Comic-Con San Diego is Upon Us: Here’s A Heads Up Display

Comic Con International: San Diego starts on July 9th this year. For fans of mass media geekery, the span of this convention has become The Twelve Days of Christmas in July, when every day brings new announcements, speculations, and things to spend your hard earned cash on. Comic Con: San Diego had pretty ordinary beginnings — back in the 1970s and 80s, it was a nerd fan convention like any other. But the combination of location, timing, and luck have blown an event that once hosted 100 people into one that now threatens to break the convention center in which it is held. Maybe you’re you’re among the 130,000 people who’ll attend the convention over the coming days. If so, lucky you. Maybe you’re like me, a person who has to save her vacation days for family weddings. Or maybe you’re the sort of nerd who’s chronically unable to be in a room with more than 10 people, thus opting you out of both Comic Con and family weddings. Again, lucky you. Either way, we can’t all be in San Diego this week. For us, and for our wish fulfillment, I bring you some facts on the convention that rules them all.

Basics

Comic Con takes up all of the San Diego Convention Center, one of the largest in the country. It boasts more than 2 MILLLION square feet of interior space. The convention fills it to legal capacity. The con opens for Preview time on Wednesday, peaking with big announcements and panels on Saturday. In the past, Sunday was “Kids Day”, where long-time attendees would pass their badg…