Let’s get this out of the way. To anyone who has never attended San Diego Comic Con, no one calls it “San Diego Comic Con”. For people who attend, it’s just “Comic Con”. The first, biggest, and the best festival for pop culture and visual arts in the universe, it will always be simply Comic Con.
2013 marks my fifth Comic Con, and each one is a unique experience. It’s not just that the panels, vendors, and booths are different year-to-year. That’s part of it. But, as the long weekend plays out, each Con develops its own storyline. Thinking of it like a movie, each year isn’t a remake or a sequel, it’s a reimagining of the Con. And, it’s so big that everyone’s story is one-of-a-kind. There are people who could read my upcoming accounts and think to themselves, “it’s like this guy was at a totally different convention”. And that’s true – each of us who attended does have our own, personal Con.
And to any of you who attended, please reply with links or comments on your own Con experience. I’ll be searching out other stories of SDCC to capture the mosaic that is 2013.
Going into the Wednesday, I had bold and optimistic plans of live blogging parts of the Con. A variety of factors prevented me from doing so. First off, let’s be honest, for a Casual Comics Guy who’s just getting back into this, that scheme was a bit #lofty. I still don’t have a 4G phone and for much of the convention days, I couldn’t even send or receive text messages because of bad reception in the halls and an overcrowded digital network. Wifi reception was spotty to say the least, and phone batteries ran down quickly when searching for active hotspots.
With that said, it’s time to move on to the fun stuff. Over the next several days, you’re going to start seeing posts coming fast and furious about SDCC 2013. Of course for me, at this time, fast and furious might mean two updates a day. Please subscribe so that you’ll get notified when updates are posted. That way, I can stop bugging everyone on Facebook when I post something. My wife will thank you.
As I said, each year’s Con has a different story. My SDCC story this year is one of unexpected delights. Over the next week, you’ll hear the story. Along the course of the weekend, I came up with the maxim “You don’t always get the Con you want, but you usually get the Con you deserve”.
One thing… as I’m writing this right now, I’m on a plane to Dallas, hoping to get back to Omaha at a reasonable hour. I missed my flight this morning. So, that means for now even I don’t know how this Con story is going to end. Based on the long weekend, though, I’m sure I’m going to get the Con I deserve. For better or worse. You and I will find out together very soon.
You will start seeing a day-by-day recap. There will also be a ton of fun photos; I promise. I’ve got over 150 on my camera right now. I’m sure not all of them are in focus and some are duplicates, but there are plenty to share. Plus, I’ll be linking to pictures of things that I saw that others took pictures of as they put them up on their sites.
Regarding the daily recaps, I’ll tell you the same thing I told my wife when we got engaged. I can’t promise you it will always be fun, but I can promise you it will be an adventure.
I’ll leave you with some common themes and topics I’ll be discussing in both the daily recaps, as well as standalone posts:
The people – Between the attendees, the vendors, the volunteers, and the staff, Comic Con genuinely has the happiest, most accepting, friendliest, and most helpful human beings in the world. If you’re reading this because we met at Comic Con, THANK YOU! Ain’t no people like Comic Con people.
The joy – Because of the people, but somehow also separate from the people is this overwhelming joy. Even when you run into a rude person or a bad situation, it’s not possible to stay mad.
The surprises – There were a lot of panels and places I just “ended up”. Things I didn’t set out to see or do that really caught me off-guard. There are things I knew that I would love that totally exceeded my expectations (Spoiler Alert: It was the World’s End panel. #lofty). There were also unexpected bundles of happiness dropped in my lap from nowhere. I have so many new web sites, authors, and comics to follow-up on that it will take me straight into 2014.
I’m going to end with a couple of shout-outs and then say a little prayer that I make it home to Omaha at a reasonable hour.
A few people that I knew were going to be tremendous people to hang with at this Con: Anthony Fankhauser, the semi-reliable roommate. Justin and Michelle (check out Justin’s blog here) lifelong Con buddies. The Con would not have been the same without the magic, guys.
A few people that I had never met before this Con, but that I am positive I will see again: Maria, my morning line BFF and coffee pal. If you’re reading this, Maria, I’ll never forget the sugar again. Marty and Jeremy the coolest Doctors at the Con, and the ones who traveled the farthest (Australia and Ireland, respectively. Mary, my “mom at the Con”. You are tremendous people. Thanks for the great times.
The artists. So many talented people: Tess Fowler, Chris Guttierez, Mike Sanchez, Sara Richard, Russel Walks. You’ll be seeing links to their art in the coming days. Visit their pages. If you see something you like, buy it. Some of them have active Kickstarters, so I’ll be listing them first. These people are ultra-talented and we need to support them with both our words and our dollars so that they can keep creating.
Thanks for reading and stick with me. I can’t promise it’ll always be fun, but it will be an adventure.
COMIC CON PEOPLE ARE THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD! PEACE, OUT SAN DIEGO!
*drops the mic* BOOM!
– CCG
Casual Comics Guy 
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