San Diego Comic-Con – a first-timer’s impressions

San Diego – I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to come to San Diego for the Comic-Con. After years of attending smaller conventions at Heritage Hall in Vancouver, I’ve finally made the pilgrimage. These are, after all, My People.

So, first impressions, on the morning of Preview Night (the convention centre opens this evening so early bird four-day passholders can get a peak before the hordes arrive, though from what I hear Preview Night is usually packed):

1. There are a lot of weirdos around.

2. People like to wear their lanyards.

3. The WB employs children. We were sitting next to a table of four WB employees at a restaurant in the Gaslamp district, and three of them looked as though they’d just graduated high school.

4. Capcom pays its employees way too much. A guy next to me at the Hyatt’s front desk this morning wore a Capcom lanyard AND T-shirt and was asking for a room upgrade to one with a kitchenette and Murphy bed.

5. Twilight fans are creepy. They were already lining up outside the convention centre yesterday (Tuesday) for a panel that doesn’t happen until tomorrow (Thursday).

6. Once a year, the geeks take over the city of San Diego, and walk (and subathe) without shame. Someone – not Sophie Monk, but a girl, nonetheless – was reading a Batman graphic novel around the Hyatt pool yesterday. (It wasn’t even The Killing Joke, or some cool Batman graphic novel.)

7. The makers of Arkham City are pushing the new (updated?) Batman video game in a big way. One side of a hotel is covered in a huge ad for the game, which means that the required warning that it might not be good for kids stretches a good 40-foot section of the building.

8. Everyone employed in the area knows about the Comic-Con but apparently wouldn’t be caught dead there themselves.

That’s all for now… I’m sure there will be more entries later, including such scintillating updates as:

Standing in line for a press pass

Meeting up with my Cineplex.com contact

Attending preview night

Waking up with a Hulk-size hangover

Mistaking someone for Kevin Smith