Comic-Con’s a distant memory now, but what an experience it was! The Image Founders Panel went off without a hitch, with all seven founders graciously showing up for the hour-long, jam-packed event that was their first time appearing on a panel together (they’ve done panels before of course, but never with all seven on the same panel). George Khoury did a fabulous job moderating the extremely high-profile shindig, and it’s nice to know that these seven guys could take time out to reminisce, even though they weren’t plugging anything for themselves personally. (And despite a lot of fans thinking there’d be major fireworks—evidenced by the noticeably louder roar when Rob Liefeld first entered the room—these guys all respect each other, and have done a lot of growing up in the last 15 years.)

The Eisner Awards on Friday night were great. Despite an overly long ceremony, there were some memorable moments. Two actors from “Reno 911” got the house rocking with their presentation, but the best had to be the very last presenters, British TV celebrity Jonathan Ross, and writer Neil Gaiman. I won’t go into all the details of it, but Jonathan’s amazing ad libbing ended with he and Neil kissing, and Neil overall very flustered (in a most hilarious way). At one point, I was laughing so hard tears were streaming from my eyes, and I was having trouble catching my breath. (Sidenote: Jonathan and I spoke by phone a couple of months ago about his new documentary called “Finding Steve Ditko”, and was kind enough to drop a copy off at our booth while I was off at lunch. So while I missed meeting him personally, I’m really looking forward to viewing it. From what both Rand Hoppe and Neil Gaiman said about it, this is something comics fans are definitely going to want to see.)

Of course, the Eisner Awards are extra fun when you actually win one, and it was a delight to see Roy Thomas accept an award for Alter Ego as “Best Comics Related Periodical”. The category had us up against both magazines and journalistic websites this year, so the competition was fierce. Roy was one of Comic-Con’s guests of honor this year, so I’m glad he was on hand to accept personally (or I’d have had to go up there and make an idiot of myself). Kudos to everyone who helps with the magazine, including Jim Amash, PC Hamerlinck, Michael T. Gilbert, Bill Schelly, and designer Chris Day. I know firsthand how hard you guys work on the mag, and it’s a well-earned honor.

More on the remaining Comic-Con days when I get a minute; it’s time to take the kids to visit a big Mouse in Anaheim!