Last Saturday was my first time going to a for-profit fan convention; my previous experiences have been with comic book conventions as exhibitor support, most notably (and for more than 20 years) Comic-Con. As anyone who’s been there lately knows, Comic-Con has evolved from a regional comic book show into a pop culture powerhouse. The…
Category: San Diego Comic Con
Enjoying Comic Con from Afar
This marks my 6th year of not attending Comic Con, and this year, it was the best ever. My friends, family, and colleagues have been manning a booth at the show since 1994, and I worked beside them up to 2003, and the last time I set foot on the convention center floor (as their…
Psycho Saturday
After leaving Peter at the hospital, I went home to catch a few hours of sleep before I had to get up at 3:30 am and rouse the kids to take them to the San Francisco airport. Neil had an early flight to catch to visit his grandparents on the East Coast, and he was…
My 2011 Comic Con Fears Arrive Early
The economy may be slow, but there’s one place that’s going strong with near-unlimited demand: Comic Con 2011. I knew it was already going to be off the hook when I was in the office a few weeks ago and got a call from an anxious would-be Comic Con 2011 attendee. It was the day…
Putting the Fanatic Back Into Fan, 2009 Edition
Peter guesses that every year, the San Diego Comic-Con is 30% larger than the year before. I’d assumed that when the convention center reached 100% capacity (as it did last year), that it couldn’t get any bigger. I was wrong: the convention has instead increasingly sprawled out into its downtown San Diego surroundings and beyond….
I Hate the Day Before Comic-Con
With 15+ years of experience of packing up and going to Comic-Con, you’d think one of these years it would go smoothly. But no matter how much we’ve prepared, the day before Comic-Con is always a hot, hectic mess. I can’t even remember some of the details of all any more, but I cannot remember…
The Hypocritical Capitalist
I got paid by my client on Thursday, about which I was very happy. I love capitalism, no matter how brutal, unfair and “chaotic and unforgiving” our president may deem it as being. I sacrifice my free time and work hard, and then I get money which I may spend however I wish. I reiterated…
Hoteloween and the Softening Economy
As I reported before, the San Diego Comic-Con is huge, and unlike many other things, apparently unaffected by economic woes. For some comics- and pop-culture fans, it’s Christmas, Easter, and Disneyland at once, all wrapped up in one 4-1/2 day extravaganza. Last year, circumstance allowed me to go to the show casually, and it was…
Anxiety Week
I’ve been doing very light blogging, because I’ve been putting all my writing efforts into this current gig I have that pays me for doing writing, which I love. But I still love blogging, so you can still expect to see the rare, in-between entry. This last week has been one of great anxiety. Charybdis…
Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009
I have to say this year has been exciting, and at times spectacular for me. In February, I got to revisit Germany for the first time in many, many years. I had a great time, but I missed my family much more than I expected to. And one lasting part of the experience is that…