In its fortieth year, the San Diego Comic-Con has been one of the easiest ways for geeks like myself to interact with comic creators, actors, film producers and pretty much anyone that creates something for the consumption of geek sensibilities. After attending eight of these conventions myself, I can tell you personally that it's a marketing orgy, everyone is trying to hand you some free bit of swag in hopes that you'll go home and tell your friends about their comic, movie, TV show, or product.

But aside from its crass commercialism, Comic-Con is one of the highlights of every year I go. This year was particularly fascinating, as it was the first I attended as editor of Big Shiny Robot! (www.bigshinyrobot.com), a locally based Web site dedicated to all things geek. But being a "respected" member of the geek press wasn't enough to get me out of all the waiting in line that needs to be done at Comic-Con. In fact, no legitimate article encapsulating the experience of the convention could possibly omit the epic lines that must be traversed to do anything.

But for all the line-waiting and for all the sun-exposure and potential for heat stroke, when you get into a panel or an event, you're always treated to something special. Like Roy Batty said in "Blade Runner": "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain..." Only the moments from Comic-Con I cherished won't be lost in time since I was there with a video camera, a photographer, and a notebook.

Perhaps the coolest thing I saw was the presentation of clips from the upcoming comic-book based film "Kick-Ass." For those of you who don't know, Kick-Ass is a comic book written by Mark Millar (Wanted) and drawn by John Romita, Jr. (Spider-Man) that follows the adventures of Dave Lizewski. He's a teenager in the real world obsessed with comic-book superheroes and decides to become one. Unfortunately, he's terrible at it and finds his way into the hospital. But when his antics become a sensation on YouTube, he becomes a bonafide hero and takes to the streets. Soon he has to team up with Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl, an ex-cop and his 8-year-old, sword wielding, murderous, filthy-mouthed, cute-as-a-button, daughter.

The book would be rated NC-17 and hearing that it was going to be adapted into a movie by the director of "Stardust," I had my reservations. But the footage put me at my ease, it was every bit as funny and gory and exciting and wonderful as the comic, and when it finally hits theatres in the spring of 2010, you'll all be glad I gave you the tip to look out for it. You'll want to see an 8-year-old-girl hacking limbs off of bad guys and shooting dudes in the face. Trust me.

The coolest part of the presentation though, was the ability to interact with the creators. Vaughn, Millar, and Romita were all in attendance fielding questions, as well as Christopher Mintz-Plasse (who plays the villain "The Red Mist") and Chloe Moretz (the adorable little girl who plays the vicious "Hit Girl"). At a place like Comic-Con, you're able to get direct answers to your questions in person, straight from the horse's mouth. And then afterwards, you might be able to run into them at bar and ask them some more questions. In fact, I ran into John Romita, Jr. that night while I was having drinks with some of the guys from DC Comics.

I saw a lot of other great things. Terry Gilliam made a presentation about his upcoming film, Marvel and DC made big announcements about their comics, the makers of "Lost" and half the cast kicked off a new viral marketing campaign (www.lostuniversity.org), and Marvel Studios unveiled footage from "Iron Man 2." Yes, Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey, Jr. were there. Johnny Depp even showed up to talk about "Alice in Wonderland" with Tim Burton and Robert Zemeckis.

I even spent a day covering nothing but "Star Wars," and was able to score an audio interview with Threepio himself, Anthony Daniels.

You never know what you'll get to see at Comic-Con, but damn it, you'll be glad you did. But for those of you who missed it, we'll be putting all of our video, pictures, notes, and stories up on Big Shiny Robot! over the next couple of weeks so you can feel like you've been there.

And maybe next year, we can all go together.

Bryan Young is the editor of Big Shiny Robot! and is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.