What fun is a conference like Comic Con?

Being a geek-on-the-periphery, I’m hearing a lot about Comic Con.

To me, it seems like Disneyland without the rides- long lines, a bunch of junk to buy, overpriced fatty food.

But people like it, so there must be something to it. Help me understand!

It’s an opportunity to have a face to face with people you admire, to be surrounded by people with similar interests as you.

Ah-ha. Hmm. Nope, still not getting it.

Never been to one, but they do seem to draw women dressed up in sexy costume, so there’s that.

1.) I haven’t been to the LA Comic-Con, so I can’t comment on that. I can speak about the NY comic con from the early 1970s – I went to those.

2.) It was a chance to see and speak with a lot of the creative folk responsible for the comics you like (and don’t like) (I got to talk with Jack Kirby! Woo!). There were panels announcing upcoming comics, films, and TV shows (especially comic-related). There are also panels discussing aspects of comics, comics, history, and the like.

3.) You can buy (or at least look at) old, obscure, and rare comics. See a display of porno “eight pages”. See C.C. Beck’s (Captain Marvel) illustrations for The Hobbit

4.)From what I’ve seen, the LA Con is more like a science fiction convention, in that it doesn’t concentrate only on comics, but covers all sorts of other things of pop culture interest. The LA Comic Con has become the place where announcements about genre movies and TV shows get made, cast panels appear, and trailers and pilot episodes get shown.

5.) As I said, I haven’t been to the LA Comic Con, but if it’s like a SF Con , there are in my experience two types – Fan-Run and Studio-Run. Fan-Run cons are a lot of fun. There’s a lot of participation, a lot of panels that go into all areas, there are demos of martial arts, magic shows, gaming, Live Action gaming, theater, movies, an art show, readings, costume shows/competition,and an active Huckster Culture where you can buy books, artwork, replicas, movies, and unexpected things like buttons, spices, clothing, chain mail, mead, and the like.

6.)I’ve been to one studio-run convention, a Star Trek Con, and it was like the worst of the ideas even sven lists in the OP – crowds, long lines, no panels, no movies (except packaged clips), nothing to buy but studio-approved stuff from a handful of dealers, little in the way of food (overpriced and fatty, natch), no readings, a miserable little costume competition, and a lot of repetitivebess. It was an attempt to funnel fans into a handful of pre-packaged events (Come see person X speak on stage! No touching!), see teasers for immediately upcoming stuff, and buy merchandise. We left early, without even seeing Jimmy Doohan.

A friend goes to cons as an excuse to party in a fun town. He was in Vegas recently and claims he might have been arrested at one point, but because he was there for a ?video game con the cops let him walk away.

You’re better off at a smaller, fan-run con. There’s far more opportunity to meet with others, and even to meet the guests. Something like Lunacon, Boskone, Albacon, Balticon, etc. (on the east coast; there are equivalents on the west coast, but I’m not familiar with them) gives you three days to socialize (there are always plenty of open parties), and a real opportunity to meet and make friends.

Also, the better known the guest is, the less likely you will have a chance to interact with them. Media guests usually just show up for their panels and autographing. Writers hang out with the fans. At Albacon one year we had Larry Niven helping to set up the art show, for instance.

I have not been to ComicCon, but I did attend DragonCon in Atlanta a couple of years ago. It had (IIRC) about 65,000 attendees, which made it the largest occupation army since Sherman burned the place down in 1864 (I made that up).

They had about 30 separate panels/interest areas going full time (0800-2100 IIRC) on all topics, ranging from small room (100 or so seats) to huge auditoriums (such as the ones for the Two Doctor Who’s that attended or Mythbusters). There was a parade and a huge hall devoted to sellers and artists. I had no trouble finding things to do. It was well-organized and pretty laid back, given the size of the groups.

That said, 65,000 people is one Hell of a lot of people, and if you don’t like huge mobs and being cheek to jowl with large numbers of unwashed humanity, then a big con like DragonCon or ComicCon may not be for you.

Depends what you are looking for. If you have a couple of special authors that you’d like to meet/hear from, then look on their websites or facebooks and see where they are plannng to appear (I went to LibertyCon in Chattanooga, TN a couple of weeks ago because David Weber and Eric Flint (two of my favorite SF authors) and Howard Thayer (favorite web-comic writer) were appearing. Attendance was limited to 700 people, so crowds were not a problem.

So what is it you want? If it’s a spectacle with big names and huge crowds, go for it; otherwise, seek out the authors you enjoy and go to smaller, more local cons.

IMHO as always; YMMV.

San Diego Comic-Con has developed to be a very big deal, with presentations from Hollywood studios and television networks on their new movies and programs. There will be opportunities to buy special editions of products like Lego toys or comic books. I get the impression that at this point actual comic books are secondary.

