Yes, this is the moment we have been waiting for, and you have too, whether you knew it or not.

The greatest moment in Beat history.

We’ll be spending the next few days reading the internets to see what actually happened at the show, maybe a few posts today. If you see any particularly telling links, please send them our way. Right now we’re assembling our Team PWCW coverage — look for that in your inbox tomorrow!

A few updates — the convention was never actually shut down by fire marshals, although online AND onsite registration were both stopped on Saturday. No attendance figures, although the early guestimate of 125,000 felt plausible.

The convention was, by any stretch of the imagination, a monstrous and unqualified success. Publishers and artists had record sales, movies and TV shows were given endless internet inches, autographs were collected, rare comics and art were purchased, drinks were consumed at movie studio parties, podcasts were recorded, life sized statues of Ray Harryhausen were presented to him, movie stars gave quotes about loving comic books, anime costumes were remarked upon, Klingon was spoken, and so on. But now, it’s all over.

Stormtrooper Elvis has left the building.

At some point today or yesterday this showed up on the San Diego website.

While the official numbers aren’t in yet, attendance is definitely WAY up from last year. So much so that last evening we needed to close online registration (which remains closed today), and as of 12:30pm today, have had to close ONSITE registration as well. We expect online registration to resume this evening and onsite registration will be available tomorrow.

We heard a lot of reports today about the fire marshals showing up and not letting anyone in for an hour or two but do not have this confirmed. Whatever happened, this was the most crowded, most sweaty, most overwhelmingly busy SDCC anyone ever saw. By mid-afternoon, the halls were littered with exhausted congoers, perhaps tired of fighting the crowds. The parade of stars from comics, TV, film and elsewhere was so huge that an unannounced appearance by Brandon “Superman” Routh to sign at the DC booth seemed almost normal; the surprise appearance of the entire cast of SPIDER-MAN 3 went almost unremarked on the floor, swallowed up by the tsunami of announcements, booths and previews.

Pretty much everyone survived, however.

James Kochalka sings!

A few photos, and no time to write captions except for one…

SAN DIEGO ‘06 — MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS!

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Video Blog #3: Geof Darrow

Video Blog #4: VIZ Media

Unfortunately we can’t link the players to the front page here. But we can link to them!

Today we have very limited online time, due to our other schedules. so we won’t have much of an update. It is very very very crowded here. Despite that, everyone is kind of calm and collected, perhaps in a shell shocked way. In a way it is hard to report on the show from the show — you people out there probably know more about what is going on than we do. There’s a ton of news out there from David Arquette forgetting the tape of his movie, to a new Dick Tracy reprint.

On the floor, its been getting pretty hot and sweaty in spots. Most observers feel this is simply because of the sheer number of people on the floor. Every day has been like Saturday. Shell shocked indeed.

We shoot the breeze with celebrity Kyle Baker!

Arrival, registration and booty.

The 2006 Eisner Awards were presented tonight at the San Diego Comic-Con. In addition, several other industry awards were presented. Multiple award winners including the anthology SOLO, which won three awards, Kyle Baker, and Chris Ware.

Russ Manning Award:
R Kikuo Johnson

Bill Finger Award:
Alvin Schwartz and Harvey Kurtzman

Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award:
Zeus Comics

Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award;
Calvin Reid, Publishers Weekly

The complete list of Eisner Award winners.

Best Digital Comic
* PVP, by Scott Kurtz, www.pvponline.com

Best Publication for a Younger Audience
* Owly: Flying Lessons, by Andy Runton (Top Shelf)

Best Anthology
* Solo, edited by Mark Chiarello (DC)

Best Coloring
* Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #16 (ACME Novelty)

Best Lettering
* Todd Klein, Wonder Woman, Justice, Seven Soldiers #0 (DC); Desolation Jones (WildStorm/DC); Promethea, Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, Tomorrow Stories Special (ABC); Fables (Vertigo); 1602: New World (Marvel)

Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
* Aaron Renier (Spiral-Bound)

Best Reality-Based Work
* Nat Turner, by Kyle Baker (Kyle Baker Publishing)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Strips
* The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, by Bill Watterson (Andrews McMeel)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
* Absolute Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (DC)

Best Penciller/Inker
* John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); Planetary (WildStorm/DC)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
* Ladronn, Hip Flask: Mystery City (Active Images)

Best Cover Artist
* James Jean, Fables (Vertigo/DC); Runaways (Marvel)

Best Comics-Related Periodical
* Comic Book Artist, edited by Jon Cooke (Top Shelf)

Best Comics-Related Book
* Eisner/Miller, edited by Charles Brownstein and Diana Schutz (Dark Horse Books)

