (after about 20 attempts with a digital camera that just doesn't do well in dimly lit rooms). We'll see you at the next event!