SDCC 2012: Got Your Member ID Yet?

6 more months to SDCC 2012!

Those who have pre-registered at last year's SDCC should have already received their barcoded electronic ticket. They are basically just set to get their butts to San Diego during Comic-Con week!

For those who want to purchase a SDCC pass when tickets are available online later, the Special Red Dot Diva Reminder Service highlights that they will need to secure a Member ID first.

This new procedure also applied to those who have attended SDCC previously as press, professionals or trade professionals.

So it's crucial that you head to this page for your Member ID if you intend to be at SDCC this year. You'll have to get the ID before February 28!

NYCC 2011: Diva Shares Her Trip Planning Tips (Part 1)

If you're a Red Dot Island native who happens to be a hardcore fan of "Western" pop-culture and comics, there is very little choice but to save up and head to USA conventions for your desired geek-gasms.

In her many years of active fan-girling, Red Dot Diva has attended a few smaller and niche-market conventions in the UK and Germany before. But she has always craved for that full geek-out experience which seems to happen mainly at SDCC. Finally in 2009, she managed to truly immerse herself in a large-scale comic convention at the hallowed grounds of the San Diego Convention Centre.

The Hollywood factor in SDCC that year was unavoidable and quite overpowering. And with that, came the good and bad - much of which have already been documented and ranted about on several blogs and websites.

Compared to SDCC, NYCC (held at the Javits Convention Centre) is a much younger, less glamourous and less frenzied East Coast cousin. That does not mean that the convention isn't big though. In fact, the crowd attending NYCC has grown exponentially in the last few years, and this year's NYCC saw its largest number at an estimate of over 105,000 people! That's 3.5x more than STGCC, local peeps.

NYCC 2011: Learning "Scary Tactics" From Dennis Calero

It has been more than a year since Red Dot Diva met artist Dennis Calero in person at SDCC 2010.

At the time, he was kicking off a web-comic called "Devil Inside" that he had created with his good buddy (and "Heroes" alumni) Todd Stashwick. Having built a loyal and growing fanbase in the last year, "Devil Inside" - a story about a famous demon who is trying to be a different (better?) being - is now in its second chapter!

Within the last year, Dennis also became a proud first-time Dad to an adorable baby girl. And he has also picked up a rather high-profile gig with Archaia/ Relativity Media for one of the stories in "The Immortals", an anthology graphic novel which is a tie-in to the Tarsem Singh-directed Greek mythology movie of the same name.

NYCC 2011: Spotlight On Comics Artist David Marquez!

Thanks to indie publisher Archaia's disturbing graphic novel "Syndrome" (Blake Leibel/ Daniel Quantz/ R.J. Ryan, David Marquez/ Bill Farmer/ Dave Lanphear) about the minds of serial killers, Red Dot Diva got to know young artist David Marquez, when she was at SDCC in 2009.

She had a lot of fun wavering around the dark side reading "Syndrome" and fell in love with David Marquez's artwork. The drawings were sharp with clean lines and there were some creative angles on buildings and landscapes. She also liked how he drew the figures in a rather realistic way in terms of their body language.

It was also then that something suddenly clicked in Red Dot Diva's brain. The art-style was unique and quite recognizable. Where has she seen this before?

NYCC 2011 - Holy Terror! Diva Had A Chat With Frank Miller!

"Really???" Red Dot Diva gasped inwardly, her heart pounded within her chest, partially with sheer excitement and partially with a kind of (un)holy terror.

She gets to interview He Who Wears A Hat a.k.a. Frank Miller at NYCC??!!

Red Dot Diva's first lame squee-ful fangirl thought:  -- O.M.G. --

Next more lucid thought: What key questions should she ask Frank within the frame of just ten minutes??

With a public persona fashioned by dark clothes, an intense gaze and intriguingly diabolical eyebrows, Frank seemed rather intimidating. Even though she crushed over Frank and his previous works like "Sin City" and "300", Red Dot Diva was really not in favour of getting chewed up before she's been up to the Empire State Building. (Which she still has not, BTW.)

So in order to get prepared for the interview, she ploughed through a copy of "Holy Terror", his latest graphic novel about superheroes fighting terrorists, and found it to be a bold, unapologetic and relentless statement by Frank on al-Qaeda and 9/11.

NYCC 2011 - Shakespeare Gets A POW! Treatment by Stan Lee and 1821 Comics

Of all the surprises that befell on Red Dot Diva at NYCC 2011, she never expected to have a good Squee over comic-book legend and former head of Marvel comics, Stan Lee!

She was well aware that Stan Lee (who is now Founder, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of POW! Entertainment) would be at the convention, but because he has always been wildly popular with fans, she thought that meeting the man would be near to impossible.

In between spending fangirly time with her friends, doing touristy stuff, stalking comic book creators and being shown round the city (thanks to a particular silver fox) ... oh, and not to mention, the wondrous lack of free wifi, she managed to miraculously receive an email for a press invite to the unveiling of "Romeo and Juliet: The War" - a new graphic novel by 1821 Comics, a new comic book/graphic novel company based in LA, and Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment.

