Preview Night

There should be an iPhone app, Where Are You at Comic-Con?


That was the first thing I heard after we received our
badges for the Con. A two minute wait for the badge, two and a half hours for
the wait to get into the Exhibit Halls for the Preview Night that was available
for Four Day Members and three hours of stunning art work and more waiting in
line and the random Playboy model.

The sight of thousands of people from all over the world was
very humbling. With the prices that comics can go for now, $3-$5 depending on
the series or event, you could sometimes wonder if it’s worth it. Seeing how
this “hobby” or lifestyle, whatever you want to call it, affects so many people
was something else. Fathers watch over their sons as they read #0 of the
Blackest Night, “Daddy, what happened to Batman’s parents?” This is a legacy to
pass on to generations.

The one of the main attractions to Preview Night was the
Graffiti Designs booth; there for each day of the Con, people could buy an
exclusive collectible of Green Lantern Hal Jordan as a green, yellow, red,
orange and blue lantern.

The catch? Tonight the Green Hal Jordan was limited to 3000 collectibles,
each person was limited to two and when we arrived after waiting in line for
two hours, our plan of getting the collectible first was derailed. The line
wrapped around twice, the tiny booth had the line capped off and people were
asked to return in 45 minutes.


I returned an hour later to try to get in the line for the collectible, people were pushing, and
others were courteous.. A man in the line waiting to get into the buying line
noticed hands waving frantically in the air. The overwhelmed exhibitors of
Graffiti Designs were handing out green tickets, a ticket guaranteeing one to
two collectibles. For the rest of the four days of Comic-Con, this booth will
hand out tickets for the remaining colors; I suppose they just figured it was
smart to start handing tickets out tonight.


I stand tall at 5’4”, a couple of people in front of me,
very tall gentlemen pushed and I teetered back, I’m not very graceful I would
have fallen over, goodie bags and all if it weren’t for a very nice man that
held me up. We both made it to the table where workers were handing out tickets;
the girl in front of us put her roll of tickets away and left. My friend asked
if we could just buy now, another worker and handed us tickets. My friend and I
both bought two collectibles each. I don’t know who that man was, but I’d like
to thank him again for holding me up in line and making sure we both received
tickets. The kinship of comic fans was well alive.



Here’s to getting a good night sleep and braving the crowds
tomorrow.