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Now that I've got some time, here's that bigger ComicCon post I promised you:
Saturday morning, I went to look at the ComicCon website and found a notice that Saturday tickets were sold out - online and at the door. I didn't even think that was possible. They never said it was possible. They just announced it Friday morning. Said that sales had been overwhelming, and they were afraid it would be too crowded.
But! For those who wanted to buy in advance but didn't want to buy online, they'd made tickets available at various retailers in the area (including neighboring states) and there was a chance that there were some left at those places.
But! Many of those places didn't open until 10 or 11. ComicCon didn't open until 10, and I wanted to be home around 12.
There were two places that opened at 9 and weren't too far out of my way. One was Midtown Comics, quite possibly the awesomest comic book store on Earth. They normally didn't open until 11 on Saturdays, but for ComicCon, they'd extended their hours. The other option was a Borders bookstore located right outside the train station in the city. There was no telling how many tickets (if any!) would be left in either place, but they'd go quickly. Midtown Comics was the more obvious choice. They'd probably have a bigger supply of tickets. But they'd also have more people looking for tickets from them. I decided to go for the Borders.
I left the house shortly after 7. I was going to use the local train station, but changed my mind at the last minute and drove to the junction. Further away - almost to the city - but much more flexibility in which trains I could take to get back. The platform, even at that hour, had a good number of people who were obviously headed for the con. Including a girl dressed as Link from Zelda (but wielding a yaoi paddle in addition to the shortsword). It was a good costume, too. Wish I'd taken a picture. But it was just cool seeing someone dressed up for the con.
The train got in with plenty of time to spare. But I'd remembered on the way that I was short on cash. So I headed for an ATM. ... And my card didn't work. Tried a different ATM. No dice. Called the bank. It was early on a Saturday and the bank's HQ was two time zones over. Automated systems were up, but there was no one to help with a card issue.
I went to the Borders. Came across the side door. The lights were on, and there were people getting things ready. There was a sign on the door saying it wasn't in use, but I figured it was probably because the store wasn't open yet. After waiting around for a while, though, I decided to go around the corner to take a look at the main door.
There was a line. It curved. Crap.
Got in line. People got in line behind me. We waited. By the time the store opened, the line was around the corner.
Lost a few places in line as I looked for the place to ask for tickets only to realize that it was probably the place where people were lined up. Crap. No idea how many tickets there were.
Then they announced (apologetically) that they didn't have any Saturday passes; only weekend passes. But, really, it wasn't that much more expensive. Overheard a cashier saying that her boyfriend worked at Midtown Comics, and they'd sold out Friday night.
I got my ticket. Breathed a sigh of relief.
Went to get some food. I was semi-nocturnal. It was dinner time for me. Everyone else was having breakfast. But McDonald's considers a piece of fried chicken served in a biscuit to be breakfast food, so I managed. Tried another ATM. Called the bank. Someone picked up! Honestly, she sounded more worried about my ATM card not working than I was. She was so sweet and helpful. Turns out I was trying to use the ATM card for my savings account. (And I'd mistakenly gotten rid of the one for the checking account, thinking it was outdated. I mean, really... my savings account has an ATM card? Why?) So, as we talked, I tried it again, this time pressing the button to withdraw from savings instead of checking. Transaction denied. But! The very nice woman had stayed on the phone with me as I tried it. Turns out it was being blocked because I'd unsuccessfully tried to use it several times in a row. She fixed that as we spoke. And then arranged to send me a new ATM card for my checking. And then worked with me to find a way to input my address to minimize the chance of our post office screwing things up. I love my bank.
Started walking towards the con. A middle-aged couple was walking a yellow Labrador Retriever who was dressed in electric blue spandex with a red cape and a very familiar S logo. I immediately asked if I could take a picture of Krypto, which was kindly granted. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera out yet. And, when I got home, I discovered that my phone hadn't saved the picture. D'oh.
Walked several blocks from the train station to the con. There was a whole stream of people walking with me and by me. Seriously, it looked like this for just about the whole way:
Walked down the stairs in front of the building. There was a woman taking video of us streaming by. She turned just before I got to the bottom of the stairs, to get a shot of the stream heading across the lot to the door. I decided, after I'd passed her, that maybe I'd wave. (Was concentrating more on the stairs as I was coming down.) So I tossed a wave behind my back. And heard her exclaim. I was already a fair distance away by the time it processed, but I realized my fingers had been a little curled and maybe she hadn't had the best line of sight. I think she thought I'd flipped her off. Oops.
