Comic-Con Commentary: Has It All Gotten Too Big?

Brittany Frederick – Associate Staff Writer
brittanyw@thetwocentscorp.com

As late as last week, I was excited to be one of the two reporters that TTC was sending to Comic-Con 2009. Today, after two days (and one preview night) – roughly half the convention – I’m reminded more of the reasons why I haven’t gone to the convention since 2003. It has just spun absolutely out of control.

Rumors are flying that the Comic-Con team is considering moving the convention from San Diego to somewhere larger, like Los Angeles or Las Vegas, that can provide better resources for such a huge event. I can’t say that I blame them. When I arrived at 3:30 on Wednesday, everyone had descended on the San Diego Convention Center so badly that I was able to literally put my car in park for 20 minutes on Harbor Drive. The only parking I could get was several blocks away. I finally just started taking the trolley down, and every trolley was jam-packed with people heading to the convention, no matter what time of day I came or left. When I got to the convention, I had to join a huge mob of people crossing the street, avoid the huge mob of people going the other way, and join the even larger collective inside the Exhibit Hall.

The Exhibit Hall is standing room only. Unless you’re hiding up against a wall, most of the meager seating areas are usually full, and the narrow aisles mean that all you can do is join the constantly moving flow of people heading the way you’re going and try not to be elbowed or trampled by the people coming the other way. There is routinely no space between people, and the ones who like to stop randomly in the middle of the aisles because they’re texting or talking on a phone or just…whatever don’t help. Over two days, I was routinely elbowed, pushed, and at one point knocked completely to the floor. Security walks the floor, but I actually heard it from one security guard near the FOX booth Friday who said “there’ll be bodies on the floor…I don’t care, I just push everyone out of my way.” And that was from someone who works security. I don’t think that’s the best attitude for them to have.

This routinely spills out into the main lobby, where everyone is looking for any space they can get, be it against every wall, on the few benches there are, or even in stairwells and alcoves, which doesn’t help traffic there but is understandable all things considered. I spent a good hour in a stairwell Friday afternoon because there was simply nowhere else for me to sit.

With the sheer size of the crowd, crowd control in the Exhibit Hall is nonexistent. Security people wander the floor, but I rarely saw them doing anything but moving along with the herd. (A few exceptions, which I will touch on in a moment, but they are exceptions, not the rule.) Numerous booths have giveaways and signings, which only clog the narrow aisleways and surrounding areas even further. Thursday, actor Tyrese Gibson’s autograph signing actually sparked the interest of security as it was so out of control it was causing chaos on the floor. I agree wholeheartedly with Dan, whom I met in line for the John Barrowman signing, who suggested booths with signings get moved to a specific area of the floor and given more space to accommodate the subsequent lines.

Not helping matters is the attitudes and practices of the various exhibitors on the floor. Over the last two days, I’ve seen more lack of information and misinformation from multiple parties than I ever have at any other major event in my life. In fact, at one point I was even directly lied to. Allow me to explain some of these highlights:

Thursday, I arrived at 10:30 and immediately went to see the Entertainment Earth booth, where Jennifer Carpenter (“Dexter”) was signing at 12:30. I approached one of the staffers and explained that because of my disability limiting my time that I can stand, and because my press commitments required me upstairs at 2 (the same time her signing ended), it would help me a great deal to know when and where they were starting the signing line so I could get in and out before I ended up in a huge crowd. I was told 12:15. At 12:05, I approached again and asked where the line was starting. I was then told that the line had already wrapped around the booth and all the way around the nearby concession area. In fact, only about maybe ten people behind me, they cut off the line. If I had used the information I was given, I wouldn’t have gotten in at all.

While in line for that signing, I struck up a chat with the girl in front of me, and we happened to start discussing our schedules. I mentioned I was going to the “24” autograph signing. She informed me that FOX was issuing line tickets for that signing – something not mentioned on the CCI website at all, or in any other reported autograph listing I saw. I was able, thankfully, to get in a long line Thursday evening and get a ticket for the signing, which was weird enough (a line for a ticket to get me into another line?). But it would get even better.

Friday morning, while in line for John Barrowman – another mismanaged line, ignoring the queue of people who had been there since 9:30 and letting the front of line start with a guy who just turned up after all of us, including the poor girl in the wheelchair – I met Dan, who happened to also be a “24” fan. He said he was told that FOX was recommending those who wanted to go to the signing not attend the panel, as the signing was only for 45 minutes. I left the Barrowman signing when I was done, and went to confirm this with a FOX rep at the booth. She said that he was correct, and when I asked her when and where the line would be, she told me it would not start until 2:45.

