Pictures from the 2012 Comic-Con, part 2

I've been surprisingly stingy about sharing pictures from Comic-Con.  Who can say why this is happening?  Perhaps only the Shadow knows.  But here I am again, with more pictures and stories to share.

This batch comes from the Tuesday before the show started - set-up night!  I was excited as I walked down the aisles to find my booth, because I realized that I was seeing everything before almost anyone else got a chance to.  I took these pictures and thought about posting them right away, as if I were a reporter with a scoop, but then I started to wonder about any litigious repercussions that might come from spoiling the secrets that any of the booths might have held, and I decided against it.  Who knows if I was being overly cautious or not.  Perhaps only the Shadow...wait, I used that joke already.  Oh well, time for pictures.

Hooray!  Here's the booth, all barren and lonely, like a dry gulch before the Gold Rush.

The exhibit all is so huge that you have to strain to see from one end to the other.  And you rarely see a Comic-Con hallway that's not teeming with people.

Sideshow had most of their display set up by the time we got there, though many things were covered.  They had, and always seem to have, some of the most impressive items at any con.

Here's Oni Press's booth as they get things ready!

Marvel's booth seemed to be under construction right up until the minute the show opened.

Overheard at Boom! Studios: "Well, we got that damned banner to hang from the ceiling.  ...Let's pick it up tomorrow."

The unreachable inner square of Image Comics.

An early look at Castle Greyskull.  We were all very excited.

The Walking Dead display before Michonne and her two zombies were installed.

These guys went to bed early, apparently.

These pictures don't show it well, but there were a surprising amount of people outside of the convention center even though the show didn't start for another 22 hours or so.  I don't think that all of them were fellow exhibitors - some people just wanted to soak in the Comic-Con atmosphere a little bit early, and I can't blame them for feeling that way.

I wonder how long it was before someone eventually stole this prop (it was originally sticking out of the bushes).  And I wonder how that person got it home...because you certainly couldn't check it as luggage, could you?

HGTV and the Frankenweenie movie combined forces on an outdoor display.

This great Adventure Time balloon(?) was a sight to see.  It sat right over a small jungle gym that was, apparently, open all the time.  It was too enticing not to give it a try:

What fun!  It was hard not to be at least a little bit giddy from getting this little taste of Comic-Con on Tuesday night.  Wednesday was a lot more stressful.  But I'll save that for next time.