This sounds very market-y, but it was FASCINATING. And before twenty minutes had passed, I had shifted from feeling very shruggy about the notion of an “encyclopedia” for a TV show, even one as intricate and awesome as LOST, to thinking I MUST HAVE THIS BOOK.

So: if it was a commercial, it was a darned effective one.

But it wasn’t really a commercial. It was two intelligent and enthusiastic writers talking about the process of researching, writing, and organizing a complex work of nonfiction. The visuals were interesting enough—sample layouts, even a short video clip from the LOST DVD’s bonus materials—but what really grabbed me was the authors’ discussion about how they worked with the LOST writers and producers to write entries on every single person, place, and thing that appeared on the show, from Aaron (Littleton) to Zodiac (raft). Or, as Paul Terry, one of the cowriters, kept adorably saying, “From A to Zed.”

My sparse notes say:

• Authors: Paul Terry and Tara Bennett. Liked these two very much. Clearly they are passionate about the material.

• The book will include everything that is LOST canon, including material from the not-yet-released bonus scene from the DVD, which of course I AM DYING TO SEE because I’m convinced it will be about—no wait, I can’t say, since my own dear daughter hasn’t made it past Season One yet. Must not spoil!! But, you know, if you’re a Lostie then you probably have a good guess as to what sort of story there might be left to tell…

• Book will offer clarifications, yes, but will not fill in the holes—that isn’t possible, said Bennett. No entries were winged; there are no speculations.

• Entries have levels of importance. A-level is major players, Jack, Locke, etc. D- or E-level would be something like Shannon’s asthma inhaler.

• One particular challenge was that the language had to be concrete, couldn’t leave opening for misinterpretation; the book was much harder to write than Terry and Bennett realized it would be when they took on the project.

• Once they were committed to writing it (seems to have happened perhaps midway through the run?), they stopped reading recap & speculation blogs, boards, etc; needed to keep their relationship to the show pure/uninfluenced by non-canonical theories & interpretations.

So much for my notes. But I said there were stories. The first one is actually from the panel before the LOST one, a discussion about webcomics by several successful creators. I went to this one out of mild interest, intending to stick around for the LOST panel since it was in the same room. The webcomics panel was structured as a “lightning round” Q-and-A: the panelists had 20 seconds each to answer questions from the audience. I’ll write up that panel when I get a chance; it was lively and interesting and funny. But the really funny part was when one of the questioners remarked, somewhat snidely, that unlike many people in the room, he was there for the webcomics panel specifically, not just camping out for a seat at LOST. The webcomics guys said, Wait, what? There’s a LOST panel in here next? And they asked for a show of hands: who was just waiting for LOST? About a third of the people in the audience raised their hands.

Ho-ho, said one of the webcomics guys. And for the next few minutes, whenever an audience member stepped up to the mic and asked a question about webcomics, he answered as if an entirely different question had been asked and it was about LOST.

Q: “How did you go about building an audience for your comic?”

A: “The whole Dharma Initiative arc? Irrelevant.”

(Huge laugh from crowd.)

Superfunny. The panelists were Scott Kurtz, Robert Khoo, and Brad Guigar, by the way, and if their comics are anywhere near as funny as their panel, they have me at hello.

OK, by the time the LOST panel rolled around, spirits were already running high. The LOST Q & A was quite lively, if not as uproarious as the webcomics panel had been. But then, right in the middle of the question period, a boy stepped up to the mic, in his teens, shy and eager. The panelists lit up.

“It’s Young Ben!” said Paul Terry. “Sterling Beaumon.”

Stunned hush in the rows, and then a roaring cheer and wild applause. Young Ben/Sterling blushed and ducked his head. He was bursting with his question, which was about whether there would be an entry on “Annie” in the encyclopedia. His earnest, excited speech made it clear he’s just as big a fangeek as the rest of us. It was charming.

I tried to take his picture but my giggling made it blurry.

Such a cutie!

Anyway, I guess I’m totally buying the LOST Encyclopedia now. Well played, DK.

