For the last few days, I've been hauling out one of my annual jokes, telling friends I'm arranging for the Comic-Con to be postponed a couple weeks. Not everyone laughs but absolutely everyone says something like, "Oh, if only you could." Everyone I know who's going has so much to do before then and no idea how they're going to get it all done. And of course, if I could get the folks who run Comic-Con to delay it for two weeks, then 14 days from now, friends would be calling to ask, "Any chance of two more weeks?"
We'll get there. Most of us do…and there's a certain sense of achievement you feel when you're checked into your hotel or walking into the convention center: I'm here. I made it. Remember that feeling and measure it against the one you'll have when it's time to go: So soon? But it just started.
As I've told three different reporters in the last two days, I attended my first Comic-Con in San Diego in August of 1970. It was the first convention there if you don't count a little "warm-up" one-day affair they had earlier that year. There were maybe 300 people there and the big guest was Jack Kirby. I still remember what a grand, exciting time everyone had. That kind of time is still being had by attendees, only more of them.
I don't recall if I've mentioned it this year but here's a tip I often offer: Go outside. Don't spend all four days in that convention hall subjecting yourself to that noise level and that pace and that air-conditioning. There's a lovely marina out back, especially accessible from the second level. Go out there once or twice a day. Inhale. Exhale. Watch some ships for a little while. It makes the energy of the convention much easier to accept…plus, they have air out there that's never been breathed by a guy dressed as Darth Vader.
I don't have a lot more wisdom to impart that isn't on my list of convention tips…or better still, on Tom Spurgeon's. If I think of something, I'll get back to you.