Conventions

The ongoing contest for the hand of Comic-Con International took another turn last week when San Diego Convention Center Corp. sent out an email to local hotels asking them to put in writing what they will charge for hotel rooms for Con. With Los Angeles and Anaheim's bids for the show getting more and more serious -- and Comic-Con organizers taking their time to make a decision -- it's yet another way to sweeten the pot and keep the Con in San Diego.

Are the Con Wars East over, or at least moving into a new, less militarized phase? The Beatand his Wizard army has announced a MAJOR pullback from hostilities, moving the 2010 Big Apple Con, which has been scheduled directly opposite and 20 blocks north of the New York Comic-con on October 7-10, to October 1-3, a week earlier.

Wow, Ultimate Con-Wars is heating up with this interview with LA Inc SVP Senior Vice President Michael Krouse and avp of Media Relations & Communications Carol Martinez. Krouse is the driving force behind LA's bid for the San Diego Comic-Con -- an ongoing wooing that Krouse has been pressing for years. And in this interview he lays it all on the line, baby, he''ll work.

By now you all know that Sunday's Simpsons episode used Ke$ha's Tik Tok as their opening theme as the above video shows. But did you know the episode also contained an in-joke relating to the San Diego Comic-Con's potential move to Anaheim? It's true! ...Thanks to ZT for the tip.

Oh, San Diego, how you have changed your tune. Increasingly serious about keeping what they now admit is tens of millions of dollars in revenue...

Comic-Con International held a board meeting yesterday, but a decision was NOT reached on whether to stay in San Diego or to move...

Since my Spring convention schedule wrapped up on Monday, I've been trying to just sit quietly on the porch with my eyes closed, but...

So many shows, so little time.... § Tim O'Shea hit FLUKE, the indie comics show in Athens, GA which sounds like it went...

Incredibly, The Beat is on the move AGAIN. While we're in transit back to base, a few quick thoughts on C2E2, based on dozens...

A much bigger crowd descended on C2E2 yesterday, Saturday, and more people seemed to be buying. With folks parading around in costume and announcements...

It was a day of discovery for the comics industry gathered in Chicago for C2E2 yesterday. Discovering where things were; discovering who was there;...

by Torsten Adair Here are a few tips on traveling to and from the C2E2 convention at McCormick Place. 1)  The train (Metra).  This is Chicago's...