Two Weeks!

Photo by Bruce Guthrie

Two weeks from tonight is Preview Night at the 2018 Comic-Con International in San Diego. This will be the 49th convention there and by an incredible coincidence, it will also be the 49th one I have attended.

If you're attending, I suggest that in the next two weeks, you take some time to study the convention website and especially the Programming Guide which will be posted over the next few days. Tomorrow, they will put up the schedule for Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, they will post the schedule for Friday. On Saturday, etc. If you have any interest, make a list of the events you want to attend and also make up a list of second and third choices in case you can't get into something. Read this about how the meeting rooms work.

It would also be a good idea to study the map of the main exhibit hall. Get a sense of where the exhibitors that interest you are located. More important for your health and sanity, get a sense of where the videogame companies are located and stay the hell away from that area!!! You will not be able to hear again for years to come and you will not be able to find your way out until the next Comic-Con or maybe the one after. Someone should design a videogame in which you, the player, embarks on the most deadly adventure imaginable: Getting through the videogame section at Comic-Con.

If you do not have passes to the convention, a place to stay or a mode of transportation, I don't know what to tell you except don't write or phone me. I can be of no help to you.

And yes, it will be crowded. You don't have to tell me that like neither of us expected that such a thing was possible. If crowds make you uncomfortable, do yourself a favor by not attending. There are plenty of places you can go and not be surrounded by others…like Toys 'R Us outlets, meetings of the Bill Cosby Fan Club and screenings of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Many tips and nuggets of good advice can be found on the official Comic-Con website and also on the SDCC Unofficial Blog. And I'll post a few more here over the next two weeks. That's in-between packing.