Got inside the building, and was directed past the ropes and downstairs. Where we were directed to go into a room:
Took nearly an hour to wind through that line. I guess they put it there to help make sure the line didn't go around the block outside? It's all I can figure, but even that doesn't make much sense. At the end of the line, there was... a staircase back up. (I ignored the people who told me to take the further, non-working escalator.) Right to the other side of the ropes I'd seen when I'd first walked in.
It was really crowded on the main show floor. People squeezing past each other in the aisles. I walked up and down and across and over and back, just taking it all in. Saw so many costumes. And just a lot of people having fun. But there wasn't much that really jumped out at me. The lines for free stuff at Marvel and DC were long and slow, and I wasn't too interested in what they were giving out. There were a lot of toys, but I didn't really want to buy those. There were back issues of comic books, but I have a pretty good collection and I can always go to my local comics store. There were people selling posters, but I've got more posters than wall space already. I was surrounded by geeks, but I didn't know anyone and they were busy and there wasn't really a good way to start a conversation. So I kept walking.
I found the booth for Evil, Inc., a really fun webcomic. I stopped by, and the guy (Brad Guigar) was fun, but I didn't have much to say other than how much I'd enjoyed the comic. Walked off. Turned around. Made my first purchase. It felt a little silly buying a book of comic strips that are freely available online, but I got it signed by the artist, with a sketch inside. And I supported the comic. And I had something cool from the con. Walked around some more. Bought a double-bladed lightsaber on the cheap. Saw a booth filled with awesome Steampunk goggles and accessories and things. Took pictures, soaked it all in. Stopped in at a few more booths. Told the very nice and friendly lady at Tor Books (mostly for my own amusement) that on page 359 of R. A. Salvatore's The Bear, the word "almost" is written with a 1 instead of an L. Someone told me that today was the most crowded he'd ever seen it. Someone else, signing a book for me, told me that the people on Friday had been grumpy. All focused on getting their freebies. Today, everyone was more relaxed and happy. I think I really hit the con at the best time.
Got really tired. There was no place to sit. Until I found a chair near a guy who was getting hats ready to hand out at his booth. He kindly let me sit down. We talked for a bit. I told him I'd been hoping to find the people behind Dr. McNinja. The site said they'd be at the con, but I'd walked all over and not seen them. He told me there was a whole other section that was not easily accessible because of construction in the building. Gave me directions. That was where all the small publishers and individual artists were. Also, where you could line up to meet various celebs. (Including James Marsters. But the line was too long and I'm not hugely interested in meeting actors.) Walked around there. Couldn't find Dr. McNinja. But I did find the booth for Red 5 publishing, the awesome people behind such awesometastic comic books as Atomic Robo. So of course I had to buy one of their books (even though I already have them all). Found a directory, but still couldn't find Dr. McNinja. It was late, too. I was hot and tired and still needed an hour to get home. I'd tried loading the website on my Kindle, but it was slow going. I had to disable images. (And it turns out that they had posted their location on the site's homepage... as part of a huge image with giant arrows pointing to their booth.) Asked some con volunteers... who checked their reference books and couldn't find him. So I gave up. Started walking out. And... found the booth for Dr. McNinja.
So I walked up. Thinking I'd tell them about all the effort I'd put in specifically to see them because I loved the comic and had seen that they were going to be there and I'd wanted to be sure I stopped by before I left. "I've been looking all over for you guys!!" And got a flat response. The artist was busy with other people and the guy with him didn't have much to say. The guy who'd given me directions from the other side of the con had told me to ask about a certain story, which he said was really funny. I asked. And got a very short, perfunctory telling. Ah well.
So I headed out of the con. And that's when I saw Chewbacca, standing there, giving people hugs, posing for pictures, making all the right noises. It was really awesome.
I left with a smile. Encountered another cool costume. Headed for the train station. Overheard some middle-aged woman remarking to her husband, "I thought the freaks only came out at night. I didn't think they got up during the day." "They do for ComicCon!" I said, cheerfully. "It's unbelievable in there. We had to leave." Some people just don't get it. But then, I'm not sure what they thought they were doing there in the first place. I could have taken it poorly, but I chose to be amused.
All in all, it was exciting. Not quite what I'd pictured, but I'm glad I went. (And glad I had cash to spend, after all...)
