Letters From The Loft

Saturday is traditionally the busiest day of the Comic-Con. Extra personnel are assigned to the convention center, and oxygen is diverted to San Diego from other, less important parts of the planet. Ironically, though, Saturday was the day with the least amount of programs and panels that interested us. The first panel I planned to attend was at 3:00, so I spent most of the day making a thorough sweep of the Exhibition Hall. Both Sam and Ben were with me for much of that time, although Ben peeled off a little early to attend some additional “arty” programs. I spent the time picking up some deals on marked-down books and checking out the areas of the Hall that I hadn’t yet visited on the previous days. Nothing too remarkable happened, other than one incident that illustrates the crowd-control dynamic of the Con.

Sam and I were making our way through an aisle between two large exhibitors: G-4 (a cable channel whose target audience is made up entirely of folks who attend or wish they could attend Comic-Con); and Warner Brothers, the entertainment monolith that produces movies and TV shows and is the parent company of DC Comics. What’s relevant for this particular story is that Warner Brothers produces the TV series Chuck (not to be confused with your humble correspondent). Chuck’s title protagonist is a nerd who is forced to become an espionage action hero with a beautiful blonde government agent as his handler. Not surprisingly, the show has become a fan favorite… if Warners could make the TV spit out free comics, the fantasy would be complete.

Both exhibits were massive, two-level affairs. G-4 used its upper level to broadcast live Con updates and interviews with celebrities; Warners had a corner of their exhibit area set up as a stage where folks could publicly play the Rock Band video game.

Sam and I weren’t interested in either exhibit (we’d seen them on previous days). We were just passing between them on our way to an area known as Artists Alley, located toward the west end of the Exhibition Hall. Here’s a rough diagram that gives you an idea of our relative position and direction:

As we approached the next intersection, we noticed that the crowd in front of us had come to a standstill, blocking the entire intersection. That’s because some cast members from the TV show Lost were being interviewed on the upper level of the G4 exhibit, and the crowd had stopped to star-gaze. It was as if Superman had appeared and was buzzing around the ceiling. So now the situation looked like this…

… with the black glob representing the nigh-impenetrable crowd.