That's right: It's 287 days until Comic-Con International convenes in San Diego. Time to start planning for it again. I haven't even bought what I won't be giving out this Halloween to trick-or-treaters because none of them ever show up at my house but here we are in early October, looking ahead to the Brigadoon of my life, Comic-Con International. This will be a very special Comic-Con because it's #50. It'll be the fiftieth they've had down there and the fiftieth I've attended.
And yes, I still enjoy them very much — last year, maybe more than ever. There was a brief period in their history when I felt the fun diminishing and I started thinking of skipping every other year or just going for a day…but that mindset reversed itself before I missed a year. At some point in the next 286 days, I'll write a blog post explaining about my brief disenchantment. For now, I'll just tell you it had everything to do with me and nothing to do with the convention itself. Once I performed an Attitude Adjustment on myself, the joy came roaring back, bigger than ever.
So now some of you need to begin thinking about next year's because Returning Registration happens on Saturday, October 13. This is for folks who were there for the 2018 con (the one you haven't unpacked from yet) and who were general attendees — not professionals, not volunteers, not press, etc. On 10/13, you have a chance to become a general attendee in 2019. Read all about it here. Later on, those of you who weren't there this past year will get your shot.
By the way: The 2019 Comic-Con International runs July 18-21 with a Preview Night on July 17. I do not know why there's a Preview Night and they don't just say the thing opens at 6 PM on the 17th but there's probably a very good reason for that.
I smiled when I saw on the convention website what I suppose is the first of several logos they'll be using for the 50th con. The one above is a slight modification of one that was designed by my old pal and collaborator, John Pound — a popular cartoonist who was involved in the early days of the convention. Somewhere in my house, I'm pretty sure I have my 1980 badge with that logo. The con went through several names before becoming Comic-Con International. To this day, a lot of people still refer to it that way or as S.D.C.C.
If you can't wait 287 days, by the way, the same skilled-at-convention-staging folks put on WonderCon in Anaheim and in 2019, it'll run March 29-31 with no Preview Night. It's not as big as the San Diego affair but it's more than big enough to keep you busy for three days…and tickets will be easier to procure whenever they go on sale. I don't yet know when that will be so keep an eye on this page. Last year, they began hawking them just before Thanksgiving.