This year for Comic Con I woke up ridiculously early so I thought I'd leave for San Diego well before the time I usually do. Normally I leave after 9 am, when the morning traffic has eased up to just crazy instead of slowly unbearable.
In a whirlwind of action I packed the car. This later proved to be a mistake as things were left behind. I left the apartment driveway and was on the road, my route already planned in my head. With the AM radio giving me traffic updates I sped toward San Diego. I made good time and I knew the traffic would bog down when I got to Del Mar. It was the races and the fair, so traffic on both sides of the I-5 were slowing down at that point.
I took a side freeway and went to the I-15. This took me thru Balboa Park on the 163. I spent some glorious summers at the Old Globe doing Shakespeare. It was nice to see the place that taught me so much. I didn't stop though. I was on a mission. The trick about Comic Con is parking. There are some free spaces around if you know where to look and get there early enough. After driving around for 30 minutes I discovered I was not early enough. I had a car full of stuff, costumes and whatnot, (More stuff than I take when I travel internationally.) so I went to the hotel I would be staying at and parked in the self park. I decided I would find a spot on the street later that night because $26 to park a day (that's the discounted rate because I was staying at the hotel.)
I went got the badge for the con and found the friend I would be bunking with. With his key I went back to the hotel. It took 2 trips to unload the car. I thought I had everything. In my head I had laid hands on all the gear. This was not the fact.
I called my friend Zack and met up with him. He's a comic book writer among other things. One of his graphic novels will be made into a movie with Hilary Swank. We walked around the floor and looked at people and stuff. Toys, books, comics, the whole multi-media creation that has become Comic Con. We hung out until they kicked us out of the dealers hall. Since it was 7 pm we went for food at the Spaghetti Company. There was a wait so we hung out at the bar and I flirted with an awesome waitress. When we got to the table we ordered food and got into long discussions about the entertainment business, comics, and religion.
After dinner they went back to their hotel and I went to move my car. I parked where I normally do and then walked back to the Hyatt. It was around 11 pm. I turned in and tried to sleep.
Pretty boring blog, hunh? Well how about some observations?
Fandom: Females at Comic-Con in the past have not been very good looking. This seems to have changed in the last few years. There are the hot girls in skin tight spandex, of course. They are always fun to see. There are the heavier fans who should not wear spandex. There should be a weight limit. That may seem mean, but Wonder Woman does not weigh 300 pounds. You might be having fun in the costumes, but think about what they look like and what you look like. Should be somewhat similar. This goes for men or women. See the Spider-man above.
Media: Comic books are a very small part of this event. It has been taken over by the movie, tv, and video game industries. It's smart marketing. Go where your consumers are. This is the consumer base for all their products.
Crowds: The attendance has been capped. It is around 125,000. This isa bout all the fire marshall could allow. If there were an emergency, the stampede would be astounding.
Ok. That's it for day one.I will try to be more entertaining on the other days.
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