Conventions

McCormick Place is sooooo big....one feels like a tiny ant crawling over a marble floor as you trudge from massive hall to massive hall. We turned on our GPS yesterday and logged more than 2 miles in no time. Today's distance was probably more like 5 or 6 miles as we took it easy. C2E2 is definitely in a crucial year. The first two years underperformed, but advance ticket sales are way up this year, so maybe this will be the time that the show draws the massive crowds that everyone thinks are possible. Saturday is going to be the big day.

How to get around McCormick, with notable locales and suggestions for stress-free nooks and crannies.

Heading towards C2E2 this weekend? Here's how to get there!

Day Zero at C2E2, Part One!

It's coming! What to do? What to bring? Where to go? How to act?

Speaking of C2E2, the website uses a particular kind of format so you can search for programming...but can't see it all in one place, which makes it hard to see who's who on what panel until you get there and get the program. The organizers have graciously given us the whole document, so you can see if one of your favorite creators or entertainers is appearing on a panel and at what time:

March-May is the mad busy con season with shows piling up like bumper cars in the corner. Two recent showrunner interviews give us a few more facts and figures on two, this week's C2E2 in Chicago and Portland, OR's Stumptown in TWO weeks.

You’ve never attended ANY comic con before. So, what’s the best way to ease your way into the maddening hordes? Try this… this is similar to what I did, when I was a shy, bespectacled, nerdy fan of comics and other popular (yet marginalized) cultures.

Okay, hotel room reservation notification for this year's San Diego Comic-Con started rolling out last night...and it was a mixed bag. Although The Beat got a room at our second choice, lots of people didn't get a room at all. And based on an informal Twitter survey, it all seems to have been pretty random. People who got in between 9:03 and 9:09 seemed to run the gamut from first choice to no choice. Was this really just a lottery? SOMEWHERE, we SEEM to remember reading that time stamps within 3 minutes of each other would be treated as a tie and processed in random order....but now we can't find that language anywhere on the CCI site, so maybe we just imagined it? At any rate this kind of process would explain what happened.

Hero Initiative is the non-profit organization that aids comic creators in medical and financial need—and if you've been reading the Beat lately you know that they are more needed than ever. Tonight, as part of the Emerald City Comicon, they are having a bowling fundraiser which sounds like a great time for a great cause, as they say. Although spots have already been auctioned off, you can still go watch the fun:

Image has a huge presence at this weekend's Emerald City Comicon -- here are the details and exclusives:

In a few hours, reservations for hotel rooms for this year's San Diego Comic-Con are going to be available, kicking off the annual rite known as Hotel-o-ween. YOU never know what you're going to get—it might be a trick, or it might be a treat.