Comic Con 2008 Report Day 1
Comic Con 2008 Report Day 1
Friday, August 8, 2008
I arrived in San Diego at 3:00PM on Wednesday July 23. I made my way to the DoubleTree Hotel Downtown to check-in and get ready for “Preview Night” which is supposed to be the quiet night of the convention. Quiet isn’t the word I would have chosen to describe what unfolded.
As soon as I made my way to the convention centre (15 minute walk from the hotel) I was confronted with the unavoidable task that would be a recurring theme for the next four days, waiting in line. I waited in line for about 15 minutes to get my badge. There were dozens of registration desks at the ready to scan the email I had received after registering for my four-day pass back on April 18.
After they printed out my badge and handed me a lanyard to keep it around my neck I was then given a bag containing a detailed program schedule, a souvenir book, a special comic Con edition of Mad Magazine, and a few more pieces of swag. Now I was ready to head off to make my first big Comic con decision.
Preview night doesn’t offer much in the form of panels, it’s all about gaining access to the exhibit hall. However, there was a screening of the new JJ Abrams project coming to Fox this fall, FRINGE. In fact, there were two screenings; one at 7:00 and one at 9:00. Not having heard much about FRINGE prior to Comic Con, it wasn’t on the top of my list of priorities.
That’s why I decided it would be best to wait in line for the exhibit hall to open at 6:00. Coming to Comic Con I had a few things I absolutely wanted to buy. They could all be found at the NBC Universal Boutique: 30 Rock T-Shirts, Office T-Shirts, Dwight Schrute bobble-head dolls, and the piece de resistance: a Battlestar Galactica Toaster that toasts a cylon head on your bread. I took a brief look at the exhibit hall map neatly placed in the middle of the program schedule so I could quickly make my way to the NBC boutique as soon as I was let in.
Once we were all let in it was a mad dash to everyone’s particular targeted booths, some people just wandered around however, not realizing the lines/mobs that would soon form.
After landing a few T-shorts, a Dwight Schrute bobble-head, and my Cylon toaster it was “shock and awe” time. I have not been in a space as large as that exhibit hall since the Expos left Montreal and I therefore had NO reason to step foot into that abominable thing they call Olympic Stadium.
There were so many booths, with so much free SWAG (Stuff We All Get) and SWAG bags that it overwhelmed me on a day where I travelled three time-zones into a new city to wait in line for hours while having had little to eat.
While wandering around for a bit after placing my collectables in a lovely Wonder Woman bag furnished by the Warner Bros booth I bumped into my first blogspotter: Ralph of the Dharmalars! We chatted for a bit and discussed Hulk/comic book store spatial dynamics.
Not long after parting ways with Ralph I found myself slumped into a shuttle-bus seat waiting to return to my lovely hotel bed.
Day 2 report to follow...
Check out my Comic con Photo Gallery!