Arts & Culture

Comic-Con: A Day One Scrapbook

By Angela Carone / Cultural Enterprise Reporter

Published July 21, 2011 at 7:05 PM PDT

This story was published more than 12 years ago.

Crowds descended on downtown San Diego for Comic-Con 2011.

Comic-Con 2011 has officially begun! Twilight fans camped out for days before this morning's panel for the last movie in the series, "Twilight: Breaking Dawn." The line for HBO's "Game of Thrones" rivaled that of "Dexter" and past years' "True Blood" panels. The "free hugs" kids are back and plenty of fans were in costume. You can find out more about day one at the Con by listening to our Midday Edition interview with KPBS' Beth Accomando and the U-T's Nina Garin.

I spent most of the morning interviewing people for a radio story I'm working on about the large numbers of disabled men and women who attend Comic-Con (it will air Monday!), so I didn't have a lot of time to shoot. But...I did take a few photographs and plan to return tomorrow for more shooting.

In the meantime..

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Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame at Comic-Con, especially if you're covered in lime green head-to-toe tights.

Fans of Showtime's "Dexter" were excited to see C.S. Lee (Vince Masuka) and James Remar (Harry Morgan, Dexter's father) signing autographs in the exhibit hall.

Last year, I discovered a subculture/fashion trend called Lolita at Comic-Con. I spotted a few Lolita girls today.

A woman dressed in the Lolita style takes a rest during 2011 Comic-Con International.

This Harry Potter look-alike was destined to get some attention.

A large box of Marvel action figures arrives at Comic-Con, International.

A zombie bride waits in line to get her pass for Comic-Con, International.

The Silver Surfer at opening day of Comic-Con.

Crowds on Day One of Comic-Con International taking the escalator to the upper level of the convention hall where many of the panels take place.

This little guy had a homemade costume (best kind!) - Boba Fett!

I've written in the past about how much I love to take the trolley to Comic-Con. There's a palpable excitement as fans pack onto the trolley in costumes, full of anticipation. I took an early trolley this morning so it was less crowded, but tomorrow I plan to go at the busiest time, which I've found to be between 9:30 and 10am.

On the trolley heading to Comic-Con, 2011.

You can find more of my photos from last year's Con here and here. Extra treat: I love this time-lapse video that the über-talented KPBS employee Nathan Gibbs made back in 2008.