Comic-Con: Ridin' that train, high on cosplayin'

So, you’re going to this year’s Comic-Con, but if you don’t already live in San Diego, how will you get there?

You could catch a flight to San Diego, though getting to LAX might take longer than the flight. You could drive, if you want to chance the terminally snarled 5 freeway.

Or you could take the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from L.A.'s Union Station to downtown San Diego. That's become an increasingly popular mode of Comic-Con transportation over the years — so much so that Amtrak adds cars to the Surfliner to meet the demand. 

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The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner

Cosplayers Spencer Kelsey and Lacy Reinbold boarded the train Wednesday morning with a warrior mask and homemade version of the flame throwing guitar from the latest "Mad Max" movie.

“It was quite busy and cramped," Kelsey said. "It was pretty tiring because I’d not slept last night. I was finishing up that mask."  

Reinbold said getting their bulky costume prop on the train proved a little troublesome.

Cosplayers' flame throwing guitar prop from the film, "Mad Max" 

“We had hoped to give the guitar a whole seat to itself because it’s pretty big,” Reinbold said. But after she and Kelsey figured out a way to cram their spiky guitar into the seat with them, the ride was just fine. 

“We had an entire car to ourselves with a Comic-Con group,” Reinbold said. “So that was pretty cool. Everybody in our car was going to Comic-Con so we were all pretty excited.”

But start talking to people on the train to Comic-Con and you’ll soon find that it’s not just fans and cosplayers onboard. An extension of the convention floor, the Comic-Con express is a place where you can find fans, studio executives and creative types alike. 

Comic book writer and illustrator Tim Seeley stopped by the café car to grab lunch.

“I do Comic-Con every year but this is the first time I’ve joined the train, but yeah, it’s pretty exciting,” said Seeley.  “I’m a writer on 'Batman.' So we had a summit where we all got together and talked about 'Batman' for two days and hashed out a bunch of story ideas. Then they popped us on the train to go down and continue our meeting. So we’re sort of talking 'Batman' and writing on a train, which is kind of romantic in a weird way.”

According to Seeley, taking the train to Comic-Con is a great idea if you’re an aspiring comic book writer.

“This would be a great time to pitch your story to an editor,” Seeley said. “All the DC Comics editors are on this train right now. So if you knew what they look like, it would be a great time to pitch your series.”

Convention regular Kevin Mahadeo was chatting with a couple friends in the café car. For him, however you get to San Diego, Comic-Con isn’t just about seeing the hottest panel or meeting an editor on the train.

“You have friends from all over, maybe they moved or they work somewhere else, but Comic-Con is a place we all get together and see each other again,” Mahadeo said. “And it’s pretty fun, like right now for example.”