Comic Coverage

Surviving San Diego: Part One

It's known by many names. 

The Big Enchilada.  Geekstock.  Comic Book Mecca. Whatever it's nickname, the San Diego Comic Con is the largest confluence of pop cultural currents on the planet...and something every comic book fan should try to attend at least once.

Me?  I've been to two Comic Cons, one in 2003 and another in 2005.   Both trips had plenty of positives and a few negatives, but overall they were some of the most exciting, interesting, surprising and...yes...surreal experiences of my life.

However, as fun as those visits were, I sure would have appreciated getting some advice from experienced "Con Veterans" as I was planning them (especially the first one). Sure, I was able to nab a few tips here and there off the internet, and the Con itself does a fairly good job of explaining things, but alot of my plan was pure improvisation...exciting and invigorating in one way, yet not always the ideal situation when you're spending wads of cash to fly thousands of miles to a bewilderingly huge event in an unfamiliar city.

With that in mind, I thought I'd share some of my own tips, observations and recommendations for those of you who'll be attending your first Comic Con this summer (July 26-28), or maybe contemplating a future visit.  I'm by no means as experienced as others are, and every person goes to the Con with a different set of expectations and goals...but for people who are:

(A) essentially superhero comic book fans,

(B) on a budget and

(C) not a comic biz big-shot, reporter, networker, or acolyte/sidekick, maybe I'll have some helpful information for you.

Rather than cram everything into a single entry, I thought I'd tackle individual topics over the next several weeks, including:

1.  Getting There and Where to Stay

2.  Gearing Up

3.  Getting Around

4.  Striking a Balance: Programming vs. Exploring

5.  People Watching

Oh, by the way, I will be hitting the Con again this summer...though this time around I'll only be attending on Sunday, the final day.

Why only one day?  Well, while toying with a return trip earlier this year, I came across some great airfare deals. So great, in fact, that I suggested to my wife that we take our family vacation this summer in sunny San Diego...the same week as the Con! 

You see, during my previous two "pilgrimages", it was a little frustrating to spend virtually the entire four days inside the San Diego Convention Center without getting to see anything else in that beautiful oceanside city.  So, this time around, I'll get to soak up the San Diego experience for most of the week, then hit the Con for awhile on Sunday with the family, who have no earthly idea what's in store for them.

That is, if they haven't read my San Diego Survival Guide by then.

Surviving San Diego II: Getting There and Where to Stay

(A continuing series of hints, tips, and observations based
on stuff that worked for me.  Your mileage may vary.)

Air Fare: Unless you live in California (and within reasonable driving distance to the Con), chances are you'll be flying into San Diego.  Unlike the superheroes we obsess over, cosmic surfboards, rocket-packs or cloaks of levitation aren't an option for us....so we'll just have to settle for a standard commercial airplane flight.

The fact that you're reading a blog suggests that you're web-savvy enough to find a good airfare search site, so try a bunch of them to see what kind of prices you can get.  I prefer Hotwire, but I've also had good experiences with Orbitz and Travelocity.  The great thing about all three (and many others) is that you can search for, compare, and book your flight, hotel, and rental car at the same time.

Generally, the farther out you book your flight and hotel, the more money you're going to save....which leads me my personal Comic Con motto:

Yeah, not the most elegant of sayings, but it gets right to the point.  Obviously, you'll want to pay for a reasonably convenient flight (no more than one plane transfer), a fairly decent (and safe) hotel room, and a nice sit-down meal or two...but generally, I see the trip as a money-managing challenge to keep the "overhead" down as much as possible, so more money can be spent on The Cool Stuff (i.e. comics and the galaxy of comic-related goodies).

Once you've locked into your flight, here's a few things to keep in mind:

Surviving San Diego III: Gearing Up

(A continuing series of hints, tips, and observations based
on stuff that worked for me.  Your mileage may vary.)

Okay, now that we've got that minor little detail of airfare and finding a hotel room out of the way, it's time to talk about the Con itself.  If it's your first visit, believe everything you've heard about it.  It's huge, it's amazing, it's sprawling.  In other words, it's a place with arguably too much going on and definitely too many people walking around, which can be more than a little tiring...especially if you're not...(wait for it)..."Dressed for (Comic Con) Success!"

Though we're not exactly gearing up to storm the beaches of Normandy, you are going to be in for some very long days, covering alot of ground, and on your feet for most of it.  Having attended a couple of Comic Cons, plus a number of smaller ones (not to mention being a veteran of both Disney World and Universal Studios), here's a few things to keep in mind to make those long days a lot less uncomfortable:

Surviving San Diego IV: Getting Around

(A continuing series of hints, tips, and observations based
on stuff that worked for me.  Your mileage may vary.)

Now comes the interesting part:  Getting from your hotel to the San Diego Convention Center.  Unless you have a professional reason to stay there, or if you're easily parted with your money, the hotels within easy walking distance of the Convention Center probably won't be part of your plan.

Happily, there's a wide variety of reliable transportation options available for (the vast majority of) San Diego "pilgrims" who are staying in hotels farther away from the action...and many of those options are very "budget friendly".

Surviving San Diego V: Programming vs. Exploring

(A continuing series of hints, tips, and observations based
on stuff that worked for me.  Your mileage may vary.)

With Preview Night only a week away, all of you San Diego Pilgrims are no doubt poring over the staggering amount of programming for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  There are tons of great panels and presentations to see, and literally not enough time in the day to see even the tiniest fraction of them.  However, there are also tons of great non-programming experiences at the Con that would be a shame to miss out on. What's a fanboy or fangirl to do?

