CBLDF Comic-Con 2003 Recap!

It’s hard to believe that a mere two weekends ago the entire comics business was assembled beneath the massive roof of the San Diego Convention center for 2003’s Comic-Con International. It was a record show in many respects. Attendance was the highest ever with estimates coming in at 70,000 to 80,000 people. This show had the biggest floor in the history of the con, which means that this year’s Comic-Con was probably largest comic book convention in the history of the United States. “Just to put it in perspective, the Comic-Con exhibit hall is roughly 10 times the size of downtown Northampton, the Fund’s home base -- and that’s not counting what’s going on upstairs,” said CBLDF Director Charles Brownstein. “This show was massive.”

In addition to being a record year for the Comic-Con, it was also a record year for the CBLDF at the show. “Thanks to the generous donations from all of our members and supporters the Fund was able to raise $33,000 at this year’s Comic-Con, an all time high for the Fund at this show,” Brownstein divulged.

Fund highlights included booth signings by Brian Azzarello, Denis Kitchen, Keith DeCandido, Jill Thompson, Rich Koslowski, Jai Sen, Jaime Hernandez, Joel Priddy, Larry Marder, Mark Waid, and Colleen Coover. The coolest booth moments came when George Perez and Frank Miller came by for their signing times and wound up doing some phenomenal sketches for our members.

Outside the booth we had a number of special events. On Thursday night the Fund rang in San Diego with a wildly successful members’ party at the Dublin Square. Hundreds of CBLDF members poured into the party and ended up spilling out onto the street where Frank Miller, Will Eisner, Neil Gaiman, and Stan Lee were all caught mingling. Later that night SuicideGirls.com of San Diego put on a free speech rock bash at downtown’s Roseary Room.

On Friday Neil Gaiman and Frank Miller signed for nearly 1,000 fans to benefit the Fund. The authors were signing brand new CBLDF prints that were created especially for this signing. Friday night was the Eisner Awards where Chuck Rozanski accepted his Defender of Liberty award (see story below) and SPX 2002 [http://cbldf.safeshopper.com/2/82.htm?179] won an Eisner for Best Anthology!

Saturday was the CBLDF Benefit Auction, which raised over $17,000 for the Fund’s casework. Chuck Rozanski and our able crew of volunteers pulled off a record breaking San Diego auction that included amazing items such as a Sandman Quilt by Michelle Hyman presented to Neil Gaiman on his 42nd Birthday; signed Miracleman and Big Numbers scripts by Alan Moore; Rich Koslowski’s cover art to Busted #12 and more!

Immediately following the auction Neil Gaiman gave a mid-evening reading to over 200 fans. This captivating reading included some never before heard material and previews from Gaiman’s upcoming work.

Sunday brought a members’ only signing with Frank Miller where everyone walked away with a sketch – a true rarity. “I almost never do sketches in public,” Miller said, “but I knew that these were all folks who signed up to support the Fund and I thought this would be a cool way to thank everyone for keeping it running strong.”

The Fund extends its thanks to everyone who supported us at the show, the friendly and helpful Comic-Con staff, and our stellar crew of volunteers -- Gambit, Gooch, Betsy, Stephen, John, Rowan, Vin, Karon, and Tom – who made everything run smoothly.