[Groop] San Diego Comic-Con

sac at foolarchy.com sac at foolarchy.com
Tue Mar 6 13:52:34 PST 2012


Heh. I felt like this seven (7) years ago. The comic-con I grew up with 
no longer exists. It became far too difficult to get tickets and book 
hotels. I'm glad the industry is surviving, but at the same time it 
certainly felt like they ostracized me for an entirely new demographic. 
It just lost a lot of it's magic when it was less about comic books and 
more about the all might dollar.

My turning point was a few years ago when I literally timed myself 
(Nate might have been with me, but I can't remember) trying to get 
through an isle intersection. No exaggeration, but it took 45+ seconds 
due to the sheer volume of people. A single intersection between isles.

For me personally Comic-Con was magical right up to about the time the 
first X-Men movie came out and Hollywood helped give comics a little 
boost. Then it was a downward spiral.

Again, just my opinion.

~shane

On Tue, 6 Mar 2012 13:21:01 -0800, Chris McCollum wrote:
> I usually buy my tickets for the next years Comic-Con during the
> first day I attend the convention. There have never been any lines
> during the first few days of the con and I like to get it out of the
> way. It was very convenient doing it this way for the last 10 years 
> or
> so.
>  Last year the Comic-Con committee took that option away and made 
> that
> almost impossible to purchase a on site registration.
>  You had to wait in line for hours, at a off site hotel, to get a
> chance to buy one of 1500 tickets. The line was forming at 4 am or
> earlier, and opening the line at 8am,they sold out in less than a 
> half
> hour, leaving thousands without anything to show for their 4 to 6 
> hour
> wait each day. I decided not to waste my morning like this, when I 
> was
> told on line registration would come later.
> Months later, after signing up for a twitter account to get updates, 
> I
> was told I needed to sign up for a member ID, which I did, and wait
> for the on line registration. Meanwhile, I watched their video 
> telling
> how to maximize my chances of successfully purchasing a ticket, and
> down loaded their pdf file, giving further important instructions.
> Finally the day came to register for a ticket. At 8am on 3/3 I was at
> my computer and hit the link at exactly 8am. I got a "site
> unavailable" or "error" window. I tried again with the same result. I
> tried my lap top and hit the link to the site like I had been shown 
> in
> their video, again the same result,site unavailable due to too much
> activity or site wasn't yet up. I tried my lap top again with the 
> same
> results. I went back to my desk top and tried one more time, same
> thing. I finally wised up and disregarding the instructions they gave
> me, I went to the comic con web site directly, and immediately got
> through. My number in line was 30948. It was 8:11am. After staying on
> hold for a little over one hour my number came up. I entered my ID
> number and was informed that everything was sold out except for a one
> day Sunday ticket. I quickly decided that this was the best I could
> do, so I clicked to purchase and was quickly told that this ticket 
> was
> sold as well, and there were no further tickets available. I was shut
> out. I've been going to this, my home town convention, for over 20
> years without missing, and I was not able to purchase a ticket.
>  I hate that comics have taken a supporting role to the movie and TV
> industry making this their showcase, taking over our convention. I
> mostly hate the over crowding it has created, and the back seat comic
> books have had to take. But I could still enjoy the show. I could
> still attend most of the panels that I loved, Quick Draw, Voice
> animators,Sergio Aragones, Scott Shaw!s oddball comics presentation,
> all of Mark Evanier's Golden and Silver Age tributes and of course 
> the
> Groo panels.
>  I had thought about not attending for the past several years as the
> crowds grew, but I still came. I couldn't help myself. I attended
> every Groo panel with many lasting memories, but I feel an era has
> past. The death of the Comic-Con I once loved. I don't think that 
> will
> be attendaing another.
> Chris McCollum, Garden Grove



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