The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

Trip to Comic-Con 2007

by [irulan]



Let me first say that attending Comic Con requires planning. Not casual planning either. Pretend that you’re reserving a Mediterranean cruise with five different ports, flights, and train passes. I have failed miserably in this regard for the past two years (the only times I have attended), but this year, I have finally learned my lesson. I had fully intended to volunteer for two days and therefore get in free. You only have to work one three hour shift per day. Pre-registration for volunteering was June 21. I missed this, and so I decided I would just sign up on site. I did not think about what would happen if memberships sold out. Then I forgot to book a hotel room. So about a week ahead of time, I remembered that if we were going to attend Friday and Saturday, a bed to sleep in might be helpful. Of course, everything in a 30-mile radius of the city was booked, unless you wanted to pay $300 or more for a room – which I didn’t. I booked a room 30 miles away. In passing, I wondered to Tim if we should go ahead and get him tickets, at least, in case it sold out online (meaning registration at the door wouldn’t be an option). I forgot about this too. Finally, the Tuesday before the show, I visit Comic Con’s site and Saturday is sold out. Oops. I didn’t know if signing up to volunteer would even be possible. Saturday was the day of the Battlestar Galactica panel too. I make a frantic phone call to Tim, and figured out that we will just buy tickets for Friday only online and drive home after. I cancel the hotel room, and purchased single-day memberships for Friday. It was a wise idea, as they were sold out by Wednesday afternoon.

Next year, plans will be made. Like in February.

So, we decided to leave extra-early Friday morning in hopes of avoiding the worst of the traffic crunch. We’re out the door at 6:40am, me blearily clutching my gigantor Starbucks mug filled with strong Costa Rican blend java. Avoiding traffic anywhere near the greater Los Angeles area is, of course, impossible. However, we still missed a good chunk of it. I think we made the 131 mile trip in about three hours. I did plan one aspect of this trip better than 2006. Don’t even think of attempting to park downtown near the convention center. You know why? Because you won’t get near the convention center, you’ll pay an exorbitant amount of cash, and you’ll have to walk far in the blazing sun. Remembering the long, torturous walk back to the vehicle at the end of the day last year, I used the handy Comic Con website to guide me. We discovered the San Diego trolley system. We parked nine miles away at the spacious Qualcomm Stadium for free. Yes, free. Then we paid $4.50 (round-trip) to take the trolley right to the convention center door. It was so worth it and so much less of a headache.

Let me detour here and answer a question I know you are all wondering-– do I read comic books? Nope, not really. Why do I go? Despite the name, the convention has a much broader scope. There are panels offered by all major film and television companies, seminars on everything from opening a comic book store to how they created the latest Star Wars miniatures, crazy huge exhibits in the hall with larger than life sculptures, and yes-– LOTS of comic books.

We planned to attack the day with gusto. I had my pre-registration emails out five minutes into the 45-minute long trolley ride. We got them scanned and obtained our nifty badges and the equally nifty bag of freebies. This includes a souvenir book, a program, and other fun promotional items. I had looked at the programming schedule long before and knew that I wanted to attend the Stargate: SG-1 panel at 12:15 and the Stargate: Atlantis panel at 1:15. The rooms fill up quickly, and I really wanted to be able to use my zoom lens to get some great pictures of Michael Shanks (who unfortunately didn’t come after all). So, I grabbed Tim and immediately zoomed to the ballroom for seats even though it was only 11 or so. We didn’t fare too badly, not as close as I would have liked to have been but oh well. I contentedly stayed and saved our seats and gushed with fellow SG-1 geeks about favorite episodes, the upcoming movie, and what the hell has happened to Teal’c’s make-up over the years while Tim went to wander. One lady next to me wanted a miniature stargate for her garden. Oh yes, I was with my people.

Tim returned with stories of shaking Marina Sirtis’ hand and seeing Sean Young and Joe Turkell (promoting the newest release of Bladerunner). I glared at him. And then before I knew it, it was time for the panel. I will skip all the details of the panels. If you’re not a Stargate fan, you won’t care about them. Suffice it to say, the cast was great and funny. It was a blast to see their personalities. 

After the panels were over, we were ready to hit the exhibit hall. But-- not without sustenance. The food situation at Comic Con is abysmal in my opinion. We ended up settling for a soft pretzel and a cookie each. We found a convenient, if not comfortable, patch of carpet under a stairwell, and watched the parade of costumes. 