And, as mentioned before, I took more pictures, if you're interested. :)
Saturday morning, I went to look at the ComicCon website and found a notice that Saturday tickets were sold out - online and at the door. I didn't even think that was possible. They never said it was possible. They just announced it Friday morning. Said that sales had been overwhelming, and they were afraid it would be too crowded.
But! For those who wanted to buy in advance but didn't want to buy online, they'd made tickets available at various retailers in the area (including neighboring states) and there was a chance that there were some left at those places.
But! Many of those places didn't open until 10 or 11. ComicCon didn't open until 10, and I wanted to be home around 12.
There were two places that opened at 9 and weren't too far out of my way. One was Midtown Comics, quite possibly the awesomest comic book store on Earth. They normally didn't open until 11 on Saturdays, but for ComicCon, they'd extended their hours. The other option was a Borders bookstore located right outside the train station in the city. There was no telling how many tickets (if any!) would be left in either place, but they'd go quickly. Midtown Comics was the more obvious choice. They'd probably have a bigger supply of tickets. But they'd also have more people looking for tickets from them. I decided to go for the Borders.
I left the house shortly after 7. I was going to use the local train station, but changed my mind at the last minute and drove to the junction. Further away - almost to the city - but much more flexibility in which trains I could take to get back. The platform, even at that hour, had a good number of people who were obviously headed for the con. Including a girl dressed as Link from Zelda (but wielding a yaoi paddle in addition to the shortsword). It was a good costume, too. Wish I'd taken a picture. But it was just cool seeing someone dressed up for the con.
The train got in with plenty of time to spare. But I'd remembered on the way that I was short on cash. So I headed for an ATM. ... And my card didn't work. Tried a different ATM. No dice. Called the bank. It was early on a Saturday and the bank's HQ was two time zones over. Automated systems were up, but there was no one to help with a card issue.
I went to the Borders. Came across the side door. The lights were on, and there were people getting things ready. There was a sign on the door saying it wasn't in use, but I figured it was probably because the store wasn't open yet. After waiting around for a while, though, I decided to go around the corner to take a look at the main door.
There was a line. It curved. Crap.
Got in line. People got in line behind me. We waited. By the time the store opened, the line was around the corner.
Lost a few places in line as I looked for the place to ask for tickets only to realize that it was probably the place where people were lined up. Crap. No idea how many tickets there were.
Then they announced (apologetically) that they didn't have any Saturday passes; only weekend passes. But, really, it wasn't that much more expensive. Overheard a cashier saying that her boyfriend worked at Midtown Comics, and they'd sold out Friday night.
I got my ticket. Breathed a sigh of relief.
Went to get some food. I was semi-nocturnal. It was dinner time for me. Everyone else was having breakfast. But McDonald's considers a piece of fried chicken served in a biscuit to be breakfast food, so I managed. Tried another ATM. Called the bank. Someone picked up! Honestly, she sounded more worried about my ATM card not working than I was. She was so sweet and helpful. Turns out I was trying to use the ATM card for my savings account. (And I'd mistakenly gotten rid of the one for the checking account, thinking it was outdated. I mean, really... my savings account has an ATM card? Why?) So, as we talked, I tried it again, this time pressing the button to withdraw from savings instead of checking. Transaction denied. But! The very nice woman had stayed on the phone with me as I tried it. Turns out it was being blocked because I'd unsuccessfully tried to use it several times in a row. She fixed that as we spoke. And then arranged to send me a new ATM card for my checking. And then worked with me to find a way to input my address to minimize the chance of our post office screwing things up. I love my bank.
Started walking towards the con. A middle-aged couple was walking a yellow Labrador Retriever who was dressed in electric blue spandex with a red cape and a very familiar S logo. I immediately asked if I could take a picture of Krypto, which was kindly granted. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera out yet. And, when I got home, I discovered that my phone hadn't saved the picture. D'oh.
Walked several blocks from the train station to the con. There was a whole stream of people walking with me and by me. Seriously, it looked like this for just about the whole way:
Walked down the stairs in front of the building. There was a woman taking video of us streaming by. She turned just before I got to the bottom of the stairs, to get a shot of the stream heading across the lot to the door. I decided, after I'd passed her, that maybe I'd wave. (Was concentrating more on the stairs as I was coming down.) So I tossed a wave behind my back. And heard her exclaim. I was already a fair distance away by the time it processed, but I realized my fingers had been a little curled and maybe she hadn't had the best line of sight. I think she thought I'd flipped her off. Oops.
