Here's a rundown of all the stuff I did yesterday... Use our Gay Agenda to check out all the stuff that's happening at Comic-Con!

I stopped by the Prism Booth first thing to help set up and it felt like coming home again. Seeing the big banner unfurled for another Comic-Con always makes me happy. And every year the booth is packed with even more great stuff; a particularly fun addition this year is an assortment of t-shirts, including Glen Hanson's homage to the Golden Girls.

But with all the great stuff packed in, it's getting so there's never any room to stand back there! Almost makes me pine for the days where we had an assortment of twelve books and bean bag chairs so people could "drop in". But I exaggerate. Slightly.

As ever, our vounteers are bright beacons of cheery sunshine in a chaotic, overcrowded, slightly pungent Comic-Con. We have some familiar faces and some new folks this year. Hope they survive! (Just kidding. We've really improved since that regrettable incident with the lost ferret and the gallon of pickle juice.)

Prism President Roger Klorese was on hand to help make sure everything went smoothly. Jayson creator Jeff Krell and his partner stopped by to volunteer as well.

Took a little trip around the convention floor and checked in with Joe Phillips and his Artists' Alley crew. He showed us a snippet of animation from his upcoming animated feature "Witch Kids"... can't show anything here, but take my word for it that it's going to be a lot of fun!

Checked out the "Up and Coming" LGBT panel at 2pm, with the ever-fabulous Terrance Griep as the moderator, fresh off the airplane and into the convention for his adoring fans. Such a jet-setter!

Some nice bits from the panel:

Lynx Delirium: Likes having control of his own stuff, so he can do the comics he wants to do, with lots of fairies, gargoyles and fairy tales. His philosophy is that he includes LGBT characters because they're in the world and he wants to depict the world (with some added gargoyles.)

Sean McGrath: Has a background in LGBT outreach, as he attended a small, state-run university in rural Pennsylvania and was one of two initial "out" queer folks on campus. He ended up making appearances at classes to speak about being gay and to educate fellow students, to mostly positive results. He feels the need to continue to educate and includes an LGBT presence in his work. Mentioned a few influences, including Chris Claremont's New Mutants series, Rachel Pollack's Doom Patrol, Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon.

Steve MacIsaac: "If you took the gay content out of my books, I think I would have about two pages. Exactly two pages." He also said that the Hernandez brothers' Love and Rockets might have been an inspiration for him to come out, with their strong portrayal of real people, lesbians with no warning, no parental advisory, just real lives.

Tommy Roddy: Teens have written to him to thank him for having a book that depicts gay teens and helps them feel less isolated. He has gotten some negative comments about race in his book, since he strives to show a diverse makeup of characters. He takes inspiration from movies like Bend it Like Beckham, which is a story about a girl in a specific culture, but still speaks to everyone with universal themes about fitting in and making one's own way.

"If someone had handed me a checklist of all the things I had to do to publish a comic," says Roddy, "I would have said… no thanks!" He feels it's been helpful to work with others and get support in the process, and to see how other people have done it in order to learn as he goes.

Megan Gedris: Webcomics may have been the biggest factor in increasing the LGBT presence in comics in the past several years, since they are so accessible and their reach is limitless. As far as portraying lesbians in a realistic storylines, she says, "If I don't, who will?" Gedris wanted to see herself and people like her in comics, and realized that the best way to make that a reality would be to contribute to the medium herself.

She used to think the measure of "success" in comics was being published, and then she was published.

Then she thought it might be being published in mainstream comics, but realized that she doesn't read many mainstream comics and wants to do work that she would actually read...

She paused and then said, "Wait, I just realized… right at this moment… that I don't know what I want any more!"

Jennie Breeden: You create a webcomic about your life and you think "nobody else is like this," but then they read it and identify with it and you find out "you have clones all over the world who are just like you." She gets recommended to non-comics-reading women by people who are already reading them, and The Devil's Panties becomes their "gateway drug" to other good comics by and about women such as Finder, Castle Waiting, Small Favors...

After the panel, another trip around the convention floor, where Aman Chaudhary and I discovered a strange, anthropomorphic cow character. Might be the only uncovered female nipples on the convention floor, and she's got enough to make up for all the covered ones!

At the DC booth, we ran into Superman himself, as well as film and comics star Andersen Gabrych, and film producer and actor Jonah Blechman. Blechman shared some tidbits about the sequel to Another Gay Movie, called Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild. There's talk of possible spin-offs in TV and comics... watch Prism Comics for all the news on the latter!

The final stop of my Comic-Con evening was the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Comic-Con Welcome Party (whew! what a name!). Prism Comics was on hand for a silent auction of some neat items, including lunch with DC Comics editor Bob Schreck. (Wish me luck!) An assortment of nice hors d'ouvres and a fully stocked cash bar made for a fun night. Bought a round for Eric Shanower and his partner David Maxine, and hung out with comics colorist extraordinaire José Villarrubia.

Then it was off to a late dinner (and some more cocktails) in Hillcrest, and off to bed to rest up for day two!

Charles "Zan" Christensen was the Founding President of Prism Comics. He lives in sunny Seattle with his fiancé Steve and their two cats Noblet and Geoffrey.

Prism Comics promotes the works of the LGBT community in comics. It does not implicitly endorse any other material or products associated with those works. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s).