As I slowly move into this blogging gig, it's time to confess to all that the learning process may take a while. A long while.

I'd bought a costly cell phone about a month ago specifically in order to blog copious chatty news bits, gossip, and the like from the show floor -- and ended up spending a chunk of Saturday (the show's busiest day) going back and forth to the Verizon store at Horton Plaza, trying to get the phone to work.

Which it did, with looks of disgust passing between the four clerks, who clearly were both exasperated with my whining and contemptuous of my unfamiliarity with a phone whose power could probably reprogram a shuttle rocket but whose instruction manual runs for more pages than can be imbedded quickly in my Senior Editor Brain.

Probably the most memorable moment at the show came near the conclusion of the Eisner Awards event, when Jonathan Ross planted a kiss on a clearly astonished Neil Gaiman. Neil's account of the moment is on his website. And I was taking photos, which may or may not end up posted here, depending on such factors as my figuring out how to post them, once I'm back in the office in a week.

Another news hunter at the show said he thought the biggest news was Mark Waid's becoming Editor in Chief at Boom! Studios. It doesn't mean no more Waid-crafted work for other companies (whew!), but his creator-owned projects will go to Boom! Mind you, until said news guy told me, I hadn't even heard the news -- since the fragmentation of Comic-Con means that you can be having a great time at any of multiple other events on the exhibit floor while something major is going on in a meeting room overhead.

For example, I was in a Free Comic Book Day meeting (went great; next year even more ideas) during the Torchwood panel, so I don't know what was said there. Later, I got fascinating information in person from the guys on the panel -- but this site will wait for that material until I can get home and transcribe it. And post photos. (By the way, just so's the Doctor Who fans reading this will know before it airs on cable: DW's Torchwood spinoff is loads of fun, but it's aimed at an adult audience, not the 4-year-olds-and-up target of DW. Also by the way: There are no plans afoot to spin off multiple more series from the Who original. Oh, and the incredible number of licensed Who properties -- including a gizmo with Dalek or TARDIS you can attach to your cell phone that will light up and spin when there's an incoming call -- were overwhelming. They'll be available in comics shops, so you can ask your retailer about what might be available there soon.)

I had a wonderful conversation regarding the Steve Canyon TV show, because there's a DVD now available containing four outstanding episodes. It's not a bootleg; in fact, it's something of a trial balloon for a complete series DVD. More on that after I've watched the episodes. Which will be after I get back to Wisconsin.