Got inside the building, and was directed past the ropes and downstairs. Where we were directed to go into a room:
Took nearly an hour to wind through that line. I guess they put it there to help make sure the line didn't go around the block outside? It's all I can figure, but even that doesn't make much sense. At the end of the line, there was... a staircase back up. (I ignored the people who told me to take the further, non-working escalator.) Right to the other side of the ropes I'd seen when I'd first walked in.
It was really crowded on the main show floor. People squeezing past each other in the aisles. I walked up and down and across and over and back, just taking it all in. Saw so many costumes. And just a lot of people having fun. But there wasn't much that really jumped out at me. The lines for free stuff at Marvel and DC were long and slow, and I wasn't too interested in what they were giving out. There were a lot of toys, but I didn't really want to buy those. There were back issues of comic books, but I have a pretty good collection and I can always go to my local comics store. There were people selling posters, but I've got more posters than wall space already. I was surrounded by geeks, but I didn't know anyone and they were busy and there wasn't really a good way to start a conversation. So I kept walking.
I found the booth for Evil, Inc., a really fun webcomic. I stopped by, and the guy (Brad Guigar) was fun, but I didn't have much to say other than how much I'd enjoyed the comic. Walked off. Turned around. Made my first purchase. It felt a little silly buying a book of comic strips that are freely available online, but I got it signed by the artist, with a sketch inside. And I supported the comic. And I had something cool from the con. Walked around some more. Bought a double-bladed lightsaber on the cheap. Saw a booth filled with awesome Steampunk goggles and accessories and things. Took pictures, soaked it all in. Stopped in at a few more booths. Told the very nice and friendly lady at Tor Books (mostly for my own amusement) that on page 359 of R. A. Salvatore's The Bear, the word "almost" is written with a 1 instead of an L. Someone told me that today was the most crowded he'd ever seen it. Someone else, signing a book for me, told me that the people on Friday had been grumpy. All focused on getting their freebies. Today, everyone was more relaxed and happy. I think I really hit the con at the best time.
Got really tired. There was no place to sit. Until I found a chair near a guy who was getting hats ready to hand out at his booth. He kindly let me sit down. We talked for a bit. I told him I'd been hoping to find the people behind Dr. McNinja. The site said they'd be at the con, but I'd walked all over and not seen them. He told me there was a whole other section that was not easily accessible because of construction in the building. Gave me directions. That was where all the small publishers and individual artists were. Also, where you could line up to meet various celebs. (Including James Marsters. But the line was too long and I'm not hugely interested in meeting actors.) Walked around there. Couldn't find Dr. McNinja. But I did find the booth for Red 5 publishing, the awesome people behind such awesometastic comic books as Atomic Robo. So of course I had to buy one of their books (even though I already have them all). Found a directory, but still couldn't find Dr. McNinja. It was late, too. I was hot and tired and still needed an hour to get home. I'd tried loading the website on my Kindle, but it was slow going. I had to disable images. (And it turns out that they had posted their location on the site's homepage... as part of a huge image with giant arrows pointing to their booth.) Asked some con volunteers... who checked their reference books and couldn't find him. So I gave up. Started walking out. And... found the booth for Dr. McNinja.
So I walked up. Thinking I'd tell them about all the effort I'd put in specifically to see them because I loved the comic and had seen that they were going to be there and I'd wanted to be sure I stopped by before I left. "I've been looking all over for you guys!!" And got a flat response. The artist was busy with other people and the guy with him didn't have much to say. The guy who'd given me directions from the other side of the con had told me to ask about a certain story, which he said was really funny. I asked. And got a very short, perfunctory telling. Ah well.
So I headed out of the con. And that's when I saw Chewbacca, standing there, giving people hugs, posing for pictures, making all the right noises. It was really awesome.
I left with a smile. Encountered another cool costume. Headed for the train station. Overheard some middle-aged woman remarking to her husband, "I thought the freaks only came out at night. I didn't think they got up during the day." "They do for ComicCon!" I said, cheerfully. "It's unbelievable in there. We had to leave." Some people just don't get it. But then, I'm not sure what they thought they were doing there in the first place. I could have taken it poorly, but I chose to be amused.
All in all, it was exciting. Not quite what I'd pictured, but I'm glad I went. (And glad I had cash to spend, after all...)
And, as mentioned before, I took more pictures, if you're interested. :)
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(For some odd reason, flickr seemed to be in French today. Oh well, didn't impede my viewing!)