shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 3:15:14 GMT -5
SDCC is this week. I'm assuming, from the lack of chatter, that no one here is going, but I'm curious if anyone here has ever attended, ever plans to attend, or doesn't attend but actively monitors news from SDCC remotely. I personally have no specific desire to go. I dislike crowds, and am not all that interested in the pop-culture circus it's become, but were I in the neighborhood, and tickets weren't sold out, I might drop in for a day. I also do check in via the various nerd news outlets to see what new toys have been announced.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2014 3:31:52 GMT -5
I will monitor the news coming out of SDCC, specifically any news on the Doctor Strange movie or possibly new solo series, but also with an eye towards helping out at the shop, new series to hype, new back issues to feature because of movie announcements, etc.
-M
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Post by DubipR on Jul 22, 2014 9:20:01 GMT -5
Comic Con hasn't been Comic Con since 2000. Ever since the mass explosion of comic culture, it transformed into something that's not a comic book convention. It's Pop Culture Con, which I don't mind, just change the name then. Also make it 2 weeks. One week for films and TV crap that the nerd-come-latelys go down to see and then the comic convention the following. My last SDCC was 2009... it's not fun anymore.
As for news, why even go down to the con? There's real time announcements, sometimes live feeds for the news... might as well sit back at home or work and watch the news roll in.
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Post by Pharozonk on Jul 22, 2014 9:52:13 GMT -5
I tried to buy tickets this year to at least see the spectacle once, but the badges were sold out in less than an hour.  It's crazy how popular that con has gotten in the past few years. |
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Post by Randle-El on Jul 22, 2014 10:52:21 GMT -5
Also make it 2 weeks. One week for films and TV crap that the nerd-come-latelys go down to see and then the comic convention the following. My last SDCC was 2009... it's not fun anymore.
Love this. Captures exactly how I feel about the trendiness of claiming the "nerd" label. I love how people describe themselves as nerds or geeks these days when a lot of the social stigma against that label (or its associated behaviors) has vanished. Some of us were nerds when it wasn't cool to be one. What's that? No, I'm not bitter at all...  |
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Post by MatthewP on Jul 22, 2014 14:57:52 GMT -5
I'll be going this year, and have been there 7 or 8 times before, but not the last 2 years.
It tends to be a madhouse and cluttered with all kinds of not-really-quite-comic-related stuff, but that craziness is part of the fun. Even though the actual comic dealers are a small percentage of the overall exhibit hall, it's still a lot of sellers and probably the best buying event available out west. That's what I like the most - the shopping for books and seeing all the other nifty stuff available. I generally attend very few panels.
The chaos had burned me out, but I'm ready to give it another try. I'm curious to see whether I enjoy it again, or if it burns me out again.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 22, 2014 18:55:16 GMT -5
I'll be going this year, and have been there 7 or 8 times before, but not the last 2 years. It tends to be a madhouse and cluttered with all kinds of not-really-quite-comic-related stuff, but that craziness is part of the fun. Even though the actual comic dealers are a small percentage of the overall exhibit hall, it's still a lot of sellers and probably the best buying event available out west. That's what I like the most - the shopping for books and seeing all the other nifty stuff available. I generally attend very few panels. The chaos had burned me out, but I'm ready to give it another try. I'm curious to see whether I enjoy it again, or if it burns me out again. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts and anecdotes afterward. Please keep us posted! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2014 19:29:43 GMT -5
I had a look at the exclusive variants that would be available at this year's SDCC show...not sure if I saw all of them but I wasn't too keen this time around.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 24, 2014 11:39:12 GMT -5
Here's hoping MatthewP is having an amazing time right now.
Anyone hear any exciting news out of SDCC yet?
