I saw the Grindhouse Panel thing too and it was incredibly great. They are trying to recreate the feel of going to see a double-feature of exploitation flicks in a out of the way run down theater using a scarred, worn print. They plan to film and show trailers for non-existent movies that Tarantino promises will be so good, you'll actually want to see the movies which they might eventually make. The trailer for Rodriguez's film, Planet Terror was way over the top, kinetic, furious, badass goodness. Can't wait for this.

Wait, so Tom which line did you line up in? H?

Yes, I was in that line. Believe me, it was a tough decision not to hit Hall H. I agree that it's not fair to exclude the Hall H line... especially since I've camped out in the Hall H line the last few years.

This is the first time in several years that I never set foot in H. I was planning to on Saturday... until I found out about the Spidey3 signing.... PLUS... one of my two my favorite cartoonist was signing on Saturday. Berkeley Breathred (Bloom County, Outland and the creator of Opus )) was gonna be there and I just couldn't pass up the chance to meet an idol of mine since I don't think he signs often. I told him my story about my Opus tattoo and it made him laugh, which made MY year.

Okay, I finally got some numbers for ya:

4-day Pre-regs: 27,000
Preview Night attendance: 16,000

So let me repeat.. they need to make preview night industry only again.

What I think would keep the numbers down for Preview Night would be to not allow sales of Comic-Con exclusive items until the official first day. When you get there early you talk to a lot of other people there. A good number of people told me they only hit Preview to get the exclusives to sell on eBay.

So that's my "non-industry dude" argument

I got boned out of the Spider-man Panel. Adult Swim/ATHF signing ran really late and by the time I got out to the line it was the middle/end of the disney panel which I also wanted to see on saturday. It was really odd. I was in the line for the adult swim signings right infront of the door for Hall H line coming in and I saw the flux of how it died after the Kevin Smith Panel was suppose to happen till pretty much the middle of the disney panel. By the time I got out there the line was wrapped around the grass a little worse than what happened last year with the kong/tencious D thing.

As for camping out at Hall H and the ticket situation, yeah, comic con is always like that with the "right place, right time" deals. It bones out everyone who just waited at hall h and it seems that they just go to the line for the floor and pass out the stuff they should be doing to the specific audience.

It was a good show. I'm a bit bummed I missed the spider-man/sony panel but whatcha gonna do? I just went to the adult swim panel. Sunday seemed even more busy than last year. I wouldn't be suprised if the show got close to capacity on sunday.. simply amazing.

But that still means I need a spider-man poster.

That's why that night used to be reserved for industry folk to do that. Buy exclusives. But the way it is now, they should just extend preview night into a full blown day. This way people don't have to miss panels. One full shopping day.

The way it's set up, they may as well just make it a full day.

They're going to have to do something about Hall H. Yeah, it's great that they added hall H into the mix two years back. But the show seems to have grown past that point already.

Not to mention how they judge capacity. If they are going to use two turnstiles to do the count then they have to add more as it is a slow process to funnel folks through that.

That's not even the matter about doing a count on those who leave and come in the hall.

The other halls had the same problems with reaching levels. Marvel's civil war panel was a nightmare to get into and a lot of the other lower hall numbers were just closed down quickly after they were letting folks in.

Good solution would be how they run the Masqarade run off. Broadcast Hall H shit in another room.

I only started reading this thread at page 4 so I might have missed something, but did anyone see a TV news report on a San Diego Station that mentioned the possibility that ComicCon may be moved to another city?

Friends who attended the Con with us, spent an evening with San Diego relatives who heard this bit of info during a local news report about the Con. The relatives weren't able to furnish any details. As San Diego residents, maybe it was wishful thinking on their part.

Thoughts, confirmation, anything?

I'd also vote for extending the Con by another day, but not "industry only." I can only manage to go about every three years and Preview night is a major reason. I always have to leave early so I miss Sunday (or most of it), so I'm paying for four days, but only getting three.

Based on my experiences at this and my last ComicCon, here's some some suggestions:

1) Extend the Con, make Tuesday the badge pick up day and all Wednesday a Preview day.

2) Limit the number of memberships sold, and make it less than the total sold now.

3) End "single day" memberships. Sell only four day memberships.

4) Split the Con and make it a twice a year event. Perhaps the spring and fall equinoxes. (Yeah, a lot of kids will be in school, but maybe kids below a certain age shouldn't be attending the Con anyway. If I had a buck for every baby stroller there, my famliy would have gotten into ComicCon for nothing and walked away with extra cash. Really, what's a child under the age of 5 going to get from it all?)

