San Diego Comic Con 2008

So Eric and Michelle are getting ready to go to the New York Comic Con next week, and that made me nostalgic about San Diego. I've been going since I was a kid who collected Fantastic Four, Marvel Premiere, and The Invaders. The total uncoolness of especially the latter two titles should indicate what a dork I was. This is before John Byrne resuscitated mutants (sorry, Cockrum) or Frank Miller's redefining Daredevil made comics hip in any way.

I've been to the San Diego Comic Con at the El Cortez and the old convention center, back when half of the floor was occupied by shops selling back issues with a smattering of original art, some big little books, "good girl" art, bootleg VHS tapes, fanboy T-shirt vendors, Star Trek and sci-fi accessories vendors, swords & sandals hawkers... You'd see Jack Kirby and Will Eisner walking around the hotel pool. Anime was still called Japanimation, but it was way easier (and more affordable) to buy old die-cast and vinyl Japanese toys. Indie comics? That meant Elfquest, Nexus, Cerebus, Captain Victory, and Love & Rockets.

It's different now. Of course, now every Hollywood blockbuster has its sneak preview in San Diego, and the movie companies have huge pavilions showing trailers for anything related to action, fantasy, or horror. Teams of industry parasites roam the floor on "inspiration trips" or looking for something to license... E! Channel, Access Hollywood, and everyone else sets up camp. You know the newscasters were the popular kids at school, and now they're suddenly assigned to visit their classmates with the "L" on their foreheads. That sucks.

But Comic Con is still cool. I think I say it every year: Where else do Klingons, jedis, mutants, goths, toy dorks and anime otaku get along? I don't even mind the girls dressed like Harry Potter. To walk through the Gaslamp District and see teams of geeks playing Magic The Gathering while waiting to get into the Spaghetti Factory is an awesome sight.

I was checking out the Con's site to mark down the dates on my calendar--Giant Robot always has a booth there--and noticed that this year all memberships must be purchased online. None will be sold on site!

Will there be a bum rush of Stormtroopers? Probably not--those guys all get full memberships for the next near before they leave--but if you haven't already, save the dates and get tickets before they sell out.

PREVIEW NIGHT
WED, JULY 23
6PM - 9PM
Open only to pre-registered 4-day attendees and professionals

THU, JULY 24 -
SAT, JULY 26
9:30AM - 7PM
With additional late-night hours for programming, anime, games, film showings, etc.

SUN, JULY 27
9:30AM - 5PM