Bloody cheerleaders.

And then there’s all the other stuff to see and get. Free comic books at the booths. Free comic books in sessions. I got 3 classic Heavy Metal magazines at their 35^th year in print. Stan Lee’s new comic book wasn’t free though. It was going for $10 (cover price is only $2.99) but if you wanted a pre-signed copy by Stan himself, it went for a mere (choke) $100.

Gentle Giant Studios and Sideshow Collectibles always have the most amazing miniatures and sculpts of our favorite characters. This year was no different. I could spend every cent I have at these two booths. I feel sorry for the workers who have to clean the drool off of the displays.

Galactus maquette by Sideshow Collectibles.

If you’re into the full size displays, two were spectacular. One was the Iron Man 3 display area with 7 different suit designs. Wow.

Iron Man 3 suit designs.

The other was a display of trolls from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Three of them towered over the aisle and became the number one photo opp of the Con.

Troll photo opp.

Again, the aisles provided great visual interest. I ran into a Hugh Hefner-esque super hero and his hot super-heroine date. He’s an eyelid plastic surgeon in real life and she owns a commercial insurance agency. Then there were the two guys dresses in their prom dresses. I don’t know what their alter egos are because, frankly, they scared me.

Superheroes and prom guys.

There was one interactive display that sucked me in and I didn’t want to leave. Wacom has announced their new multi-touch Cintiq 24HD touch monitor. Mmmmmmmm. I didn’t think I wanted one until I got my hands on this baby. It was lust at first sight. Sizing, rotating and moving with one hand while drawing with another was more intuitive than drawing on paper. It was then I realized my alter ego is a crying little girl because I want one so bad. But at $3,700, the price is a good incentive to ignore my yearnings.

Mark Simon playing on the new multi-touch Cintiq 24HD touch.

As I was winding up my day, I saw this young, little guy in a great Edward Scissorhands outfit. All I could think about is that one day his secret identity will be the crazy guy locked in an asylum.

Mini Edward Scissorhands.

Still don’t take my word for it? Well, I put together a little video profiling what Comic-Con is like for those of us who don’t spend the entire time in the Hall H line and instead push through the crowds, go to smaller venues and wait in lots of other lines.