Long time no talk CHU! I’ve been chomping at the bit to hit up a con since November 2019. San Diego Comic Con Special Edition took place over the Thanksgiving weekend. Wasn’t sure what it was going to feel like, but once I was inside that specific exhibit hall with all the old SDCC signage it was like no time had passed. Many exhibitors I spoke with viewed this con the same way I did – dipping our toes back in the water before the big show comes back in July.
While it was fantastic being back, it was noticeably different from previous Comic-Cons which was to be expected. Attendees were all wearing wristbands to confirm vaccination or negative tests plus wearing masks. Some exhibitors were not always wearing masks but I didn’t mind as I’m hard of hearing especially with that much background noise. There were many other things at this SDCC that you don’t normally see like offsites with no waits:
People lounging in the middle of the exhibit floor:
This much space literally anywhere in the convention center:
Something I haven’t seen other Cons do, only offer a 3 day pass for $150. No single days. CCI stated the goal was to keep it a smaller regional show, but this approach seemed to throttle attendance based on online comments. Especially with Black Friday traditions, I think there were many who only wanted a Saturday pass. Not to say it was too small, I think it was around 50K people so decent compared to local shows but much smaller than the normal SDCC. Of course the timing made for light presence from Hollywood and the big three publishers but that was the only weekend they could get sufficient days to rent the convention center.
There were still some great exclusives there, we had Funko, BAIT, Upper Deck, Bandai, Pacman, and Figpin. All of these booths had constant lines and some hot exclusives.
Upper Deck brought a Marvel Studios 15 card pack of the Marvel Shows. This line was brutal, it was very slow and almost always capped until the daily allotment was sold out. I think the hype is because it’s unclear if these are an ‘early release’ thing or if this is all we will ever get of these Marvel shows. If it’s the latter then it might be a good long term hold as you can find deals on ebay while they are cooling off.
Of course Funko and the Funko products at the BAIT booth were on fire. The Funko booth gets constant crowds even if those people didn’t win the morning lottery to get in the booth. I actually joined a standby line and was lucky enough to get approached by a Funko employee to audition for an upcoming Pop Quiz show they are producing. Not sure if I will get called because I bombed 3 of 5 questions and have no personality, but it was a great experience! This is the pure magic of SDCC, all the unplanned stuff creates the best memories.
Bandai’s presence was enormous, they really took advantage of Hasbro and Mattel not being there. They had a massive footprint to show off multiple lines of their figures. The crazy hype was over the Gundam Base, it’s the first one ever in the US. The line to get in was steady but would get shorter in late afternoon. I don’t know much about these Gunpla models but people were so excited to get in that it gave me FOMO and I had to see it. It blew me away and I had to buy some models to try.
Oh the nostalgia! Bandai also had a Pacman museum selling various exclusives plus letting people play several Pacman games. Ongoing lines to play the games and overall was a highlight booth at the con.
No shortage of comics vendors, both SDCC veterans and new. I met the folks at Major Payne comics for the first time. I was pretty impressed with their prices, they brought many slabs to the show. I picked up Something is Killing the Children 11 because I love this Jenny Frison variant, not bad at $65. El Rey Comics was selling mystery boxes at a very impressive $30 and some chances to win some high value Signature Series slabs. Couldn’t pass this up, mystery boxes are usually overpriced and I was very happy with the contents.
One of my faves, Carla Wyzgala, was there. She’s been crushing it during the pandemic by creating her own comics for her Skull Masquerade creation. My 3rd SDCC in a row getting a commission from her!
Ran into Steven Peros who is the Writer of SHI and Stoker & Well among many other things including films and TV shows. Tucci’s SHI has made a big comeback in the last few years. Stoker & Wells: Order of the Golden Dawn is in early development, and was previously one of CHU’s Graphic Novel Picks of the Week. Highly recommend checking this one out!
Came across Ghezal Omar’s table in the Small Press section, picked up her hardcover for .357 Magnum Opus. I was really digging Minchen Shen’s video game inspired artwork in the interior and gotta respect a bold cover choice. The story delivers too, could easily see this being a gritty series for Netflix or Amazon Prime. Look forward to seeing her future work.
As I expected, NFTs were starting to make a presence. Crypto and blockchain smart contracts are not going anywhere, and with so many NFTs being art based it just makes sense to see these start popping up at Cons. Echo Labs had a booth where they were selling print artwork along with the NFT version. There were 2 NFT related panels: one was on the basics of NFT and one was focused on the Metaverse.
I attended the packed Metaverse panel hosted by Future Tech Live (FTL), a company that focuses on educating people on technology and doing future drops of NFTs. The panel covered several of the upcoming utilities for gaming and art. It will be a new frontier of gaming and storytelling living on the blockchain allowing people various ways to interact and build on their fandoms. There were also reps from companies like Blockchains Inc. who are working on solving some of the technology issues like transitioning assets from one world to another (e.g. you want to use your Fortnite skin in Minecraft). Heavy stuff to wrap your mind around at a Con but going to keep educating myself.
I was wondering if Cosplay was going to be at the level it used to be, and it sure was. Not only was I impressed with the quality as usual, I think the Cosplayers did a great job of incorporating the mask into the costumes. Great place to play Squid Game or Lady Dimitrescu Bingo! Check out the gallery.
While I had a great time and felt like it was a busy 3 days, I did see some comments online regarding disappointment on the amount of studio presence and things to do. Regarding Hollywood I think we got what was advertised. CCI made it clear this would be a smaller show and studios probably can’t do much traveling over the holiday weekend. John Cena did a surprise appearance at the Masquerade Ball and the offsite for Peacemaker, but anyone who was expecting the experience of the July show or even Wondercon was probably disappointed. I was really happy the show happened and didn’t get canceled. I’m grateful to relive the nostalgia of walking into that convention center and seeing many familiar faces. Hope to get on a more regular schedule in 2022 and it really helped having a warm up, my legs decidedly felt 2.5 years older!
Hope all the CHU readers are doing well out there and take care of yourselves!