Ah, Comic Con. Nothing like getting up at 4 am to catch a 6 am flight to go to an event that will have roughly 140,000 people attending. Yesterday was the Get There Early And Register Day, along with early dibs at the Exhibitors’ Hall. And much Goodness happened.

1. Arrival. This year, I’m staying at the Omni Hotel with the lovely and talented Diana Rowland. I’m thrilled to report that A) the room is nice, with two double-sized beds — as opposed to one king-sized bed and B) neither The Creepy Doll nor her sister The Creepy Baby will be making an appearance. I think airport security had the Dolls removed and turned into glue.

2. Food. Given that the last thing I’d eaten was a tuna sandwich at 6:30 am and now it was approximately 4 pm Eastern, I was hooongry. So Diana and I meandered and found a great Thai place that would have done well in an earthquake, given the extremely shaky table. Diana, clever thinker that she is, jammed one of her bookmarks at the bottom of the table and wedged it straight. If it were up to me, I just would have drank more and assumed I was the one tilting.

3. Registration. If you’ve never been to Comic Con International, the registration line can be…well, impressive is certainly the right word. “Massive” doesn’t even come close. “Ginormous” is more on the mark. Tons of people, seriously. On the way, we bumped into Dr. Who writer Paul Cornell and his wife. Diana had an awesome fangirl moment. (That “OH MY GOD, IT’S PAUL CORNELL!!!” squeal you heard yesterday? That was Diana.) We also saw Pat Rothfuss, also doing the Waiting On Line thing. Soon, my Icarus Project co-author Caitlin Kittredge joined us, and we got all official and badged and bagged. (The freebie bags? Huuuuuuuuuge. You could fit a family of four inside, easily. In New York City, you’d get about $3,000 a month to rent one out as an apartment.)

4. The Big Wait. What, you think we could just walk in and see things? Ha, I say. And hah, again! No entry until 6 pm, so we had some time to kill. The three of us went out for food and drinks (Caitlin ate; Diana and I drank), headed back to the Omni to hang for a bit, and then sat people-watching on the Convention Center steps. Waaaaaaaaaay off to the side of the steps, actually, because we got yelled at by CCI security for sitting on the steps. Apparently, the fire marshal would have bitten off our heads and slurped on the jettisoning blood from the stumps of our necks if we would have continued sitting, so we moved off to the side. We saw the amazing Jeanne Stein and her husband Phil, one unfortunate woman in a short flouncy skirt who should really have kept that skirt wrapped around her legs as she walked up the steps, and not one single Deadpool or Princess Leia Slave Girl costume. Saddened, we waited for the doors to open.

5. Exhibitors Hall. Yay, 6 pm! In we went…and then I immediately broke away from Diana and Caitlin to start on my Get Stuff For The Tax Deductions quest. Purchases so far: limited-edition Star Wars Clone Wars cube buddies, and both regular- and limited-edition Domo figure thingies. Also scored two Pokemon cards. Will have to get MOAR THINGS today. As for me, I met the amazing Mark Waid and Peter Krausse, the writer and artist of Boom! Studios’ fantabulous IRREDEEMABLE series (and also Mark’s INCORRUPTABLE series), bought a special edition IRREDEEMABLE #15/INCORRUPTABLE #8 with companion covers — which MARK SIGNED — and also an awesome MARK WAID IS EVIL t-shirt. Sadly, my ability to speak coherently went the way of the dinosaur, and I gushed to Mark and Peter how I loved IRREDEEMABLE and…well, I’m afraid it was verbal spewing. But Mark and Peter were exceedingly gracious about it. I gave them a copy of BLACK AND WHITE and SHADES OF GRAY, because hey, superhero power. And then I floated away.

Got to see Anton Strout, who was earning a buck at the Penguin booth, Anne Sowards and Jessica Wade (you authorly types know who they are), received a drive-by hug from MaryElizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy and a wave from her son Max, and finally found Rachel Caine and her husband Cat Conrad. Along the way, we also saw Publishers’ Weekly’s wonderful Barbara Vey (and hey, if you’re at Comic Con and you’re famous, please note that Barbara is looking for you) and Dianna Love, one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet (who, apparently, got arm-twisted into going to Comic Con — no worries, Dianna, I bet you’ll love it!).

6. Dinner. Outside, we bumped into Kat Richardson, and there was a fun moment of Kat meeting Cat. (Come on, allow an author some naming fun!) Then Rachel, Cat, Kat, Anton, Diana and I went out for dinner. Please note: If you’re going to eat at The Old Spaghetti Factory, you may want to ask for the check first, then place your order, because MAN, the service was slow. Granted, about a bajillion people had descended onto San Diego, but still. (Ooh, speaking of a bajillion people, The Old Spice Man is rumored to be at SDCC. Will have to keep my eyes open for a bare-chested handsome man seated backward on a white horse.) Great conversation, decent food, and good people. Excellent way to spend an evening.

Then it was back to the Omni, where Diana and I crashed early. (Hey, YOU be up at 4 am Eastern and stay up until 1 am Eastern, see how tired YOU are.)

On today’s agenda: I want to go to the Boom! Studios Irredeemable/Incorruptible panel at 11 am (guess I’ll be wearing my MARK WAID IS EVIL t-shirt) and hopefully get a chance to not be all AHHHHHHHHHHILOVEYOURWORK in front of Mark and Peter. Then at 3 is the “Kiss Them Or Kill Them? Conflict Management for the Creatures Among Us” panel, with Leaguers J.F. Lewis, Kat Richardson, Diana Rowland and Anton Strout, as well as the fabulous Maria Lima, Adrian Phoenix, Samantha Sommersby and Rob Thurman — and Linda Thomas-Sundstrom, who I’m sure is also fabulous but I’ve never met her — and moderated by MaryElizabeth Hart. Rah!

After Diana’s panel and subsequent signing, we’ll head back to the hotel, get prettified, then go to a dinner party followed by the Random House party, and then…well, I guess we’ll have to see what happens next.

More tomorrow! And hopefully, with pictures — today, my mission is to buy a new digital camera, damn it!!!