I thought about going, partly to get a sneak preview of movies coming in the next year. And last year I was even able to score tickets. (This is not easy, by the way, as the tickets are very limited and sell out very quickly. Plus you can’t buy a ticket on the secondary market.) But then I was pricing airfare and a hotel room and it looked like a five-day trip would cost me upwards of $2,000. So I didn’t go and ate the cost of the tickets (about $200).

My daughter is off to ConnectiConn (Hartford CT) this weekend. It is a smaller fan-run con and gives her a chance to actually meet other fans and creators of her web comics. She has no interest in getting crowd-trampled at any of the large cons.

I haven’t been to San Diego Comic Con but I did go to New York Comic Con a few times (which is not by the same people but is as big albeit less Hollywood centric). What I found fun the first couple of times was walking the floor, being able to buy hard to find comics, DVDs etc., seeing the Cosplay (there was a dude dressed as a transformer who could literally transform into a car!). The first couple of years I could actually get into panels and those were fun. I got to see Seth Green talk about Robot Chicken, Bruce Tim talk about the DCAU and preview things that wouldn’t be coming out for a year. There are artists and personalities everywhere. My friend was waiting for me while I was in the Restroom and unbeknownst to him struck up a conversation with Eliza Dushku who was also waiting or someone in the rest room. He never watched Buffy etc. and had no idea who she was until I saw her walking away as I came out. In addition to that there are always celebs and artists at booths signing things etc.

It was great fun and glad I went but saw it grow to an unwieldy size. The first couple of times you could move around and take some time on the floor and actually get into Panels. The last time I went the floor was just shoulder to shoulder people pushing and every panel was booked. I would still recommend it if you are a genre fan (or especially a comics fan) and have never been because it’s an experience.

I’m assuming you also don’t see the appeal of going to see your favourite band perform live then?

Don’t the larger conventions have hot chicks running around in skimpy outfits ? I could see the appeal of that.

Speaking to this: yes, exactly. I do NOT try to see favorite bands at big venues.
I feel like this comes down more to: how do you feel about crowds and big events? I have always been a big fan of many “Con” content: Star Trek, Star Wars, comics, pop culture in general. But I can’t handle crowds. Disney and other theme parks make me break out in hives. A huge cruise ship sounds like prison, not a vacation.

A big event like Comic Con sounds like that big event claustrophobia packaged up in geekery vs. rides or music. And that is not my thing.

In general, based on the half-dozen conventions I’ve gone to (3-4 gaming, 2 sci-fi/fantasy/comics), there’s usually some sort of big room filled with booths- vendors mostly, but sometimes more like artists and others providing a PR function- at PAX South (game convention), they often had developers hanging out at the booths with demo games so you could play for a bit and ask questions, while other booths were trying to sell you bedazzled dice bags and stupid stuff like that.

There’s also some schedule of events- panel discussions, demos, screenings of trailers, tournaments, etc…

And running concurrently and throughout all this, there’s the socializing and ancillary stuff- people planning get togethers, and talking about each other’s costumes, or stuff they bought, or whatever, and just generally reveling in the company of a whole bunch of equally excited, like-minded and interested people.

So basically it’s a weekend that’s totally devoted to whatever the convention’s about, attended by people who are also totally about that subject, along with a good dose of people-watching.

We stopped going to San Diego CC a few years ago when it got just too big, but before that we attended for maybe a decade. Lots of fun. The trading floor is whack, but the panels are cool. Great conversations with authors, actors, a chance to get autographs, buy stuff, and generally geek out for a weekend.

Plus, the wife and I were the handsomest, sveltest, best-smelling couple in the room! :wink:

Just a brief note – here outside Boston ReaderCon just started last night.

It’s probably some sort of polar opposite of the San Diego Comic Con – no media announcements or events, no movies, costumes, or art show. Lots of panels and readings, and one pretty decent huckster’s room, selling practically nothing but books. Lotsa SF writers, though.

This is part of it, plus, what actually happens is that 150,000 like minded people all crowd into a 5 or 6 block area of redeveloped downtown San Diego, Lots of night life excitement and beautiful San Diego scenery.

I don’t attend cons, but by happenstance over the years I’ve stayed at a lot of hotels hosting small (1-2K participant) cons aligned around various enthusiasms.

The excerpt above seems to capture most of what most attendees are getting from their con experience. Cons also seem to be a pretty good meat/meet markets for the ultra-nerdly. Pre-internet that would have been especially valuable.

I kind of wish they’d pick up and move San Diego CC to Las Vegas. More people could attend and the hotel rooms and air fares wouldn’t be nearly as expensive. But the convention is a big deal for San Diego so the city has made all sorts of concessions to keep it in town. (And actually, I don’t understand that. Comic-Con is five days over the summer. How much of an economic impact can it have on the city?)