Mood:
not sureTopic: Comic Cons
(THURSDAY) I was tired in the afternoon on Thursday. You see... I didn't prepare for this year's convention by walking every day two to three weeks before the con started. That would have built up my strength to handle all of the walking that I had to do for this year's con. Yes, I won the lottery by obtaining four day passes, Thursday thru Sunday, but without Preview Night on Wednesday. This year I sat out going downtown to see the workers set up the outside booths, etc. Last year I went down, even though I only had Thursday and Sunday tickets. I did do Friday also, for the outside events that didn't requre a badge. See this link for that review blog. So, as I was saying... I attended Thursday, and started about 8:30 when I arrived at the San Diego Convention Center. As I was fortunate enough to obtain pre-paid parking under the Convention Center, I didn't have to arrive as early as I have done in years past. There was a little line to go get into the convention center. Plus when arriving at the top floor, I was immediately sent to a table where I received my badge & badge holder. This was the fastest I had ever received my badge. Good going so far! I then obtained my laniard and bag plus the three publications given out by Comic-Con. I then went and attached my badge holder with the laniard, and saw several persons discarding their publications they had recived. Quite a bit went into the trash cans lined up in the 'Under The Sails' pavilion. So I grabbed a chair and took my program printouts and matched them against the grids printed in the quick flyer guide. Several panels / programs were up against each other time-wise, so I knew I would have to make decisions on those as each day came up. Having prepared my panels / programs schedule for the next few days, I decided to check out the immediate layout of the convention center. You will see the photos from Thursday at my Facebook Fan Page's special Thursday photo album. I then proceeded to go to the panels. I noticed that the Hall H lines were overcrowded as usual per my Facebook Friends posts, and elected NOT to go down there for the one or so programs that I had interest. I also noted that Ballroom 20 (the second largest room), was also very busy line wise. So I elected not to enter that line either. I made it through the day and ended up at the 18th Annual Kung Fu Extravangaza. I don't believe I've missed a one of those during the years it has run at Comic-Con. It was nice to sit down, at least for a while. I ended up at the Floyd Norman Documentary panel at 9pm, and left there for home, as I was so tired... (FRIDAY) I was back by 8:30 am on Friday morning. There were several panels I wanted to see and I only missed two of them, The Lost In Space 50th Anniversary and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. The reason I missed the Eisners is because I ended up at the Hyatt at 6:30 pm to see the Doomed! Documentary that was previewed. The photo at the top left of this blog shows Marty Langford, Kat Green, and Mark Sikes. This preview was the HIGHLIGHT of the 2015 Comic-Con for me! I really enjoyed seeing it! To see this more of this documentary on the Roger Corman film, The Fantastic Four, see the Doomed! Facebook Fan Page. By the time I got out of the Hyatt, I decided not walk all the way to the other end to see the Eisners, already in progress. Besides, I was wore out! Here is the link to my Friday photo album. (SATURDAY) My schedule showed a LOT of panels / programs I wanted to see. I didn't make it to all of them. Mainly because of panels running against each other time-wise and the walking from one end of the convention center to the other side. Whew! I don't know how many miles I walked this Comic-Con, but it was a lot! I ended up the night at the Sails Pavilion, where I foolishly stood in a very long line for 'food' (chips, cheese and cupcakes), and watched the Masquerade on the screen with hundreds of others doing the same thing. I left before the show was over. Still tired! Here is the link to my Saturday photo album. (SUNDAY) The morning started at the same time I arrived the previous days of the con, at 8:30 am. It was really nice having underground pre-paid parking this year. That is for sure! Anyways I took in the Annual Jack Kirby Tribute panel, haven't missed any of them since Mark started it in 1994... I then went to the Sixty Years of Gumby panel, and ended up just walking the exhibit hall floor until my last panel of the day started at 3:30 pm, titled 'Comic-Con Talkback', with the President of Comic-Con, John Rogers. It appears that the ADA problems still weren't fixed for this year's convention, as nine out of the first ten attendees standing in line to 'Talk Back; were about ADA issues at Hall H & Ballroom 20. For the first time in years, I left a half hour early, as I just couldn't walk anymore, and I had not found any last minute deals to make on the floor by 3:30 pm. Here is the link to my Sunday photo album. As to my 'comic book grade' for this year's con... I gotta admit, there was just not that much for me this year. Maybe it was because I was out of shape for walking everywhere, but this con is just too darn spread out to see it all now. I walked both convention center wings, plus down to the Marriott's three SDCC floors, and the Hyatt's four SDCC floors. I didn't make it to the Hilton, the Omni, the SD Public Library or the Horton theater. Plus I didn't make time to see any of the offsite events like I did last year. So my 'comic book grade' for this year has to be a Fine Plus (F+) 6.5 for me. Yes, it was great seeing all those I have made friendships with over the years, and actually... I saw more friends and acquaintances than in previous years this year. Sunday's crowds on the exhibit floor was as bad as Saturday's. Maybe I'm just a little tired / jaded... But this year's Comic-Con just wasn't the high level of excitement for me as previous years have been. Note: I have been going to Comic-Con for the last straight 25 years, when in 1991 the Comic-Con moved to the then new San Diego Convention Center. (Plus my first Comic-Con was back at the El Cortez Hotel in 1972! ) Still, I know I'll be online next year when Comic-Con puts their tickets up for sale for 2016 Comic-Con. Hopefully I'll be able to purchase some days if not all of the con. Till then, I'll rest up and then train for walking the 2016 Comic-Con! Oh, I will be blogging more about items I picked up at Comic-Con here in the days to follow, and also posting more items about Comic-Con at my Facebook Fan Page.
~Michael D Hamersky
BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link! Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!! Note: My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...! If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com! Web Page Note: This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that! The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer. Note: Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners. Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to my blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to me for possible review, just contact me.  Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there. Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!---------------   In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related. You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also! As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'! |
TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #4031 - Okay... It is late Monday morning as I start writing this. I'm tired, from attending all four days and three nights at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con International. Yes, really tired!
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