Best Publication Design (TIE)
* Acme Novelty Library Annual Report to Shareholders, designed by Chris Ware (Pantheon)
* Little Nemo in Slumberland, designed by Philippe Ghuilemetti (Sunday Press Books)

Best Penciller/Inker
* John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); Planetary (WildStorm/DC)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
* Ladronn, Hip Flask: Mystery City (Active Images)

Best Cover Artist
* James Jean, Fables (Vertigo/DC); Runaways (Marvel)

Best Comics-Related Periodical
* Comic Book Artist, edited by Jon Cooke (Top Shelf)

Best Comics-Related Book
* Eisner/Miller, edited by Charles Brownstein and Diana Schutz (Dark Horse Books)

Best Publication Design (TIE)
* Acme Novelty Library Annual Report to Shareholders, designed by Chris Ware (Pantheon)
* Little Nemo in Slumberland, designed by Philippe Ghuilemetti (Sunday Press Books)

Best Graphic Album—New
* Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, by Alan Moore and Gene Ha (ABC)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint
* Black Hole, by Charles Burns (Pantheon)

Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material
* The Rabbi’s Cat, by Joann Sfar (Pantheon)

Best Writer
* Alan Moore, Promethea, Top Ten: The Forty-Niners (ABC)

Best Writer/Artist
* Geof Darrow, Shaolin Cowboy (Burlyman)

Best Writer/Artist—Humor
* Kyle Baker, Plastic Man (DC); The Bakers (Kyle Baker Publishing)

Best Limited Series
* Seven Soldiers, by Grant Morrison and various artists (DC)

Best New Series
* All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)

Best Short Story
* “Teenage Sidekick,� by Paul Pope, in Solo #3 (DC)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
* Solo #5, by Darwyn Cooke (DC)

Best Serialized Story
* Fables #36-38, 40-41: “Return to the Homelands,� by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and Steve Leialoha (Vertigo/DC)

Best Continuing Series
* Astonishing X-Men, by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday (Marvel)

Hall of Fame
Judges’ Choices: Floyd Gottfredson, William Moulton Marston
* Vaughn Bode
* Ramona Fradon
* Russ Manning
* Jim Steranko

OUR GLAMOUROUS SAN DIEGO: The Beat, Ian Brill, Laurel Maury and Calvin Reid hard at work on tomorrow’s edition of PW Comics Week.

Sitting outside the press room. The cast of HEROES is awfully attractive. Tim Sale tells us he’s ghosting the artwork for the painter character on the show.

The ladies room here smells worse than any ladies room I’ve ever smelled.

Just walked into the press room to get power. David Boreanaz being interviewed about BONES over the way.

Need coffee.

We missed the first part of this due to a scheduling mix-up, but the part we saw was probably the most intellectually trippy panel in San Diego History. “When conscioussness starts opening up, it terrifies people!” exclaimed one questioner excitedly.

Chopra spoke about the transformation of the caterpillar to the butterfly through the “imaginal cells” which mysteriously change the nature of the caterpillar. He compared the people at the convention to “imaginal cells of culture.”

“After the Age of Information comes the Age of Knowledge, then comes the Age of Wisdom,” he said.

For his part Morrison talked about the mythical basis of the great superheroes but allowed as “The moment we start worshipping superheroes is when we know we’ve got it wrong.”

The two made allusions to a dinner they’d had the night before, and we bet that was a pretty interesting dinner.

However, the headline from the talk, as our pal Douglas Wolk put it, was “Virgin and Morrison: just good friends.” Morrison’s DC Exclusive last for a few years yet, so don’t look for him to be writing any Virgin Comics any time soon, although there was some talk of projects in other media that might be possible.

A zillion parties were spread out across the city last night: CBLDF/Image/Suicide Girls, Friends of Lulu, Conan, Hasbro/Marvel, Circle of Confusion, Scholastic, Del Rey, Heavy Metal, and probably a few we’re forgetting. DC had a private luau. We hit Del Rey where we got to meet Stephen Woodworth, Elizabeth Bear and George RR Martin. Then it was off to the Lulu Awards where we presented the Women of Distinction award to the very deserving Diana Schutz. Then it was back to the Hyatt for the Heavy Metal party. None of the parties we were at seemed unbearably crowded, probably because everyone was so busy party hopping.

Can we just say that the Hyatt SUCKS TENNIS BALLS. The staff is rude, and seems resentful that we are here in every way. We’re in the old wing of the hotel, and compared to the other places we’ve been staying lately, with relaxa-beds and so on, it’s shabby and uncomfortable. Truly the lack of competition is breeding a very smug attitude here. When that Hard Rock opens, we’re all moving there STAT. Unless, of course, the sign is accurate and it’s going to be nothing but $400-a-night suites.