No particular order here except the order in which I encountered them at the con. (UPDATE: this post got too long! So now it’s a Part One.)

• Owly (kids’ graphic novels, the one I saw was wordless and sweet, published by Top Shelf Press)

• Practically everything at the First Second (:01) booth made me drool—I was already familiar with these folks, having read (and been blown away by) Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese a little while ago. Gene was on one of the children’s graphic novel panels I attended at SDCC last year.

Gene Luen Yang and Jennifer Holm at SDCC 2009.

This year, “Urgent Request” from The Eternal Smile (written by Gene; illustrated by Derek Kirk Kim) won the Eisner for best short story, which is very exciting. To my amusement, at the very moment I was paging through Eternal Smile, I looked up and there was Gene with his family at the First Second booth. He and his wife had their three small children in tow—Gene was wearing the baby in a front-carrier, a heartwarming sight. We chatted briefly; it was a delight to meet them.

• Back to First Second Books. Other titles that caught my eye:

—Cat Burglar Black

—Adventures in Cartooning—we’ve checked this out from the library, big hit with my kids, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here before

—Foiled (Jane Yolen)—has been on my TBR list, even more appealing in person, wonderful art

—Tiny Tyrant

—The Color of Water

• Hill & Wang, an imprint of Macmillan. Boy was I impressed with these folks! They’re publishing nonfiction graphic novels on a somewhat stunning range of topics. Author Jonathan Hennessy gave me a copy of The United States Constitution—that’s right, it’s the Constitution in graphic novel form—and when I brought it home to Jane, she devoured it the next day. She’s raving about it; I’ll write more when I’ve had a chance to review it myself.

Other intriguing Hill & Wang titles:

—The Cartoon Guide to Economics. I went back to the booth on Sunday to buy this—I usually save my purchases for the last day so I don’t have to lug stuff around for too long—and dadgummit, it was sold out. But it’s on my list of must-haves for Jane. And I hear there’s a Cartoon Guide to Statistics on the way…

—The 9/11 Report. Scott bought a copy of this. He’s excited.

—The Stuff of Life, “a graphic guide to genetics and DNA” with art by one of my favorite Comic-Con pals, Zander Cannon. There’s a sequel on evolution forthcoming soon.

—Biographies of Isadora Duncan, Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan, J. Edgar Hoover, Che Guevara. We came home with the Duncan bio; Jane enjoyed it; more on that one later too.

—Anne Frank: The Authorized Graphic Biography. Arresting art. I’m eager to take a closer look at this one.

—The Beats, a graphic history of the beat poets with text by Harvey Pekar.

OK, that’s a lot for one post. More to come in a follow-up.

The interviewer was acclaimed Irish author Michael Scott, an authority on Celtic folklore and writer of the popular Nicholas Flamel series. Both Scott and Riordan had a wonderful rapport with the audience, showing genuine affection for their enthusiastic young fans. I so enjoyed the warmth, humor, and wisdom radiating from these two amiable authors. Michael Scott asked wonderful questions and could undoubtedly have gone on asking them for a good long while, but the queue of readers eager to ask Riordan their own questions was so long that Scott graciously turned the floor over to the fans about halfway into the hour.

I’m pressed for time today (this week, this month) so what I’m going to do is simply type up my notes. If any point is particularly interesting to you, leave a comment and I’ll try to expand on it there.

• Girl a few seats down from us is wearing satyr horns. Gotta love Comic-Con!

• Amusing exchange over pronunciation of Riordan’s name: Scott noted the correct Irish pronunciation (REARdon) and Rick, laughing, acknowledged that somewhere along the line one of his ancestors had Americanized it to REYE-erdon.

• Michael Scott: “How do you like your first Comic-Con?”
Rick Riordan: “I’m so relieved to know there are 137,000 people geekier than I am.” Got huge laugh. Funny!

• Lightning Thief began as a bedtime story for Rick’s son, who was struggling with ADHD. (Percy has ADHD and is a very poor student who, in the beginning of the book, is puzzled by one particular teacher’s confidence in him.)