It didn't take her more than a couple of seconds to RSVP a loud YES.

NYCC 2011: Diva's Stalking Schedule Is Shaping Up!

The NYCC 2011 countdown begins! Only 19 days away!!

And this week, the full panel schedule was finally announced, with some interesting ones that Red Dot Diva will definitely be targetting for.

As NYCC is still primarily a comic convention, it has (thankfully) not been inundated with too much Hollywoody stuff. But if one is so inclined, there are still some cool TV/ movie-related panels to check out!

This is Red Dot Diva's first time at NYCC, so she is trying to balance things out during the convention weekend and trying not to pack too events in her schedule.

However, there are particular panels that Red Dot Diva simply *will not* ... *cannot* miss.

STGCC 2011: Interview With Oh-No... Oh-YES! It's Andrew Bell!

It was on the second morning of STGCC 2011 that Red Dot Diva was scheduled to interview artist and toy designer Andrew Bell. There was supposed to be another blogger in the same interview slot but he was not able to attend. So *twoosh!* Red Dot Diva suddenly found herself with a one-on-one with Andrew by default.

Poor Andrew!

Lopping into the room with an easy genial smile, the lanky bespectacled Andrew unsuspectingly fell into Red Dot Diva's squee-trap.

And what transpired in the next 12 minutes became the most fun interview Red Dot Diva had that STGCC weekend. There was just so much amusement and laughter, and the easy rapport that she struck with the affable Andrew firmly assured his place as her STGCC 2011 #1 Squee.

NYCC 2011 Squee Update - Mark Hamill Announced As Guest!

When this epic guest was announced for NYCC 2011 (13 - 16 October), Red Dot Diva couldn't help squeeing for a week.

This special guest embodies a lot of what began as a delightful journey for a then-10-year-old diva, who had been yearning for some kind of visual interpretation to a fantastical world that resided in her fertile imaginations. (Thanks to a healthy bookwormish diet of  fantasy, murder-mystery, myths/ legends and the Britannica encyclopedia.)

So when Red Dot Diva heard that Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker of the original Star Wars trilogy - will be attending as a guest at NYCC 2011, she vibrated with so much excitement she nearly flung herself into a galaxy far far away.

Felicia Day And David Finch To Be At NYCC 2011!

This is a RED Hot announcement!

A red-headed fan favourite will be making her way to NYCC 2011!

Felicia Day has just been announced as an Entertainment Guest today. "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" fans will remember Felicia as Vi in the cult TV series. She also had a role in the internet musical mini-series "Dr Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog".

In addition, Felicia is the star, producer and writer for "The Guild", an award-winning comedy web series about a group of online gamers.

She will be doing a Q and A panel during NYCC as well as signing autographs for fans.

Red Dot Diva is sure her presence at the convention will cause a wave of excited fan-squees.

NYCC 2011 Guest Announcements and STGCC Update

There have already been guest announcements for this year's NYCC, which will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan on October 13-16, 2011!

If one has missed the exciting news, the Guest of Honor for this year's NYCC is acclaimed writer Robert Kirkman!

Robert Kirkman, an Eisner Award-winning creator, is well-known for "The Walking Dead" and "Invincible". Last year, AMC picked up the "The Walking Dead" story for their TV series and the show has proved to be an enormous hit with many new and old fans alike.

SDCC and NYCC - Hotel Registrations

Already one of the lucky buggers who got a SDCC 2011 ticket?

Soon, it will be time to figure out where one will be staying during that weekend! And start gathering your choice roomies!

Comic Con's online hotel registration opens on March 9th at 9 am PST. One can read the information and instructions here at Comic Con's website. The organizer is also offering a sneak peak of the hotel list and the special room rates on the same link.

Unlike last year, Red Dot Diva noted that one can now attempt to reserve up to 20 hotels for the weekend. Also, once the reservation is confirmed, one has to foot a deposit for at least one night's room + tax for each room booked.

Emerald City Comicon, Perhaps?

SDCC 2011 tickets may have been sold out. But for the true-blue comic and less mainstream pop-culture fans, there are still many other options where one can get a convention fix.

Coming up in less than a month, is Emerald City Comicon held at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, WA on 4th to 6th March, 2011.

Red Dot Diva notes that the convention has some very cool celebrity guests like "Star Trek" veteran William Shatner, and well-loved convention guest James Marsters ("Buffy", "Angel", "Torchwood", "Smallville", "Caprica") and "Fringe"/ LOTR actor John Noble. Other actors are fan favourites Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes, Nicholas Brendon amongst some many others.

Comic Con 2011 Tickets On Sale - FINALLY!

After all the confusion and frustration regarding buying passes, SDCC 2011 tickets will finally be available for online registration on 5th February 2011, 9am PST. That's in about 12 hours folks!

A little bird (thanks @DarkStitch!) had already told Red Dot Diva about the ticket registration date and the news had leaked on the internet before the official announcement by the Comic Con organizers themselves.

5th February is a Saturday morning. So fans with usual work hours will have less complaints about needing to take time off to do the registration.