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Post by Pharozonk on Jul 24, 2014 11:58:50 GMT -5
The Ant-Man poster seems to be promising an interesting movie.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jul 24, 2014 13:41:29 GMT -5
The Ant-Man poster seems to be promising an interesting movie. That's one hard character to sell (and an odd choice being that the Avengers have already launched). I'm intrigued. |
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Post by kurrgomaul on Jul 25, 2014 6:12:31 GMT -5
I didn't even think an antman movie was happening because I heard the director left the project. either way I have my doubts, it's like fantastic four, it's hard to make a movie about it and make it not seem goofy.
also I have never attended comic con...but like others have said, it has become so commercial that I don't even care really.
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Post by The Captain on Jul 25, 2014 10:14:02 GMT -5
Also make it 2 weeks. One week for films and TV crap that the nerd-come-latelys go down to see and then the comic convention the following. My last SDCC was 2009... it's not fun anymore. Love this. Captures exactly how I feel about the trendiness of claiming the "nerd" label. I love how people describe themselves as nerds or geeks these days when a lot of the social stigma against that label (or its associated behaviors) has vanished. Some of us were nerds when it wasn't cool to be one. What's that? No, I'm not bitter at all... I'm going to take a different stance on this. Sure, those of us who were nerds and geeks long before it became cool got picked on relentlessly in school and in the neighborhood, and that sucked. However, were it not for the general public embracing nerd culture in all its glory, we'd have never seen Iron Man 1-3, Thor 1-2, or Captain America 1-2, let along Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, etc. There would have been Superman and Batman and probably even Spider-Man movies, because they are cultural icons, but we certainly would have never seen a $200MM budget for an Avengers movie written and directed by Joss Whedon or a sequel that promises to be all sorts of awesome. We, the formerly-downtrodden losers who needed to keep our love of comics hidden or else face the wrath of wedgie-dealing jocks, are now living in a world that embraces the very things it once derided, reaping the benefits of this awakening to geek chic. Our childhood heroes are on the big screen, not just the small page, a place they seemed destined to sit after abominations such as the Corman Fantastic Four movie or the original Captain America movie with the Italian Red Skull or even the Dolph Lundgren Punisher. And if we really want to avoid those folks, just head to your LCS, because that is one place they'll never go. Too many real geeks in there.  |
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Post by Randle-El on Jul 25, 2014 13:40:27 GMT -5
Love this. Captures exactly how I feel about the trendiness of claiming the "nerd" label. I love how people describe themselves as nerds or geeks these days when a lot of the social stigma against that label (or its associated behaviors) has vanished. Some of us were nerds when it wasn't cool to be one. What's that? No, I'm not bitter at all... I'm going to take a different stance on this. Sure, those of us who were nerds and geeks long before it became cool got picked on relentlessly in school and in the neighborhood, and that sucked. However, were it not for the general public embracing nerd culture in all its glory, we'd have never seen Iron Man 1-3, Thor 1-2, or Captain America 1-2, let along Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, etc. There would have been Superman and Batman and probably even Spider-Man movies, because they are cultural icons, but we certainly would have never seen a $200MM budget for an Avengers movie written and directed by Joss Whedon or a sequel that promises to be all sorts of awesome. We, the formerly-downtrodden losers who needed to keep our love of comics hidden or else face the wrath of wedgie-dealing jocks, are now living in a world that embraces the very things it once derided, reaping the benefits of this awakening to geek chic. Our childhood heroes are on the big screen, not just the small page, a place they seemed destined to sit after abominations such as the Corman Fantastic Four movie or the original Captain America movie with the Italian Red Skull or even the Dolph Lundgren Punisher. And if we really want to avoid those folks, just head to your LCS, because that is one place they'll never go. Too many real geeks in there. No, I agree with your sentiments as well. I wasn't being all that serious actually -- just remarking on the irony of how being a nerd is now cool. But on a quasi-serious/thoughtful note, I think a lot of what had to do with people embracing nerd culture was the realization that nerds have power. All those kids in school who were into comics, computers, gaming, etc etc often times were also pretty smart. It wasn't long before people realized that all those nerds turned out ok, and were often pretty successful. At that point a lot of the stigma goes away because people realized nerds have good jobs, make good money, live in nice houses, and generally have pretty nice lives. |
