Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic and welcome to "What Is" Wednesday.
In this video, we’re going to cover the basics of Comic-Con and some various sub conventions
that are often closely associated with that brand.
Comic-Con with a dash is actually trademarked and is always affiliated with San Diego Comic-Con International.
Other conventions might use “comic con” in their name, such as New York Comic Con,
but they are in no way affiliated with the biggest and arguably most popular convention: San Diego Comic-Con.
The first annual Comic-Con was held in San Diego back in 1970 by a small group of fans
and comic book enthusiasts that wanted to gather together and bring speakers, artists,
and writers to converse with the fans.
While it was originally called the Golden State Comic-Con, it moved permanently to the
San Diego Convention Center in 1991.
It began fairly small and only focused on comic books, but the Comic-Con today looks very different.
Other entertainment mediums, such as film and television, have a much larger presence.
Movies, especially those tied closely to comic books, tend to unveil big announcements and
new trailers at Comic-Con, usually alongside big panels where the creators and actors talk about the movie.
Anime also has a large presence at these events.
In 2013, 29% of all the panels offered were focused on anime.
The biggest venue in the entirety of Comic-Con is Hall H in the convention center.
This is where the biggest films and shows have their panels and this auditorium can
seat over 6,000 people.
People will wait overnight in line, potentially even multiple days, just to catch one panel
for their favorite property.
Plenty of people don’t even try for this venue and instead favor the smaller rooms
and more intimate discussions, or even just stick to the floor where they can walk and
engage with artists, creators, actors, and other booths set up throughout the convention center.
A big component for Comic-Con, for an increasing number of people, is cosplay.
Cosplay, short for “costume play” is the art of creating a costume of your favorite
character, or amalgamation of characters, and then performing as that character during the convention.
As you travel throughout this convention, or most conventions really, you’ll see a
lot of people cosplaying and showing off their love for their favorite franchises.
Tickets for Comic-Con run about $50 a day and it’s a four-day event, so you can choose
to buy a badge for just a specific day, if that’s the only one you’re interested in.
However… These badges sell out almost immediately.
People will then re-sell these badges, illegally mind you, online for triple or quadruple the prices.
Comic-Con has strict enforcement methods for this, so plenty of folks might think they’re
buying legit badges but be turned away at the door when they don’t have proper identification,
meaning they’re essentially out of luck.
Another issue, parallel to tickets selling out so quickly, is overcrowding.
The space wasn’t built for this huge of a convention so the city of San Diego is actually
in the process of renovating and building additional ballrooms, hotel rooms, and other
spaces for Comic-Con (and other conventions) to use.
This process has hit a bit of a standstill, since it’d be taxpayer money from the city
and would require a public vote.
Comic-Con has a contract through 2018 to stay in San Diego but may be looking to move into
Los Angeles, or anywhere else, after that if the city isn’t able to allocate space
or resources to expand the convention center.
Now, we established that the official Comic-Con, with a dash, is located in San Diego.
This parent company also hosts what is called WonderCon, which used to be a smaller convention
held in the San Francisco area but it’s moved around a bit and has recently been held
in Anaheim California and Los Angeles.
It’s generally a smaller convention and doesn’t draw the same sort of crowd or buzz
that its San Diego counterpart does.
Outside of these conventions, there are plenty of other conventions.
These ones are the other comic book conventions just in the United States, plus you can find
conventions for all sorts of other specific interests.
The company Wizard Entertainment also hosts comic conventions in (as of now) 21 U.S. cities.
These smaller conventions are often cheaper, easier to get into, less crowded, and might
actually be more fun for you as an attendee.
You’d be able to have quality interactions with your favorite artists, writers, etc,
as opposed to being pushed through a crowd.
So that’s the basics of the San Diego Comic-Con.
Some of what you’ll find there on the floor, what it takes to get there, and what sort
of highlights you might experience there.
Check back next week for another What Is video and thanks for watching.