comic-con 2002

adam, jonathan, sumir, and vince on 08/09/2002 12:19:53 -0700

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The Exhibit Hall was HUGE.  There were hundreds and hundreds of stalls.  From popular companies like DC and Top Cow to lesser known retailers of exotic items (swords, trading cards, models), everyone was there.  I wish I had taken more time to examine everything there, but with so much to see, I think I would have felt this way no matter what.  I will discuss mostly the bigger stalls here, but I just want to point out how great it was to see so many smaller retailers there pushing their product lines and services.

Hasbro had a huge stall.  They had a gigantic Star Wars blister pack; you could stand behind the plastic and take pictures.  The company also had many Star Wars toys and items on sale (it was the series' 25th anniversary).

Upper Deck, the popular trading card company, had an elevated "wrestling ring"-like stall.  There were some card game tournaments going on there but I didn't venture inside.

I also didn't pay too much attention to DC and Dark Horse (just because of their placement, I did not pass by them much), but each had their share of magazines and memorabilia.

The Lord of the Rings Pavilion, as it was called, was smack-dab in the center of the convention area.  In reality, it was some smaller companies with LOTR products, but it all came together quite well to form a central location for fans of the series.  I saw demos of the video game, promotions the card game, and lots of posters in addition to stuff I had seen before (older stuff from the card game, plus a ton of board games).

Image Comics' huge area was aesthetically beautiful, but unfortunately, rather sparse.  They had people signing much of the time I passed by, but I think they could have used more actual product placement.

Bandai's booth was nearly their exact booth from Anime Expo. (It was missing the PS2 game stations.) It had a central table with freebies and people to answer questions. These attendants also gave out .hack//sign T-shirts at various times during the day. Behind the table was a huge screen and beanbags with various anime clips playing, much like the area in TokyoPop's booth. The Bandai booth emphasized their Gundam license more than .hack unlike at AX. They gave away lots of promotional fliers and movie-size posters of Char's Counterattack.

Viz essentially had 2 booths separated by an aisle. The main booth had their store, which sold their manga, video, and DVD products. It was also where you went if you wanted to sign up for Shonen Jump. The rest of the booth was taken up by a line for surveys for Shonen Jump. After you filled out a survey, you got to spin a wheel for prizes such as pencil boards, t-shirts, poster, and signed prints among other things. Viz also brought out people wearing their professionally designed costumes, this included such characters as Hamtaro, Gohan, Piccolo, Goku, and Krilin/Kurin. Hamatro was hilarious as he was actually short. They all had to be lead around (except for Piccolo); I guess visibility was low or nil in the costumes. It was also weird seeing Krilin/Kurin and Goku next to each other as they were nearly the same height. The other booth across the aisle was dedicated entirely to Junko Mizuno, the creator of Cinderalla. She did signings at various times and her booth sold various products.

Games Workshop didn't have a really big booth, but they are a company I favor.  They had the new Necron models up for Warhammer 40,000.  All I can say is: finally!  However, the new tower-like structure, whatever the hell it is supposed to be, looked stupid.  (Excuse my ignorance; I haven't played in a while.)  The company also had a few wicked-looking boards set up for teaching people how to play.  Good idea, but I wonder how easy it is to pick up 40K in that kind of an environment.  I was disappointed by the relative lack of Warhammer Fantasy models, and in general, the dearth of their other product lines (despite the fact that I favor 40K).

Diamond had a huge stall and it was almost entirely devoted to products for sale.  This was quite okay - this is what they do as a distributing company, and I'm sure many fans welcomed the chance to find all this stuff outside of a store.

Tucked away in a corner (and I DO mean a corner) of Diamond's stall was Marvel.  Yes, THAT Marvel... you know, Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man... that one.  To say I was disappointed by Marvel's effort in their booth is like saying Adam is stupid -  the statement doesn't do the fact justice.  There was almost NOTHING there besides a few posters and crap... it was so small, you couldn't walk in - the tables putting the employees in, kept you out.  Rating: SUCK!

My absolute favorite stall in the whole place was Top Cow's.  From the minute I saw a giant Aphrodite IX poster hanging there, I knew this was the right place.  Unfortunately, the poster wasn't for sale (I asked; it was a $600 glossy made to order for the con).  The booth was just cool - they had someone signing nearly the entire time (all their famous guys too!), they had dirt-cheap posters ($1 each!), and - in the true spirit of male-dominated enterprises - booth babes.  In fact, they even had the gorgeous Kelly Hu drop in for an autograph session (sadly, none of us could make it in time, though Adam snagged a picture).

- Sumir, with a couple of assists from Jonathan

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