So my participation in the issue of Comics Buyer's Guide that's
going out the door any minute is over, proofreading is done, captions for the San
Diego photo pages are written, and I can go back to trying to head off the cold that's
lurking in a slightly sore throat and stuffed-up head. I've taken all my massive ordinary
vitamins and sprinkling many Vitamin C tablets on top -- and things aren't too bad.
But I hope all and sundry will forgive the many lapses here.
Stream of consciousness, then:
! Surely you can tell that SuperPhone, while capable of blogging
here, is not fast to use, what with typing with my thumbs and being slow to post.
And, in the midst of things, I'd sometimes have to cut off the post in order to accommodate
other activities. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
! I have hours of convention video -- which will be trimmed back
to minutes of what I think are the most interesting moments. For example, there's
a Darwyn Cooke press conference I think you'll find informative, a Frank Miller keynote
speech you may find incendiary, and a magic trick that will show you the sort of thing
you miss, if you bypass the Eisner Awards every year.
! Speaking of bypassing, at least one person who's featured in the
CBGXtras videos wasn't even aware we have videos. We have videos. Take a look. The
link is on our home page. Gee whiz.
! I was sorry, in the midst of pre-con furor, not to let blogreaders
know about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a pioneering project by Joss Whedon
that will be of special interest to comics fans -- featuring, as it does, The Evil
League of Evildoers. Just before the con, it was released in three acts, doled out
a day at a time, free at www.drhorrible.com.
However, it quickly morphed into a pay-per-view iTunes event at that site. But today,
Joyce Greenholdt pointed out that, at www.doctorhorrible.net,
it's available for free viewing again. (Note: Judging from my attempts to watch it
there twice, I think it has set up cookies so that your computer can only play it
once. I used another computer to hook a friend into viewing it, but if you have access
to only one Internet hook-up, you should probably plan to set aside three-quarters
of an hour to view the whole thing in one enjoyable shot.) Word on that second site
is that the DVD (complete with sung commentary) should be out for holiday
buying at the end of 2008. It's hard to wait.
! Biggest problem of the convention for me was not the crowds. I'm
used to those -- and it doesn't take a prohibitively long time to figure out that
the fastest way to go from one end of the 12-acre exhibit floor to the other is via
the lobby that extends the length of the building. The biggest problem was the lines.
I've always felt that waiting in a line is one of the biggest drains on human activity,
whether you're waiting for gasoline, bread, or a celebrity autograph. There were con
attendees who stood in line for four hours and still didn't get
in to see a specific panel -- and that's flat-out nuts, benefitting no one. (And,
by the way, that's pulling potential purchasers away from expensive exhibitor booths
with nothing to show for it.) It shouldn't be impossible to compute: X seats in a
hall, X number of people get in, Y number of people don't have a chance. But few counted
lines -- and there were even many instances (thanks to crowd control that
required entrance halls separate from exit halls) in which potential attendees
approached room doors only to find the room closed and were then unable to walk the
20 feet back to where they'd come into the hall. Sucked in like lobsters in a lobster
trap, they could only walk the entire length of the hall, through a continuing corridor,
and then back the entire length of the parallel exit hall. Would it have really been
so much of a challenge to post a sign at the entrance of the hall to advise,
"Room 6 is full for the 1:30 p.m. program item"?
! Bob Chapman at the Graphitti booth (books, action figures, T-shirts)
seemed to be bowled over by his sales; Preview Night did better for him all by itself
than the previous two cons at which he'd exhibited this year. Sales of the Alex Ross
design "Obama: Time for a Change" shirt were apparently at about the 1,000 level for
the convention as a whole.
! For the first time, I attended (and shot some video) of one of
the convention's "Talk Back" sessions. It's a panel in which convention organizers
field questions and complaints about the event. It was a fascinating demonstration
that (a) there are many considerations that go into every con decision and that (b)
few, if any, decisions are made lightly. You'll see, soon's I can get the material
transferred to DVD and posted.
! I remember a time when pros and exhibitors used to ask where the
women and young fans were at comics conventions. No one asked at this show. It's a
family event, and the women are as well-informed as the men.
! "We've won!" and "The Geeks are 'in'!" were comments expressed
by many attendees.
More later. Time to take more Vitamin C.
