Conventional Counting

Posted on Thursday, June 20, 2024 at 2:53 PM

The other day in this post, I said that this year's Comic-Con International would be the 56th one and therefore my 56th one. It no longer says that in that post because I received a flurry of e-mails from folks who said my count was off.

This prompted me to try to recall how I'd arrived at the number I cited and I realized how: Someone — an acquaintance of mine — told me that number and I just assumed it was correct.  I forgot that I have acquaintances who don't know what the hell they're talking about.

I decided to do some research and my own math and in so doing, I realized why there's a confusion.  Here is my list…

  1. 1970 – Golden State Comic Con – U.S. Grant Hotel
  2. 1971 – Golden State Comic Con – Muir College, U.C.S.D. Campus
  3. 1972 – San Diego's West Coast Comic Convention – El Cortez Hotel
  4. 1973 – San Diego Comic-Con – Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina
  5. 1974 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel
  6. 1975 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel
  7. 1976 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel
  8. 1977 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel
  9. 1978 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel
  10. 1979 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  11. 1980 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  12. 1981 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel
  13. 1982 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  14. 1983 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  15. 1984 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  16. 1985 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  17. 1986 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  18. 1987 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  19. 1988 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  20. 1989 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  21. 1990 – San Diego Comic-Con – Convention and Performing Arts Center
  22. 1991 – San Diego Comic-Con – San Diego Convention Center
  23. 1992 – San Diego Comic-Con – San Diego Convention Center
  24. 1993 – San Diego Comic-Con – San Diego Convention Center
  25. 1994 – San Diego Comic-Con – San Diego Convention Center
  26. 1995 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  27. 1996 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  28. 1997 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  29. 1998 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  30. 1999 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  31. 2000 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  32. 2001 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  33. 2002 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  34. 2003 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  35. 2004 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  36. 2005 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  37. 2006 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  38. 2007 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  39. 2008 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  40. 2009 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  41. 2010 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  42. 2011 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  43. 2012 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  44. 2013 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  45. 2014 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  46. 2015 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  47. 2016 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  48. 2017 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  49. 2018 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  50. 2019 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  51. 2022 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center
  52. 2023 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center

So what's the confusion?  I can explain.  My list does not include the one-day "test" con they held in 1970 before the first "real," multi-day convention, the three-day bonus con they held in November of 1975, the two "at home" cons in 2020 and 2021 or the "back from COVID" event they held in November of 2021. If you want to count any or all of them, you can say there have been 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 or 57 of these gatherings.

Take your pick.  The convention operators ignored the test con and the bonus con when they celebrated the 2019 event as Comic-Con #50 so I didn't count the test con or the bonus con either.  I didn't count the two "at home" ones because we were all "at home" and I didn't count the November 2021 one because it was labeled as a Special Edition.  Unless someone finds fault with the above list, I'm sticking with this year's being #53.