Becky’s in the Back Seat, pt.1: Day the First, pt.1

Banners around the Gaslamp District

So, after taking a brief moment to gussy ourselves up for the day, we were ready to head out for breakfast. Because we were staying over by the convention center this year, it meant our normal breakfast spot was a bit further out this year. That is something that we neglected to factor in when we headed out to the Mission. It took us about 30 minutes to walk it. Not too bad, unless you’re on a schedule and hadn’t factored it in. It was also hot and muggy. It was more the mugginess that was getting to me. While I’m used to a certain amount of humidity where I live, I’m not used to it with heat (it’s often foggy to the point of leaving water on the ground). So, that made the walk a bit more unbearable.

When we finally got to the Mission, I ordered some chilaquiles… mostly because they’re tasty, tasty food. It was certainly worth the walk. The food was as good as I remembered it. They were also as slow as I remembered too… so slow that I missed my first panel. I was a bit annoyed with that, but the tasty breakfast made up for it… mostly.

After breakfast, we walked back to the convention center. As I stated, I missed my first panel which was the Shonen Jump panel on Naruto. I was hoping to see it, but breakfast was more important. So, I was sad to have missed it, but grateful for the food.

Marking where the mens restrooms are

Instead I made my 11 AM panel which was about getting news coverage. This panel was quite interesting. It was largely with making sure your Kickstarter or Indiegogo request for group funding got press attention. In that sense, it was interesting, because I’ve never thought about that aspect of it. I never thought about how it’s possible to get your Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaign and therefore getting people who might back you. It gave me a lot of good information on how to do some better marketing.

It also turned out as an awesome opportunity to network… which is by and large my whole purpose to go to Comic Con. It’s to learn things and to network. Year after year, I give out more and more business cards. This year I managed to do it. Which, is also a good thing about these panels.

After that panel, I made my way to Female Heroes, Then and Now. It wase emceed and one of the panelists created the Heartbreakers comic. They also talked about the fact that the comic was in its 25th year. They also talked about Comic Con has changed in those 25 years, especially that there was greater attendance by female geeks. Not only did the population of Comic Con blow-up to 130k, the gender demographic changed as well.

They also talked about some issues that were effecting women in the geek community. Particularly in the

Some panelists from Female Heroes Then and Now panel

last couple of months… which, of course, leads us to talk about Ubisoft and more particularly Assassin’s Creed. It’s a moment that is fairly problematic, and has offended a lot of women in gaming. It’s not an isolated incident when it comes to Assassin’s Creed, but I tell that tale in a bit. They also brought up that the latest writer on Wonder Woman said that she’s a strong female, but definitely not a feminist.

Which lead us to discussing whether we should try to reclaim the term feminism… and the fact that it’s still largely misunderstood by what it means. After that they talked about issues in comics and dealing with diversity. They also covered what had they done to offend others and how they handled the situation, which has been known to happen when working in the media. After all, everyone has done something to offend people in the past. It’s a matter of how you handle the situation. They also talked about sending a creative response. They also talked about sexism in video games.