There will still be Con updates that we didn’t get the chance to cover in the whirlwind that is the last day at Comic-Con, completed over the next two days. Find out more about the Del Rey Manga panel (where we answered some of the common questions many of you have), whether or not we hit 1,000 cranes, and all the other craziness of our experiences at the Con.

So many thanks to the people who have kept up with us so far, and be sure to stay tuned to this space for more!

I love San Diego.

I love San Diego because it has Mexican food so good that people are not only willing to drive out of their way for burritos, but also to bring them back for those who’d doubt their awesomeness.

 I love San Diego because when you gaze out over the water, your view is of an artful seascape where sailboats and naval frigates and yachts glide along the surface with motion almost poetic.

I love San Diego for Tony Gwynn and Horton Plaza and Coronado Golden Ale.

I love San Diego because of the way the moon hangs over the Coronado Bridge that arcs gracefully in the distance, behind the convention center where I’ve spent the past few days.

And I love San Diego because once every year, it becomes a place where thousands of the brightest, bestest fans of nigh-everything cultural come to celebrate our hobbies and our industries.

A place where I can ask for help to fold a thousand origami cranes and days–even hours–later be inundated with the most elegantly folded papers, getting our thousand with cranes to spare.

A place where a guy in a purple suit is not out of place–indeed, is dressed fairly conservatively.

A place where I guy I went to college with and haven’t seen in decades and a guy I went to high school with and haven’t seen in decades-plus can coincidentally wander past my booth and renew acquaintance.

A place where everywhere you look, there’s something worth looking at, and where everyone you meet is someone worth meeting.

I’m left here realizing that so many people worked so very hard to bring Del Rey to San Diego–folks you met in our booth and folks behind the scenes in New York–that I can’t name ‘em all.  But my thanks to them all for making it possible for me to be sitting here now, contemplating the show and its one inescapable conclusion:

I love San Diego.

Thanks!

Not pictured: My Harry Potter bag (it’s back at the hotel) and more free stuff!

– SWAG! Run and grab a Warner Bros. Smallville/Superman Bag. Only because it’s quite possibly the biggest bag in the world that I have ever seen and can carry just about anything from the convention. Speaking of bags, add Scholastic’s Harry Potter bag to the list. It’s Harry Potter, people–who doesn’t want that bag?

I’m a big fan of serious courtroom dramas and sleuthing shows like Law and Order, but there’s just something so fun about the Phoenix Wright world–Maya’s quirkiness, Phoenix’s unwavering conviction, Miles’s mysterious past–that for me puts Phoenix Wright on par with other Capcom greats like the Street Fighter series (as you can tell, I play video games every now and then).

Best of all, the official manga will be brought to you in a unique 2-volumes-in-1 format, so the fans save more and get more in the end. Can’t wait!

YouTube Directvideo link

This is one of three new manga trailers presented at the Del Rey Manga panel.

NEVER STOP BELIEVING!
Aventura Manga Trailer

Also a quick shout out to Scott Nybakken, who won an Eisner the other day. The award was for best reprint for Absolute Sandman, and it was well deserved. Scott and I went to high school together, and in fact went to our first fan con together over twenty years ago: Time Con, a Doctor Who convention. Ah, the memories.

I’ve been told today is another sell-out day, and to judge by the crowds, that’s got to be true. It took me about 6 minutes to walk to the booth; it took me less than a minute on Wednesday before the show opened.

Remember that burst of energy I mentioned yesterday? Gone. If you stop by the booth today, you’re likely to see me downing Dayquil and coffee in an attempt to keep going through these, the final hours of the show.

My overall impression? Great show, great fun catching up with everyone.

More later.

Meet Hamachi and the yokai of YOKAIDEN. Cool, huh?

That’s your friendly neighborhood manga marketing manager coming across a not-so-friendly fist…

And it looks like Ali’s back to rockin’ a bowtie (but no purple suit). While it’s not directly related to comics, the tie holds the words of what Ali considers to be the most important words ever to come from the government–The First Amendment.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. “

Comics fans and first amendment supporters unite!

I saw this furry little guy being followed by a cameraperson and I just had to take a snapshot.

Giant squirrel reality TV? Who knew?