5) This is more of a gripe, but...the ComicCon board really needs to improve the situation for people with disabilities.

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about the people of ComicCon's Disabled Services. Everyone we dealt with was very helpful and went out of their way. As far as they could. However, from what I could gather, it appears that a not-as-concerned-as-it-could-be-with-disabled-people, corporate-style bureaucracy (very much like what happened at Disneyland a few years ago) may have reared it's ugly head.

6) Another gripe. What happened with the Con's great movie lineup? Why did they even bother?

sunday is a half day, so you were already getting 3 1/2 days to begin with prior to preview night.

Every year the rumors of the convention moving to another location is brought up and every year it's in SD. The local shops and the city can't let go of that amount of income.

Killing off single day passes would be silly as a majority of walk ins and folks willing to pay $25 for one day than $60 for a four day when they were only going to use one day would turn a lot away.

If Comic-Con decides to leave San Diego, it won't happen until 2010. That's their target date.

I've always thought Hall H should be available only for those with a full-membership.

Like the con has any control over what movies Hollywood decides to make and subsequently promote? If anything, movies should always take a backseat at the con. This isn't Movie Con. It's Comic Con.

I'm all for mailing badges out instead of having to pick them up. It should be a priviledge you get if you pre-registered by a certain date. Industry or not. Or at least have 4-day passes be mailed out with the option to will call them. And make it like the E³ badges in that they're different from the single day el cheapo paper badges.

Yes! And perhaps the leering press!

Anyone else watch G4's lame-ace "live" coverage Friday?

"Look! Costumes!"

Mailing out badges is problematic in terms of lost badges, and the associated headaches that go along getting them replaced, etc. Plus, you have to watch for people scamming the system on badges mailed out (when they received the badges and then claim they never got the badges, and get replacements, which then could be given to others to use). The other way is to enforce a signature required for the badges upon delivery, which drives up costs, but for a $70 badge, maybe the extra cost is worth it to the recipient.

E³ seems to have a hold of mailing out badges. And I would think they have the same amount of people attending (if not more) as those that pre-registered for 4 day passes for SDCC.

yeah, E3 and any other main convention has no problem with doing that. Having the whole badge pick up just creates more of a mess that it's worth the cost of all those scammed badges that could potentially happen.

They really just need to make preview night a full day without any programing and for those who pre-reg'ed.

Another possible idea is to just move all the non-dealer, movie/tv related booths like Sci-fi, WB, abc Family, etc. up to the upstairs in a big room of its own. Hell, the traffic those places cause by having a live from the show (G4) to a comic book pick up (Heros) to signings alone would help keep the traffic flowing. The floor needs to get a little more devided much like how Artist Alley is off to its own little side.

For those that did watch, I appeared on-camera for a brief second while I circled their booth. Yay me

They used to mail out the badges but maybe they had some of the problems mentioned and stopped. It would definately be handy if they mailed 'em.

How about this idea for Hall H: Make it a separate purchase. For $10 you get a stamp to put on your badge (or a special badge holder). They could limit the number sold.

No smiley face? Hope TomOpus actually didn't believe you, because that's when the Comic-Con ended!

Every year we leave about 4:45 to avoid the big wave of people leaving at 5.

Just gotta say, Tom you are indeed a hero!

I saw the G4 and it was cool, but that blonde chick bored me to tears. I still wish I coulda been there.

Great job on the poster Tom, that is one sweet, sweet, thang!!

Agreed...Tom is also my hero.

(applause)

Seriously...how bad ass is that poster? Dear lord you scored, my friend...! Daaaaaang...!

Yeah, but I still paid for it.

I'm not surprised about such rumors, but as I said this was supposedly part of a local news story about the Con. I was just trying to verify that such had actually aired.

If the city and shops ran the Con, I suppose I'd be more sceptical (not that I take such rumors seriously to begin with). However, not that I think it's likely, the Con organization can take the Con anywhere they please. It would not be unusual. Other (non-genre related) conventions have moved from one city to another.

I disagree because that's the point...cutting back the number of attendees. Particularly the non-interested, "casual" attendees who are only there because;
1) the Con is "something to do", like the sandcastle contest in Imperial Beach or
2) because a spouse, boy/girl friend, or significant other is going.

They have no real interest comics, genre movies, animation, or pop culture. They're just there...because. I was doing a lot of people watching at this Con as I first noticed this in 2000 and saw a lot more in '04.

The look on their face is like that of the typical guy who is "compelled" to go with his "significant other" when she goes shopping for clothes. Or hers when he talks sports stats. You can spot these looks a mile away. or

It's the look on my wife's face when she attends the Con.