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Post by MatthewP on Jul 28, 2014 15:54:23 GMT -5
Well, I have survived another year of San Diego Comic Con, and it was certainly exhausting. This thing just keeps getting bigger, and there is so much to see and do, I almost feel like I failed overall by doing so little. Where to start? I shall start with:
The Good
The top draw for me to this con (and most any other) are the comic book dealers, and San Diego draws more big dealers than any other show I know (although I sometimes wonder if east coast shows may have more, as so many dealers are based back east). There were lots of really great books to see, many of which I could only lust over (a copy of Action Comics #1 was on display for an upcoming auction!), but many which I could buy. My haul this year was a relatively paltry 57 books, but a remarkable 35 of those are Golden Age books. There were plenty more Silver and Bronze Age books I would have loved to get, but I just had a hard time choosing to buy them when I knew there were tons of Golden Age goodies a couple boxes over, and since the Golden Agers are harder to find, they got priority. Strangely I didn’t get any DC or Timely books, but got a fair chunk of E.C. and Fiction House stuff. Perhaps the coolest book I got was Captain Science #4. I’ll post pics and more details on my purchases in the recent purchases thread later this week.
Another coolest purchase was from comic (not comic book) artist Doug Sneyd, who does comics for Playboy. I got an original final pencil of one of his comics which went into the Jan. 2000 issue – unfortunately probably not quite appropriate for posting here. He also signed a copy of a book of his work for me and did a quick sketch in it. He wasn’t talkative (busy sketching and drawing), but his wife was very friendly and gave me a lot of interesting info on how he works and the various stages in producing his work.
The Bad
Crowds. Lots and lots of crowds. It was difficult to get around most of the convention floor, difficult to get into the convention center, difficult to cross the street. I’m not fond of crowds, so this caused a bit of stress for me, and really limited my enjoyment of the con.
The worst of the crowds I brought on myself on Saturday. On a whim I decided to get Matt (Doctor Who) Smith’s autograph, since I’ve been a Dr. Who fan for decades. Bought my ticket in the morning, returned a little before 1pm for the 1:30 scheduled signing. There was line chaos, and they told me to come back at 1:30. Came back at 1:30, they said to come back at 3:00. Came back, stood in line a while, then they said he went on a half hour break. All of this was at the heart of the most crowded area of the convention floor, making all the coming and going very stressful, and contributing to the line chaos. Since I had to leave by 4:30 for the trip home, I finally gave up and tried to get a refund. That took another 20 minutes in another line, but finally instead of a refund, they took me right to Matt, who had just returned from break, and I got his sig (and very quick greeting and handshake – he was way busy!) and was able to get on my way. So it worked out nicely in the end, but the uncertainty, crowds, and general mess were the least enjoyable thing about the con for me.
With such a big show it’s easy to miss or forget something, but this one was a real head-slapper. I wanted to meet Sergio Aragones, who had a table there. Visited the table twice, but he was away both times. Then I forgot to try again later (partly due to the Matt Smith mess), and never did see him. Arrrgh!
The Verdict
Overall there was lots of good stuff, but the crowds and chaos kept me from enjoying it as much as I have in past years. I’m uncertain whether I want to go back; if I do I’m thinking I may just do one day and stick to the dealers area. The Gold/Silver Age dealers are grouped in one small area, which tends to be less crowded than the rest of the floor. That’s a sad commentary on how few people are really there for the comics. The Lego/Hasbro/Star Wars/Movies/TV area of the floor is the most chaotic, so if I completely avoid that I may be happier. Unfortunately the artists area is at the other end of the floor from the Gold/Silver area, so I wouldn’t see them, and I do enjoy that.
Hope this wasn’t too much of a downer. In the end I am happy with my new books, sketches, and minor what-not that I got. And crazy though it is, I do recommend everyone to experience SDCC once if they have the chance.
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