This post is about Comic-Con. As such, it will likely be exceptionally nerdy. You have been warned.
Before I get too deep into my personal experience this year, I'd like to address some complaints I've been hearing about the convention this year. If you've read about this year's Comic-Con at all (and there's a decent chance you have, since it's been covered by a broad selection of major news outlets), you've heard about how it's the hot new place for Hollywood to promote upcoming movies and TV shows. This claim is certainly true. Major movie studios dominate the programming in Hall H, the largest venue for panels in the San Diego Convention Center (I believe it seats around 4000 people), and the next largest room, Ballroom 20, is home to many TV show panels. These studios also put together some impressive booths on the exhibit hall floor and make sure to give out plenty of free swag with their logo plastered all over it (Warner Bros is the reigning champ two years running with some freaking gigantic bags). Some people say that this has ruined the convention, but I have to vehemently disagree, and I'll address a few of the complaints I hear most frequently.
Number one: Crowds and wait times are horrific. I've been going to the cone for almost a decade now, and when I started, I went for Saturday only and registered on-site. If you wanted to register on-site for Saturday, you had to be in line at 6 am, or else you would find the line stretched all the way around to the back of the convention center. These days, all registration is done online, and picking up your badge is as simple as scanning a bar code. When I arrived to pick up my badge this year, there were several hundred people waiting in front of me. It only took 45 minutes. In the old days, getting in to the exhibit hall first thing in the morning meant joining a throng pressed up against the doors waiting for the stampede to begin. Now it's an orderly line. The exhibit hall itself has gotten worse, but it's no more difficult than threading your way through Times Square, and in many places it's much easier. The larger booths where crowds tend to gather are also the ones that are more organized (it took my friend two minutes to get into the NBC Universal booth, buy a poster, and leave, and that was on Saturday). In fact, two of the largest causes of traffic on the exhibit hall floor are two of the oldest: elaborate costumes and booth babes. A guy in an Iron Man suit or a girl in next to nothing both slow things down far more than the line to get a bag at the Warner Bros booth.
Number two: Hollywood has brought in people that don't give a fuck about comics. This may be true, but it's a stupid complaint. When I started going to the con, I went because I was obsessed with Decipher's Star Wars CCG, and Decipher was always at the convention. I wasn't really into comics at all. I'd go see Joss Whedon or Ray Bradbury, but comics? Screw that, I was there for the cards! And then a friend led me to the Red Star booth and introduced me to one of the greatest independent comics around (seriously, check it out, it's totally awesome). Looking back on things, that was the spark that eventually led me to become the weekly regular at my local comic shop that I am today (other notable influences: The Sandman, the work of Brian K. Vaughan, and The Ultimates). My point here is that some of the people that come to Comic-Con without any interest in comics are going to become comic book readers. I can't tell you how many times I heard retailers on the floor say "We're all sold out of Watchmen", and how happy that phrase made me. This surge in comic book movies is good for comics.
This post is actually taking a lot longer than I expected, and I'm back to work tomorrow, so I'm going to end this here. Part 2 will show up in what I hope will be the near future. So, loyal readers (all two of you), what do you want to know about Comic-Con?
Before I get too deep into my personal experience this year, I'd like to address some complaints I've been hearing about the convention this year. If you've read about this year's Comic-Con at all (and there's a decent chance you have, since it's been covered by a broad selection of major news outlets), you've heard about how it's the hot new place for Hollywood to promote upcoming movies and TV shows. This claim is certainly true. Major movie studios dominate the programming in Hall H, the largest venue for panels in the San Diego Convention Center (I believe it seats around 4000 people), and the next largest room, Ballroom 20, is home to many TV show panels. These studios also put together some impressive booths on the exhibit hall floor and make sure to give out plenty of free swag with their logo plastered all over it (Warner Bros is the reigning champ two years running with some freaking gigantic bags). Some people say that this has ruined the convention, but I have to vehemently disagree, and I'll address a few of the complaints I hear most frequently.
Number one: Crowds and wait times are horrific. I've been going to the cone for almost a decade now, and when I started, I went for Saturday only and registered on-site. If you wanted to register on-site for Saturday, you had to be in line at 6 am, or else you would find the line stretched all the way around to the back of the convention center. These days, all registration is done online, and picking up your badge is as simple as scanning a bar code. When I arrived to pick up my badge this year, there were several hundred people waiting in front of me. It only took 45 minutes. In the old days, getting in to the exhibit hall first thing in the morning meant joining a throng pressed up against the doors waiting for the stampede to begin. Now it's an orderly line. The exhibit hall itself has gotten worse, but it's no more difficult than threading your way through Times Square, and in many places it's much easier. The larger booths where crowds tend to gather are also the ones that are more organized (it took my friend two minutes to get into the NBC Universal booth, buy a poster, and leave, and that was on Saturday). In fact, two of the largest causes of traffic on the exhibit hall floor are two of the oldest: elaborate costumes and booth babes. A guy in an Iron Man suit or a girl in next to nothing both slow things down far more than the line to get a bag at the Warner Bros booth.
Number two: Hollywood has brought in people that don't give a fuck about comics. This may be true, but it's a stupid complaint. When I started going to the con, I went because I was obsessed with Decipher's Star Wars CCG, and Decipher was always at the convention. I wasn't really into comics at all. I'd go see Joss Whedon or Ray Bradbury, but comics? Screw that, I was there for the cards! And then a friend led me to the Red Star booth and introduced me to one of the greatest independent comics around (seriously, check it out, it's totally awesome). Looking back on things, that was the spark that eventually led me to become the weekly regular at my local comic shop that I am today (other notable influences: The Sandman, the work of Brian K. Vaughan, and The Ultimates). My point here is that some of the people that come to Comic-Con without any interest in comics are going to become comic book readers. I can't tell you how many times I heard retailers on the floor say "We're all sold out of Watchmen", and how happy that phrase made me. This surge in comic book movies is good for comics.
This post is actually taking a lot longer than I expected, and I'm back to work tomorrow, so I'm going to end this here. Part 2 will show up in what I hope will be the near future. So, loyal readers (all two of you), what do you want to know about Comic-Con?