Letters From The Loft
Stuff From The Desk Of Chuck Thornton
DAY ZERO - PAGE 3
The first thing you have to do upon arriving at Comic-Con is check in and get your badge and your bag that contains the program book and the souvenir book. The program book has a listing of all the events and exhibitors, as well as maps, shuttle schedules, and other tips for navigating inside the can of condensed fandom.
We were more interested in the souvenir book, which is a collection of articles and art commemorating that year's Con. Each year, the souvenir book focuses on multiple comics-related themes and anniversaries, and the Con asks for celebratory articles and art to be submitted. This year, one of the themes was the 75th anniversary of DC Comics (the publishers of Superman, Batman, et. al.). Ben had submitted three pieces of art, all of which I've shamelessly plugged previously in the Gallery (specifically pinups of Superman, Plastic Man, and a DC 75th Anniversary poster). A few weeks back, someone from the Con emailed Ben to advise him that each souvenir book contributor was limited to only one published piece, and asked which of the three Ben wanted considered. Rather than subject himself to Sophie's Choice, Ben said they could pick.
He never received word if any of his stuff had been used, so of course the first thing Sam and I did after registering was rifle through the souvenir book. We found Ben's picture of Superman stopping a train and immortalized the moment with a picture...
We were also delighted to discover that they also used his DC 75th anniversary piece, but decided that immortalizing two moments that included Sam in the picture might be overdoing it, and a bit risky, since I resembled a kidnapper taking a picture of my hostage as he holds that morning's paper to prove he's still breathing.
As I mentioned, when you register, you're given a bag that contains souvenir and programming books, along with some other promotional materials from various publishers. In the past, that bag has been something similar in size and design to a supermarket plastic bag, but made out of sturdier plastic. Once you hit the exhibition hall, many vendors offered bigger tote bags as promotional giveaways. In the past couple of years, the most popular of these Con bags was the one issued by Warner Brothers: a giant pouch made of some sort of woven plastic fibers that simulated canvas:
As you can see, this bag is large enough to stash lots of merchandise and a couple of toddlers, if you want to leave the stroller at home. The distribution of these bags were at the start of each day from the huge, double-decker Warner Brothers booth in the exhibition hall, and always resulted in a mob scene reminiscent of a run on the bank during the Depression, with Warner Brothers staffers literally throwing bags into a sea of outstretched arms.
This year, presumably to cut down on the number of staffer casualties, Warners went the extra mile and provided these bags as the official Comic-Con bag issued to all attendees at the time of registration. Although the above picture shows the side of the bag promoting the Con, the opposite side features one of eleven Warner Brothers TV or film properties. With thousands of these things being distributed to folks who were also strolling the streets of downtown San Diego, the city looked like it had abandoned all billboard ordinances and elected Sam Warner as mayor. It was a pleasant surprise to get this bag upon entry, and also a bit of a relief, since we wouldn't have to go through the effort of trying to score one once we got into the exhibition hall...
...which opened not too long after we finished registering. As I've mentioned in previous journals, there's really no advantage to visiting the exhibition hall on preview night. It's not any less crowded than any other day. Even though the full population of the Con hasn't yet arrived, the ones who are there have no place else to go except the exhibition room, which quickly transforms into something resembling a kicked-over anthill. Sam and I use the occasion the get a feel for what the bigger exhibitors are doing, and to grab whatever giveaways they might be distributing. Frequently, we'd discover that the crowd we were stuck in was actually a line of people waiting to get something, so we'd inadvertently kill two birds with one stone (or, as it's expressed at the Con, roll a Kryptonite boulder over Lois and Clark).