Even though I spent a lot of time working (on scripts) at the show, I did venture out into the throng a few times, and a good time was had by all. The Heroes carnival, which happened to be directly across the street from my hotel, was fun and almost always jammed with kids (and parents)... it felt like a small measure of "innocence" in an otherwise sexed up media world.
Since all days of the show were sold out long in advance, there really weren't any "better" or "worse" times to browse... though I will say 9:00AM Friday was amazing. The halls were virtually empty that early and I was able to see a few of the monster booths sans the massive crush.
However, I was turned away from the Sunday Smallville panel because it had filled up immediately and I couldn't locate any (ahem) bigshots to sneak me in. Even the "but I worked on the first three seasons" card didn't work. How soon they forget... oh well. In an amusing coincidence, I was going out to dinner with friends when I got a message from my pal Kelly Souders at Sville inviting me to dinner with their cast and crew. As it turns out, my dinner and theirs were at the same restaurant (!) so two birds and all that...
As usual there have been some postmortem evaluations moaning about the crowds, deriding the "geeks" and all the rest. I guess people have to write about something, but if you don't like that, why go? It's not like any of the news that erupts from the convention doesn't make it on-line instantaneously anyway. And it's not like you haven't been warned that the show is crowded.
The Heroes panel was well attended and the roars from the crowd much appreciated. I've just resumed my part-time consulting duties (the rest of the staff is well into the season) and as usual I am impressed by what's come before and hope to help out with what's coming after...
Ultimately, my only complaints about Comicon this year are that the hotel was pretty darn expensive, and the traffic getting out of town Sunday night was insane. But I knew all THAT going in too, so what the hey...