The exhibit hall is daunting, overwhelming, and pretty formidable (as exhibit halls go). It is massive beyond words, especially to this girl whose only other convention experience is Origins in Columbus, Ohio. It’s probably best to systematically start at one end and wind up and down the aisles to guarantee you see everything. Or during one of the many lines you’ll be waiting in, check out the exhibitor’s map and mark places you know you want to visit. While I was waiting for the Stargate panel, I immediately scoped out two booths on the map-– the California Browncoats and my friend Travis’ booth in Small Press. That way, when we made it to the convention hall we didn’t miss them. Plan your path as you may though, the minute you enter you are immediately distracted by any number of large sculptures, shiny displays, and chicks in skimpy costumes. Any system you had for perusing the maze flies right out of your head. We just started wandering, me with my head mostly facing up. It’s like the various toy companies, TV and movie studios, and comic book places all vie to out-do each other with the massiveness and coolness of their booths/displays. For example, Gentle Giant (http://www.gentlegiantstudios.com/), had huge Voldemort and Sauron busts at the top of their booth. Disney had a 40-foot foam version of the Black Pearl. Somebody had a life-size version of Jabba the Hut complete with golden bikini clad Leias (yep, that’s plural). By the way, I have got to get one of those outfits. WETA (http://www.wetaworkshop.co.nz/) had amazing sculptures from Lord of the Rings, Buffy, Angel, Legend, you name it. SciFi had a big, shiny purple wavy thing that attracted people like bugs to a zap-light. Hasbro (I think?) had a small living room on the top of their booth for people to hang out in. The Golden Compass had a fantastic promo display with props and costumes. Legos had a huge Batman, R2D2, and C3P0 made entirely of, you guessed it, Legos! The eye candy is shameless and seemingly endless. This is where you will find the major throngs of people.

Once we escaped the magic of the huge displays, we wandered over to the Small Press area to look for Travis Hanson [travs the bean] of Bean Leaf Press (http://www.beanleafpress.com). Tim & I know him from Elftown and were looking forward to see him. On the way, we passed countless numbers of comic book and action figure vendors. This is definitely a place to shop for collectibles if you’re into them. Let me say that as much as I drool over the big, fancy displays. I have more love for the small press area and artist alleys. It is in these areas that you will find friendly folks who will tell you about their book, graphic novel, or illustrations and then gush over the fact that Joss Whedon just walked by with you. Basically, they’re just good people. Travis is no exception. We arrived at his booth and got to see him again, as well as meet Aimee Duncan [Igorina]. Those two are collaboratively working on a series of books about Bean, a young, adventurous boy. I adored the first one, and not just because I like Travis. It’s a fun book, and I recommend for adults and children alike. You can get it on his website (http://beanleafpress.com). I picked up the second book and checked out Travis’ amazing prints. He does just beautiful illustration work. He’s inspired by his real life; he has four children and the stories and illustrations are for him. He was offering free sketches to those who stopped by and talked; Tim requested a castle and I requested a unicorn. He grumbled, nicely, at both of us for that. We chatted and urged Travis to come visit us with his family. Travis recommended checking out a couple of artists, so we went our merry way with signed books and sketches. 

We explored the artist’s alley and several illustrator booths, sat down for a pop (by this time the camera and the heavy bag that I kept dumping on poor Tim was killing my shoulder and back), and went off to resume our search. I cleverly looked up the location of the booths in the program so we could just head straight there. One company Travis recommended was Steamcrow Press (http://www.steamcrow.com). They are a small company, and just moved out of the Small Press area into the main exhibit area. I was just delighted with their books and illustrations. They (Daniel Davis and wife) were incredibly nice and friendly and excited to tell us about their books. And while Tim and Daniel lamented the demise of Freehand, I talked to his wife about their newest book Klawberry. It’s a book about a little monster girl who lost her eye and has to get it back. Their first book is a haiku monster book. How can you not love that? The illustrations are clean and adorable. I want one of their books for Christmas, and I am now stalking their website. 
We wondered aisles a little longer and then heard the announcement that the exhibit hall was closing in ten minutes. I could believe it was 6:50 already! So, exhausted and visually over-stimulated but content, we plodded back to the trolley. After a cop gave us misinformation, we got on the wrong trolley and had to get off, come back to the convention center, and get on the right on. The good news is we did make it back to the car eventually. I fell asleep about 45 minutes into the ride home.

By the end of the day, I had a good stash of books and freebies in my shoulder bag. It became rather heavy. Disney was giving away free copies of Artemis Fowl; I had the souvenir book, the program book, several flyers, sweet Indiana Jones and Atlantis posters, an Atlantis light/compass thing, pins, my friend Travis’ book, an awesome print and sketch from him, and probably mountains of other things I’ll find when I actually dump out my bag. 

My nitpicks about Comic Con: They really don’t have enough space to contain it anymore at the San Diego convention center. It will be held there until 2012 per a contract, but it’s just getting bigger. This year ended with a record 125,000 attendees. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday memberships sold-out – also a first. They aren’t on top of managing the crowds yet. Just to pick up your badge is a long winding walk with no direction. There is also little food available for the many attendees. The convention center doesn’t have a food court, just a few overpriced cafes with limited choices inside the exhibit hall. There are also overpriced cookie and pretzel carts throughout. Unfortunately, there’s not really much within walking distance of the center either. So my advice-– pack it. But that’s for another article that I will be writing-– a crazy convention survival guide. 



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