Comic Con was insane. I was there for four days and can't begin to tell you everything I did. Of course you can see some of what I did here on FEARnet, but the videos don't scratch the surface. Sure, I talked to childhood hero, Mark Hammill a.k.a. Luke Skywalker. I moderated the FEARnet Fear Clinic panel featuring Robert Englund. I interviewed everyone from Denzel Washington to Zack Snyder to my own brother. I went to a bunch of great parties and hung out with countless friends, fans and strangers. Though, I must say, one of the most important moments happened when it was all over. 

At 8pm Saturday night I was to be driven back to LA. It was now 7:45.

I found myself with a spare fifteen minutes. Probably the first fifteen minutes of spare time and quiet since I arrived on Wednesday. Anyway, there I was in my hotel room with nothing to do. No interviews, parties or research to do.

I looked over to the chair next to me and spied a bag I was handed at registration on preview day.

I grabbed the bag. Inside, among other things, was the comic con program book. I hadn't so much as glanced at it in the four days I had been in San Diego.

I started to flip through it.

Inside was a history of the last forty years of Comic Con. Reading about the humble beginnings and looking at early photos was incredible. Honestly, emotional. The first event drew a meager one hundred people. Forty years later, one hundred and fifty thousand. I was moved by the passion of those early years and the people who just wanted to get comic fans together.

Each year the con got bigger and bigger until finally reaching the worldwide cultural event it is today.

The growth was organic and real. Comic Con is an amazing story of like minded people finding each other to build a community. I find the whole thing to be completely inspiring. Sitting there, reading that program, I developed an even deeper appreciation  for the four days I had been a part of.

Lets face it, if a handful of nerds getting together to discuss comics can morph into a multimillion dollar event that attracts every major movie, TV studio and A list celebrity , then certainly anything is possible.

I left Comic Con 2009 exhausted and energized and totally ready for 2010.