It’s up.:

It’s big. Look at the size of that thing.

That’s what every con virgin says when asked what they think of the show. We are in a scheduling rush right now, a few hours of free time spent talking to old friends like Scott Shaw! and Katie Merritt and John Layman and oh a whole bunch of folks we don’t even remember. You people playing along at home can follow what’s going better than those of us trapped within the perfect storm.

There didn’t seem to be any real big news rippling across the floor. A second Avengers title? Cool.Random House picked up rights to the first two Flight anthologies. The crowds at the vidgame/movie/manga end of the floor were almost impassable. By contrast back in the small press area it was busy but manageable. San Diego’s intellectual trickle down is in full effect: over at the Global Hobo/Spark Plug end of the show is was quiet, with only a few people hanging around,. Those few people, however, were an agent and a book editor, who will basically ensure that someday the IP based on actual cartoonists are disseminated to the busy end of the room.

Everyone is pretty much in lockdown necessity mode, taking all the meetings, and getting all the promotional stuff done that has to get done. No time for idle chit chat — there’s work to be done.

The crowds were enormous and mostly young. Were they here for comics? Probably not primarily.

More Later.

Just a few of the wonderful sights of the show. We have achieved con.

Bad Sunburn Parade: Frazier Irving. Mad Dogs and Englishmen and all that…

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The 2006 FoL awards were presented in a ceremony at the Bristol Hotel this evening. The winners are:

WOMEN OF DISTINCTION AWARD:
(Honoring women in the comic book industry in non-creator roles [editors, publishers, retailers].)
Diana Shutz (Editor, Dark Horse)

WOMEN CARTOONISTS HALL OF FAME:
Roberta Gregory (Naughty Bits, Artistic Licentiousness)

LULU of the YEAR:
(Recognizing those whose work best exemplifies Friends of Lulu’s mission of promoting diversity in comics.)
SCHOLASTIC/GRAPHIX (Publisher: Babysitters Club, Queen Bee, Breaking Up)

KIM YALE AWARD for BEST NEW FEMALE TALENT:
Leigh Dragoon (www.bythewayside.net)

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Donnie Tracy of Gotham City Limits

We took pathetically few pictures yesterday because we were busy Video blogging, and the ones we did are just…lame. But anyway…

Stan Sakai has 20 volumes of USAGI YOJIMBO in print — the first book alone is in its 10th printing. How many other American cartoonists have produced such a consistent body of work?

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Registration was NOT the nightmare everyone had feared. It took us literally 15 seconds to get our badge with our bar coded press letter. Now, there were lines for ProReg, but the wait of 20-30 minutes seemed pretty reasonable. If you hadn’t pre-registered, there were definitely problems, however, and we also heard a lot of complaints about the ProReg people being very very unresponsive to communication over the last few months. So that stuff is not good, and needs to be worked on, but in general, we’d have to say the new system has the potential to be completely painless when properly used.

We don’t know how things were going up on member registration, but we’ll keep our ears and eyes peeled.

[Photo by Christopher]
Okay can we just say, we now officially hate the Hyatt? WE HATES IT WE HATES IT FOREVER. We have various reasons for this but catch us in person and we’ll go down our bitching and whining list.

Anyway, an early flight and lack of REM sleep made yesterday kind of shiny and blurry. We walked around the floor with our DiVX Crew, Bruce and Michelle and got interviews with folks like Bob Burden and Kyle Baker. We’ll see how all that goes, but we should have video tomorrow. Walking around Comic-Con video blogging is surprisingly tiring!

Anyway, we saw a few things. Top Shelf brought tons of LOST GIRLS. The parody book KRAMER’S EGO (available at Global Hobo) is hilarious. Sci-Fi Channel brought their big shiny object again. DC’s booth was huge. Wow, these are not very revealing anecdotes are they?

One of the things we’ve been tracking is the uneasy relationship between the city and the con. Now we’re no strangers ourselves to being a grumpy local — ask us about St. Patrick’s Day in our neighborhood: yuck — and it’s understand that seeing battalions of Darth Vaders roaming around Ralphs can be annoying. However, city planners’ ambivalence towards the show is becoming more and more inappropriate. When we got off the plane yesterday morning the airport was PACKED, and it was obvious that everyone was coming in for Comic-Con — and it wasn’t just geeks and freaks, it was execs, and dignified looking Japanese folks, and Euros and everyone else. It’s all well and good to bemoan the lost days of San Diego the city, but to say that this weekend doesn’t have a MAJOR economic impact on the city is ridiculous.