I can't tell you exactly what to do, since (as I've said before) everyone comes to the Con with different goals and ideas of what makes for a fun time.  However, speaking as someone primarily interested in comic books, and having attended two Comic Cons using very different strategies each time, I may have some insights you'll find useful.

For my first Con in 2003, I was obviously dazzled by the virtual phone book of programming choices.  As a result, I filled up most of my days sitting in panels or waiting in lines to meet various comic pros.  While those experiences were (mostly) great, at the end of the weekend I didn't feel like I'd experienced the other aspects of the Con, namely walking around the Exhibit Hall floor and just taking in all of its surreal, sprawling lunacy.

In 2005, I wanted to remedy that situation with a more balanced approach to experiencing the Con.  Though there was plenty of intriguing programming to choose from, I decided to forego much of it to spend the time exploring the Exhibit Hall, the dealer areas and Artists' Alley....which worked out beautifully.

Taking what I've learned from both Con experiences, here are some suggestions you might want to consider...

Surviving San Diego VI: People Watching

(A continuing series of hints, tips, and observations based
on stuff that worked for me.  Your mileage may vary.)

While you're viewing as many panels, presentations, movie screenings, elaborate booths, artwork, and comic book merch as you possibly can, you'll also be engaging in the unofficial pastime of the San Diego Comic Con:  People Watching!

After all, this isn't like a mass-gathering of 120,000 accountants...or scrapbookers...or stamp collectors.  This 120K crowd is a highly combustible cocktail of pop cultural geekery from the realms of superhero comics, sci-fi, fantasy, manga, animation, gaming, cartooning, and hundreds more interconnected tributaries.  Mix in a few thousand curious civilians on a Geek Safari, and you've got yourself the biggest freakin' Mos Eisley cantina scene in the Western Hemisphere.

Think about it:  You and your fellow fans have traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles to talk about, admire, photograph, argue about, buy, and sell stuff based on things that ultimately do not exist.  Now that's passion...and that's exactly what I love so much about the Con.  The passion.

Your Clip-N-Save Guide to Comic Con

Didn't catch my San Diego Survival Guide?  Never fear...I've got it all condensed (more or less) into a handy Clip-n-Save Guide to the San Diego Comic Con.  Before you close that suitcase lid, print it out.  Clip it.  Save it.  Cherish it.  Share its sage advice with a fellow newbie.  Most of all, have fun!

California Dreamin'

"So, Mark...how was San Diego?"

Why, yes...this was the actual view from our hotel room.

How was my San Diego vacation, you ask? I'll give you a brief recap:

Sea World:  A nice mix of animal exhibits, entertaining shows, and "Amusement Park Lite" rides...making it a great destination for people looking to have fun while learning a thing or two in the process.

The San Diego Zoo:  After seeing a good percentage of the planet's animal life at Sea World, see the rest at the San Diego Zoo. (pictured:  my daughter, an escaped zoo animal, and my wife)

The beaches:  I highly recommend a day to do nothing at one of San Diego's beautiful beaches.  We'd heard some good things about La Jolla Shores beach, and it certainly lived up to the hype.  Very relaxing and extremely beautiful (by the way, it's pronounced "La Hoya", and not "La Jolla", as my Spanish-speaking daughter pointed out to me).

The views:  It's not hard to find some staggeringly beautiful views throughout the San Diego area.  We went to the end of Point Loma, and were blown away by the "widescreen wonder" of the sights and unusual geology.

Oh, but wait...that's not what you want to hear about, right?

Okay...I'll get to the part you really care about:  Comic Con.

Four of the dazzling Vader Busts on display in the LucasFilm booth

Unlike the three and four-day Con marathons of my '03 and '05 visits, I only attended on Sunday this year.

As an added twist, I took my wife and kids along to experience the Con in all its kooky glory.  Since Saturday completely sold out ahead of time, I had a feeling Sunday wouldn't be the rather "laid back" experience it had been known for in the past...and I was right.

Naturally, the rest of the Engblom clan was pretty overwhelmed at not only the size of the crowd, but the size of the venue itself. After a claustrophobic slog through the Exhibit Hall, the lovely ladies excused themselves for some downtown San Diego shopping (as far away from the armies of Stormtroopers and Captain Jack Sparrows as possible), leaving my son and I to tackle the crowds. 

We ended up having a great time together as we explored stuff one, the other, or both of us liked. My son (pictured here next to a mutant Bart Simpson) even gave me a hand in tracking down a couple of comics from my "want list", helping me compare prices from various dealers (who were pretty stingy on the traditional "last day discounts" I might add).

Of course, I completely missed out on all the panels and presentations I normally attend...but it really didn't matter to me this time around.  After all, a quick twenty minutes on the computer this morning pretty much brought me up to speed on all the major news (which, with few exceptions, seemed kinda boring and predictable, actually)...so cramming it all into a couple of intense hours on "The Floor" was just the right amount of Comic Con for me.

"Slave Girl Princess Mark", Jabba the Hutt, and
my daughter (bravely ignoring her idiot father).

Oh, by the way: On our flight back home, my son was reading the airline safety brochure and came across two extremely odd panels. 

One panel, while discussing the rather serious topic of emergency escapes, included a character inexplicably dressed in a purple top hat and tails running behind a woman carrying an unnecessary item.  What the?...

The second and even more bizarre panel featured what appeared to be a ballerina assuming the "brace position" during an airline crash. Because, you know, nothing communicates the seriousness of the situation quite like someone wearing a pink tutu.