I spent the next four hours killing time waiting for the signing line since I missed the panel to make that line. When I walked over at 2:30 (a full half hour ahead of the time indicated on the line ticket), I just happened to be told by a passerby that they had not only already started, but concluded the line. When I confronted someone staffing the booth, his completely unapologetic response was that they “started the line early because we were being mobbed,” and he seemed unbothered that his colleague had given me misinformation. In other words, I had stood in one long line Thursday, waited four hours Friday and missed a panel for a line that I had zero chance of getting into, while others who just mobbed the booth not only got into the line, they were the entire line. (Neither me nor Dan, that I know of, got anywhere near the line, and he had come down at just after 2 PM.) Needless to say, I was furious.

Now the little voice of common sense in your head might be saying, “But Brittany, if you’re handicapped, don’t they have something for that which can help you?” Oh, no. Before I left for the trip, I expressed my concern about being able to navigate the floor and survive the panel lines to Disabled Services. It took me two emails before they would even answer me, and then I was told that all that could be done for me was they would be able to get a volunteer to stand in a panel line for me, maybe. There is a very limited amount of disabled seating in ballrooms, and with rooms not cleared between panels, can theoretically be held all day by the same people. Their excuse for the lack of support? It wasn’t their job. Neither did anyone else working any of the places I lined up at seem to care about my disability at all. I’m not asking to be bowed to all day, but it would at least be nice for someone to make an effort and provide me with a little help.

Another thing that irks me is the scheduling of panels in ways that make it impossible for people to do everything they want to do. I attended the press rooms for “Burn Notice” and “Psych” on Thursday, which were inexplicably scheduled opposite the panels – meaning that if you were press, it was impossible for you to attend either show’s panel becaue you were in the press room for the opposite show. Which genius at FOX scheduled things so fans who wanted an autograph wouldn’t be able to go (in fact, were actively encouraged not to go) to the panel showcasing the upcoming season?

This is before you factor in the fact that there are so many people, you may have to block out hours of your day just to stand in a line for a panel or event hoping you get in. I called a friend of mine at 11:30 to find out she was in line for a panel which didn’t start till 2:30; a couple I met were camping out at 1 AM for the Lost panel at 11 AM. (Which raises the question of how much time does one really want to devote to a TV show, but I digress.) There are just too many people, and it doesn’t help that the people who are helping to put on this great big circus, whether it’s CCI staff or exhibitors, really don’t seem to care about what it’s grown into. I don’t know if they’re ignorant, or it’s just turned into something even they can’t control.

For all that, though, I will say that there are some people out there who are very sweet and very good at what they do. I want to take some space to thank all the fellow convention-goers that I met over the last two days in lines or at tables over lunch, who were social people, friendly and helpful, and more informative than anyone who actually worked there. (You all know who you are, and if you’re reading this, comment or drop me an e-mail. I’d love to hear from you. In fact, Dan was actually nice enough to take pictures of me with John…now if I could ever find him again. We were supposed to meet in the “24” signing line. Oops.)

I’d like to say a special shout-out to the people at the BBC America booth, namely – and I never got her name – the girl that I spoke to on Wednesday and Thursday. Not only was she willing to do whatever she could to connect me with BBC America’s publicist, she also chatted with me for a long time understanding my concerns and frustrations, and was willing to look up schedules and help me sort out how best to get to the Torchwood panel and get a seat without getting myself killed in the process. She did everything she could to help me, and I hope she gets rewarded for that.

Also worthy of mention: the eagle-eyed security guy working the line at the Jennifer Carpenter signing, who not only noticed the woman who cut in front of me but promptly kicked her out of line; Robyn, Brian and the gang at Underground Toys (I love you all) for putting up with me more than they needed to; Lynn Weiss at USA for understanding that I was a fan as well as a reporter, and Susan Kesser at Warner Bros for also understanding there’s only so much a girl can take after three days! All these people were professionals who were friendly, easy to reach and deal with, and treated me like a human being. I only wish they were in the majority.

I’m not going to dispute that Comic-Con is a great event; there are chances here to do things people might never get to do. For me, I got to meet John Barrowman, who is one of my heroes (albeit for like thirty seconds), which I don’t think will ever happen again. But there are just too many people at the event, and I’m sure that makes it harder to manage; it also doesn’t help when those we look to really don’t seem to care, which I’m sure is tempered by the fact that they see thousands of people in a day and it all must overwhelm them. I think it’s time to move the con to someplace bigger, or at least, find a way to put everyone on the same page and find a way to manage the crowd, even if it means making it smaller. I know I won’t be too heartbroken if that means I don’t get to go, not after getting an elbow to the stomach Thursday and getting mislead on Friday.

What do you think? What suggestions do you have for making Comic-Con more manageable and friendly? I’m curious to hear. Sound off below.