DAY 0 PEOPLE AND PLACES: The 8:30 JetBlue flight from JFK to SD was a little bit less that Comic-Con express than in year’s past when everyone seemed to be on it. We did spot B&N’[s Jim Killen, Kyle Baker, Charlie Kochman and others. We sat in the terminal — which was, tragically really only a trailer, and not the luxurious WiFi enabled JetBlue terminal we were counting on — with Lauren Weinstein and Bongo Inker Phyllis Novin, and listened to these two incredibly talented curly haired ladies talk about their dual careers as cartoonists/musicians. Good stuff.

Once at the show we ran into EVERYONE. So…Saw rapidly shrinking Mark Evanier, who is looking fantastic after his GBP surgery…saw the traveling, blogging McCloud clan for a second or two. Chatted with Melinda Gebbie briefly as well as Dancing Shane McCarthy…there sure are a lot of Pirate-y things at the show.

A lot of artists hadn’t shown up yet for Artist’s Alley.

DO NOT EAT AT THE SEAFOOD RESTAURANT IN THE EMBASSY SUITES, because it has no food. We went there for some chow with Len Wein, Christine Valada, Maggie Thompson and our ever-suffering CBG editor Brent Frankenhoff, and the restaurant seems to somehow have become surprised by the fact that the hotel is completely booked solid, and people want to eat food there. Mark Evanier was supposed to join us, but he didn’t which, was sad, because he isn’t really eating now, and this restaurant would have been perfect for him. The Beat had a big tummy ache and just wanted a bit of soup, which took 90 minutes to bring and was served with a TEASPOON. We asked two separate waitstaffers if they had soup spoons and both got a funny look on their face and said “No, we don’t have any soup spoons.”

So there you have it — A RESTAURANT THAT SERVES CHOWDER THAT DOES NOT HAVE SOUP SPOONS. The chowder was way too salty, as well. So ixnay on that.

Comics really must be back, because the bandwagon is getting mighty crowded!

Representing the biggest news in horror comics since the gory glory days of EC, Fangoria Entertainment – home of the industry’s #1 horror genre magazine, website destination and weekly Sirius radio show – is expanding into the world of comic books with the launch of FANGORIA COMICS, it was announced by Fangoria Entertainment CEO Tom DeFeo.

Heading up FANGORIA COMICS is comic book guru Scott Licina, who brings a roster of top talent to the new comic company’s creative team, including Tommy Castillo, Troy Brownfield, artist Mark Kidwell and colorist Milen Paranov.

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Variety reports that Warner Bros. is planning to make a DOOM PATROL movie:

Warner Bros. Pictures is giving new life to DC Comics cult favorite “Doom Patrol,” about a band of superheroes with freakish powers, with Akiva Goldsman producing the bigscreen adaptation through his Warners-based Weed Road Pictures.

Studio has hired Adam Turner to pen the screenplay.

[snip]Producers of the film version are Goldsman and Weed Road’s Kerry Foster. Weed Road’s Matt Smith brought in the project.

“These are some of the most original, offbeat comicbook characters we have ever come across, and Adam Turner’s unique sensibility makes him a perfect fit for the material,” Goldsman told Daily Variety.

That’s OSCAR® winning Akiva Goldsman to you. The article goes on to say that DOOM PATROL has been compared to the X-Men, which might have helped sell the idea, but may have raised a few false hopes at WB. Anyway, if this leads to more opportunities fro Arnold Drake to sing then we’re all for it.

If you wonder why Comic-con has become a Hollywood go-to fest, articles like this are part of the reason. Profiling Tim Sale, Marc Silvestri, bookseller Stuart Ng and artist Sue Katowich, the subtext of the article suggests that be attending Comic-Con, you learn something about life, struggle and art. Since these things are not really part of a typical studio execs existence, Comic-Con becomes an important venue to get in touch with such matters. You think we’re kidding, but we’re not.

The LA Times—very nuch an opinion leader for So-Cal— has even started a BLOG for Comic-Con by Jevon Phillips. Good luck, kid. This isn’t for the faint of heart.

Those snappy superhero stamps featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest are going on sale. We’re a bit weak on our philately, but apparently the day of issue stamps are here today at the Comic-Con.

The post office is delivering superheroes in the mail.

From Superman to Wonder Woman, the Postal Service is paying homage to America’s most beloved cartoon heroes with new postage stamps released Thursday.

The new 39-cent stamps and 24-cent postal cards include tributes to Batman, Supergirl and a half-dozen lesser known heroes like Hawkman and the Green Arrow.