I spent the morning at Comic-Con, which was even more insane than yesterday... something I would have never thought possible. The crowds were just obscene. Fortunately, I was concentrating on visiting original comic art vendors today, which was probably the least offensive (crowd-wise) of the entire show floor.

If only I had several thousand dollars burning a hole in my pocket, I could have actually afforded to buy something!

Yesterday I focused on all the positive and wonderful things about Comic-Con, this time I wanted to list some of my gripes about Comic-Con. For those who don't care about the show and are sick of reading about it, I've put it all in an extended entry.

But even better than drooling over amazing works of art all morning was attending Dave Diego this evening! Fun times were had by all, and it was great to finally meet some new faces behind the names from blogs I enjoy...

It was mother-daughter day, starting with Juli and SJ...

And Motley and Winter...

I was thrilled that Amandarin and Adam were able to make it, because she is here to actually work at Comic-Con...

At first Vahid was immune to Hilly's considerable charms...

But there's only so long you can hold out against Hilly, and Vahid was soon smitten...

Which was a good thing, because Hilly required assisted in getting decked out in Blogography Flair...

Cutest couple of the evening award went to Jester and Uncle Monkey Boy...

Also finally got to meet Othurme, along with new Jester Friends Daniel, Richard, and Paul...

Karl and Bret were also there... but they always seemed to be making out (TequilaCon-Speak for "out having a smoke") on those rare occasions I had my camera out, so I had to steal this photo from SJ...

After drinks, dinner, talk, and drinks, we called it a night so disrespectable people could get home at a respectable hour. We're classy like that.

Tomorrow I'm going to take in the last hours of Comic-Con 2008 and see if I can meet up with some friends while I'm in town. Not a bad way to spend a Bullet Sunday.

And now for Things That Need Fixing for Comic-Con 2009...

SECURITY!

Why is it when so many ordinary people get a little taste of power, they become complete and total assholes?

Most of the security at Comic-Con was kind and helpful (though not especially competent, which is probably not their fault, but their organizers). Yet every once in a while... one of them needed to die. My favorite moment was when I was looking at some merchandise on a studio table when some fucking "security" bitch comes up to me and says "THIS IS WHAT I NEED YOU TO DO. I NEED YOU TO STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING. I NEED YOU TO MOVE AROUND THIS TABLE. I NEED FOR YOU TO NOT BLOCK THIS AREA. AND I NEED YOU TO DO THIS QUICKLY!!!" Being talked down to like a 2-year-old did not sit well with me, so I said: "And what I need for YOU to do is leave me alone while I am shopping here... I am not blocking anything." At which point she told me that "you will be" because we're forming a line here. When I remarked that she should form her line somewhere else because this was an area for people to shop, she made a not-so veiled threat that implied I would be "removed" from the convention if I didn't do what she said.

At this point, I nearly told her to go fuck herself, thinking that getting "removed" from Comic-Con would make an awesome blog entry, but a cooler head prevailed.

And I am now really, really regretting that.

Little piece of shit dumbasses with a superiority complex need to be reminded that they are, in fact, employed for the benefit of the attendees, and not a power trip. If I were to be "removed" from the convention, you can bet your ass that I would most definitely have taken that shit up with Comic-Con, and then that bitch would have had some explaining to do. Not that I think it would make any difference, but I would have my day in court to rail against the fascist regime that is "Elite Security," and that's what is most important to me.

OVERSELLING!

I've said it before... I'll say it again. This convention is drastically... drastically oversold. Oversold to the point of being dangerous. You can barely move on the convention floor and, if an emergency were to break out, there is no way in hell you could get everybody evacuated. I have been to many, many conventions and this is positively the worst overcrowding I've ever seen. And the fact that the security there readily blocks major lanes of traffic for "lines" or some other bullshit just makes it so much worse.

SESSIONS!

Combining my loathing of both the overselling and the security, getting to see any of the sessions was a mess. Lines are a mile long and so badly managed by security that it was almost comical. Many lines blocked fire exits. The lines that didn't break fire exits and were split had people getting in line at the split instead of going to the back. Because the lines were so long, you run the risk of not getting in, even after wasting time standing in line for hours because they don't clear the rooms after each event!!. It's a huge clusterfuck that wasted everybody's time. When Comic-Con releases this amazing schedule of events, it is truly misleading. Because of the poorly managed lines and overcrowding, you can't just jump from one session to the next unless they aren't very popular or you plant yourself in a room all day long. The only popular session I got to see (Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, and Nathan Fillion) I got into because I accidentally went in the handicapped entrance with a group, and nobody at security cared. That's wrong. When I realized that the "real" line was around the corner and probably went on for miles, I stayed even though I felt bad about my mistake and probably should have left. Something really needs to be done to fix this. I hate to say it... but they should sell seats in advance. Seriously. I would gladly pay $5 (or even $10) to attend a session I really want to see than waste half my fucking day standing in a poorly-managed line. At the very least, they should clear the rooms after each event to give people standing in line a chance to get into the next event. Anything less is really unfair.

INVENTORY

If you run out of stock on your shit on the very first day of the convention, you FAIL! I find it absurd that big companies fail to take into account that 125,000 people are attending this show and bring only a few hundred units of merchandise they know people are going to want. FAIL!

ASSHOLES

And, of course, where there are people, there are assholes. Assholes with baby strollers who use them as battering rams to force their way through the crowd... not caring that it hurts people and traumatizes their kid. Assholes who stop IN THE MIDDLE OF AN AISLE to talk on their phone or text... not caring that they are blocking traffic and wasting people's time. Assholes who cut into line... not caring that people playing fair have been waiting. Assholes who just want to be assholes... not caring that their actions make everybody else's life miserable.

CONCLUSION

Yes, Comic-Con has serious, serious problems. Any one of which has me thinking that I would not want to go again. But then you look at the great people I got to meet and things I got to see and do... and all the other things that made it more better than more worse an experience.... and I just don't know. Probably?