Last weekend, my girlfriend and I attended San Diego Comic-Con. I’ve want to attend this ever-growing geek mega-event since I was 11-years old. Back then, I was a hardcore comic book fan — not just looking up to Batman, the X-Men and Iron Man, but also to their creators — especially the artists.

Artists like Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, J. Scott Campbell, and Rob Liefeld were both my inspiration and my heroes. Of course, back then like any comic book fan, I was regularly reading Wizard, a magazine that covered the happenings within of the comic book industry.

Every year they’d have great photos and reports from Comic-Con. I’d read about the artists interacting with the fans, the impressive booths, the thought-provoking panels, the merchandise, and more. Every year, I’d think “Man, I need to get there.” For one reason or another, timing just never panned out. The fact that I lived on the east coast, 3,000 miles away from the convention probably didn’t help.

Fast-forward 15+ years to 2010. The stars and planets have aligned and I find myself living a little over an hour from the San Diego Convention Center and there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity.

I’ve always heard stories about just how huge this event is. I’ve been to other large conventions and events, so I thought I knew what i’d be in for.

Wrong.

The convention floor itself was MASSIVE. Towering video walls, gigantic over-the-top booth displays, 25-foot tall giant robots, and incredibly creative costumes for as far as you can see.

As I write this, it’s the Monday after and my head is still spinning.

If you consider yourself a comic fan/pop-culture geek/video game addict or any other kind of nerd, I strongly recommend you make this something to check out at least once in your life.

A huge thanks to my friend Larry Doherty, who’s comic shop I’ve been visiting since I was 11 years old, for setting things up for me.

If you’d like to check out some of my photos, I’ve uploaded a 2010 San Diego Comic-Con set on Flickr.