• “Who is your favorite character?” —Riordan relates to Percy on many levels, Percy has his voice, his sense of humor, but probably his favorite character is Tyson the Cyclops. (My notes add, “hang out with / eat BPJ”—wonder what I meant there?) UPDATED: Jane says it was PBJ. Um. Of course! Eat PBJ with! Bad handwriting!

• Scott asks about writing process. Riordan says he knocks out first draft in two months, spends rest of year revising.

• Scott asks if there is ever danger of a character taking over? Rick: Yes, often. Sometimes hard to remember where to put the spotlight. “My creations push me around.”

• Riordan says he’s returning to Camp Half Blood in new books, crowd goes wild. Will see Percy and others. First two chapters online now! (Enter password: newhero. Jane says it’s on Wikipedia so I guess it’s okay to share?)

• With The Red Pyramid, Riordan began a new series (The Kane Chronicles) based on Egyptian myths. Scott asked how that came about. Rick: Young readers kept writing/asking him what was next, after Percy Jackson. Another kind of myth? He was interested in Egyptian mythology, some great stories there, not often explored nowadays. “Fascinating stories not being taught.” He is introducing lesser known gods. Was intrigued by the House of Life, “oldest school of magicians in the world.”

• Rick then spoke about the return to Camp Half-Blood in new books. My notes say, “BIG CHEER.” Happy readers in audience. “Heroes of Olympus.” First book called The Lost Hero, out in October.

• They talked about Rick’s 39 Clues book, the first in the Cahill series. He loved the concept of historical heroes being somehow related, thought it was a fun device. There will be 10 books, various authors (think they’re on book 9 now?). Riordan created the story arc.

• This led to my favorite part of the discussion, a conversation between Scott and Riordan about the importance of myth and what a great loss it is when people grow up without a familiarity with these old stories and legends.

Scott: “How important is folklore in education?”

Riordan: “When we don’t teach folklore, we’re not teaching our heritage. We lose our connection to the roots of literature.” Spoke about importance of being able to recognize archetypes.

• People sometimes ask him if he got the idea for Percy Jackson from Harry Potter—boy unaware he possesses special abilities, thrust into save-the-world situation. Riordan: “No—I got it from Hercules, 3000 years earlier!” Crowd guffaws.

• Michael Scott (also a folklorist): “What other mythologies are you planning to use that I can’t?” HUGE appreciative laugh from crowd. Riordan answered, “You’re better at mixing mythologies.” Loved the camaraderie between these two. Scott turned the floor over to the long line of audience members (mostly kids) with questions for Riordan.

• Q: “Would you want the powers of Zeus?”

Rick: “Well, I wouldn’t turn them down!” But he likes Poseidon better, second best so has try harder.

• He did not see the Lightning Thief movie. In general does not see films based on books he likes.

• Riordan’s advice to young writers: Learn good storytelling. Read a lot. Write a lot. Don’t give up.

• Michael Scott added: “Get a comfortable chair—you’ll be spending a lot of time in it.” And learn how to type properly. Invaluable skill, necessary in this age of keyboarding, will make the job much easier, allow your fingers to keep up with your thoughts. To which I add a resounding HEAR, HEAR!

• Some questions about the Kane Chronicles. Rick says he “left Carter and Sadie in a bad place.” Carter will have a new pet: Serpent of Chaos. (I think. Notes are spotty here.) Sadie will see Anubis again.

• (Possible spoiler alert—I’ve not read The Red Pyramid yet so I don’t know how much this gives away. Skip down if you’d rather not risk it.) Q: Why Camelback Mountain? Riordan: Has always been intrigued by it, seemed a perfect place for the god of the desert.

• He likes to write about places his family has visited, so his son could envision the scene.

• Q: Which book was the hardest to write?

RR: Always finds the second book in a series the most difficult. Sequels are tough, making it magical all over again.

Michael Scott added: And if we mess it up, you’re going to let us know! You know our books better than we do ourselves.

• Q: What’s your favorite part of writing?

RR: When I’m done. (Amen to that!) —Until the next day, when he starts second guessing.

