There are all kinds of good reasons to go to Comic-Con: the freebies, the previews of upcoming projects, the chance to meet your favorite author or illustrator, the opportunity to attend professional or informational panels, chances for interviews, autographs, and networking. And then there’s the other reason: the spectacle.
I spent a lot of time at the Suvudu “booth,” that gray area between the Del Rey booths and the Crown booth*. But on occasion I extricated myself from those tight confines to wander the floor and take in the sights and sounds, which were both bright and loud, respectively.
In fact, that’s kinda the problem. Just walking around you are pounded with so much sensory intake that overload can occur within just a few paces. The sounds begin to blur and bend, forming one loud off-color chorus of explosions, booth music, half-yelled schmoozing, and jangling, rattling costumes. The closer you get to the bigger event areas (the movies, games, and special theme places), the more difficult it can be to separate what you’re trying to listen to from what you’re trying to ignore.
The sights suffer from a different problem: the crowd. It’s hard to admit that Comic-Con needs more space than the several-city-blocks long and wide San Diego Convention Center, but walking the Con is an exercise in moving with and against the mob. So you end up flowing past displays without necessarily noticing them.
Still, despite all this, Comic-Con is a helluva lot of fun to attend in person. It almost demands that you attend in person, but because not everyone is able to hop on a plane and jet off to San Diego (though you should at least try it once, you won’t be disappointed, even if it isn’t for Comic-Con), I took it upon myself to attempt to capture a few of these sights for you.
It wasn’t easy.
Some of these pictures I’m quite pleased with, others I’m not as pleased with, but considering I was in the middle of the crowd at almost all times, I’m not that displeased with any of them. Some of the more interesting displays, in my eyes anyway, were the Lego creations (especially the Star Wars items, which you’ll see below) and, of course, the replica items scattered throughout the Con floor. I wish I could have captured everything there, but I couldn’t; it’s too big a task to even attempt. Instead, I captured what follows. I hope you enjoy the show.
Oh, and if you have pictures of your own in a Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, or other photo site that you’d like to share, why don’t you tell us about them in the comments section?