Second favorite part is when he holds the actual finished book in his hand.

• Scott asked: Would you rewrite an already published book if you could?

RR: Oh yes!

Scott (I think?) quoted “A book is never done—only due.”

• October 12 is pub date for two books. Here I’ve written “GN–LT” so your guess is as good as mine. Graphic novel? Aha! Graphic novel of the Lightning Thief, I think! And maybe the Camp Half-Blood book.

• Q: Who’s your favorite superhero?

RR: Spider-Man.

• Q: Where did you get the idea for Percy’s sword, Riptide?

RR: It was his elementary school daydream: a pen that would turn into a sword, he could jump on desk and wield it in the classroom.

• Q: Can you recommend some other books?

RR: Michael Scott’s work, of course! Suzanne Collins—both Hunger Games and her Gregor the Overlander books.

There endeth my notes. It was a fantastic panel. I’d have liked to sit there for another hour, listening to Riordan and Scott discuss craft! But we had yet another terrific panel to hurry to—the “Entertaining Your Inner Child” discussion with Jennifer Holm and other children’s graphic novelists. More on that one later.

Sorry no pictures! My flash made them blurry. Drat.

At dinner with Babymouse author and utterly lovable person, Jenni Holm, and her delightful husband, video game developer Jonathan Hamel. My crazy gremlin smile is because that is how happy they make me.

Anyway, for me, as a pro who has been on hiatus, SDCC is kind of an ideal convention experience: I get all the fun of spending time with writer and artist friends, many of whom I only see once a year, and I get to explore the vendor hall and scout out interesting new books to read—which you know is pretty much my favorite pastime—but I am also free to attend panels all day long, if I wish. And I love the panels at Comic-Con. I love listening to other creative professionals talk about their work. The folks who speak on SDCC panels are some of the smartest, most talented, most interesting people I’ve ever had the pleasure to listen to. Comic book writers and artists, children’s book writers, science fiction and fantasy authors, cartoonists, editors…a feast for the curious mind.

So: I went to lots of panels, and when I wasn’t tweeting about them, I took copious notes in my notebook—notes I will shortly attempt to write up here, for my own records if nothing else. Here are the panels I attended; I’d love to know which ones you’d be most interested in hearing more about:

• “Once Upon a Time”—panel on high fantasy with authors Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Lynn Flewelling, Megan Whalen Turner, Christopher Paolini, and Patrick Rothfuss. SUCH A GREAT DISCUSSION! Topics: everyman vs. superhero; role of prophecy/destiny in fiction.

• Digital comics (this one turned about to be more about marketing than the creative and technical processes)

• Webcomics

• The LOST Encyclopedia

• Rick Riordan interviewed by novelist Michael Scott (EXCELLENT panel; I tweeted notes and took many more)

• “Entertaining One’s Inner Child”—panel of children’s graphic novel author/illustrators moderated by Jennifer Holm. The panelists were: Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules), Sina Grace (Among the Ghosts), Matt Holm (Babymouse), Adam Rex (Fat Vampire), David Steinberg (Daniel Boom), and Greg Van Eekhout (Kid Vs. Squid).

• Spotlight on the legendary comic-book writer and Batman editor Dennis O’Neil, moderated by my favorite man in comics, a handsome fellow by the name of Scott Peterson

Besides the panels, there were lunches and dinners and discussions that lasted late into the night. On Saturday evening a large group of children’s lit folks—authors, artists, and editors—met for drinks at the Hyatt and then a bunch of us drifted over to Buster’s Beach House for fish tacos and lively chat.

The lovely Raina Telgemeier, author/illustrator of Smile (the graphic novel Rose has read at least six time in the past four weeks), and her husband, cartoonist Dave Roman.

I’ll share my enticing book discoveries in another post; exploring the publisher booths occupied a considerable number of my hours at the con. And, of course, there was plenty of time simply to marvel at (and sometimes be overwhelmed by) the crowds—tens of thousands of creative, colorful comic-book fans, some of the most dedicated and passionate readers in the world.