Initial expectations: Heading into Salt Lake Comic Con, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I had been turned on to San Diego's world-famous Comic Con a couple years ago and even registered to get tickets to the 2013 Con, but the web traffic on the day that tickets went on sale made attending in Southern California a practical impossibility. I saw on Facebook that Salt Lake City decided to start up their own convention and I thought it would be fun to go. There were maybe seven or eight celebrities signed on to come to town, so I thought that was a cute little idea. It was originally slated to be held at the South Towne Expo Center, but, as the event gathered steam and more celebrities, authors, and artists agreed to show up, they moved Comic Con downtown to the Salt Palace. Ticket sales boomed and, as the weekend approached, my expectations became less and less defined. Last Wednesday night, I honestly had a little bit of a hard time sleeping because I really had no idea of what to expect.
Biggest disappointments: Scheduling was a little iffy on Thursday, especially. The times listed online were not entirely clear, so we ended up arriving at the Salt Palace at 10:00 in the morning and ended up wandering around aimlessly and people watching for five hours before anything started. That was not amazing. I feel like, by and large, the Comic Con volunteer staff was almost entirely worthless. Most of the times that I approached them for help, they shrugged me off with an "I'm not totally sure" or a "Go ask him." Really? Perhaps the biggest disappointment of all would be one of the things I was looking forward to the most - Adam West. I was really looking forward to seeing Adam West and Burt Ward - Batman and Robin from the iconic '60s television show - but, to my utter dismay, Friday rolled around and the Dynamic Duo (*cough*Adam West*cough*) had canceled their Q&A panel. I quickly formulated a back-up plan, so that wasn't that big of a deal, but for the rest of the weekend, Mr. West would gladly sign autographs for adoring fans (for a very pretty penny, by the way), but would not allow anyone to take pictures with him. I obviously didn't get a chance to talk with him or even hear him speak at all last weekend, but he sure came off as a jerk.
Biggest annoyance: People who bought Saturday-Only tickets and walked around like they owned the place. You know, bless their little hearts if they couldn't get Thursday and/or Friday off, but it was like I was a senior in high school and some punk little 9th graders showed up and thought they were the big men on campus. Generally, stereotypically, many of the Saturday-Onlies were the punks who showed up either because A) they heard something cool was going on and wanted to be part of the "in crowd" or B) immature kids looking for an excuse to cross-dress. That wasn't a problem Thursday or Friday. Just sayin'.
Best moments: My favorite moments from Comic Con probably came from the celebrity panels. I was able to sit in on four of the Q&A panels and had an overwhelmingly good experience with them. -- I sat on the fifth row to see the first celebrity, Ray Park, who played Darth Maul in "Star Wars," Toad in "X-Men," and, most recently, Snake Eyes in the "G.I. Joe" films. Ray seemed like a very nice guy and the audience totally loved him. At the end of the panel, Ray brought a bunch of kids up to the stage and taught them how to do a Jedi pose, which must have been an incredible experience for the youngsters. -- On Saturday morning, I headed up to the Salt Palace early to see Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz, who played Face and Murdock in the original "A-Team" series. They discussed their thoughts about the original show and made a couple comments about the 2010 movie adaptation, but spent most of the time talking about their experience on the set, including several hilarious stories about Mr. T, and reflecting on the unceremonious cancellation of the iconic TV show. As a guy who watched three seasons of that show a couple years ago, it was really cool to see Face and Murdock up close and personal. -- Immediately following the "A-Team" reunion, I stayed in the mail hall to see the Fonz, himself - Henry Winkler, who was making a guest appearance at Comic Con. I've never really seen a whole lot of "Happy Days" or much else of Winkler's work, but I did respect him as a legend of American pop culture and loved him in "Here Comes the Boom" [slight chuckle]. Unlike many of the other panels, Mr. Winkler did not have someone interviewing him or asking him questions. Rather, he controlled the mic and worked that stage, giving some powerful advice to avoid pessimism and promote positive thinking. "Don't put a period on the end of a negative thought," he urged. I wasn't sure what to expect from the man they once called "Fonzie," but a motivational speech probably didn't ever cross my mind. He was a great, emotional speaker and is very good at what he does. Also, he was incredibly kind to the audience, asking to know people's first names and even agreeing to give a 23-year-old girl her first kiss, on stage! Because I was so impressed with his panel, I went directly to the back of the vendors' floor and back to the autograph booths to meet Mr. Winkler and thank him for coming. I waited for a few minutes in line to greet him and eventually made my way up to the front of the line, where he shook my hand, asked for my name, and took a few pictures with me. I thanked him for his panel, which, I told him, I thoroughly enjoyed. That was so cool for me - not only to be there for his amazing and inspirational panel, but to be able to speak with him one-on-one about it, shake his hand, and photographically document the experience. I have a tremendous newfound respect for Henry Winkler, who is not only immortal in terms of cultural significance, but also one of the most genuinely friendly and kind people I have ever met. -- On Saturday night, my brother and I waited in line for an hour and a half to get into the panel with "the Godfather of Comics," Stan Lee. Yes, THE Stan Lee, creator of Marvel and king of all nerd-dom. The wait was long, but not unpleasant, and they only ended up talking to him for about 20 minutes (likely because he was a last-minute addition to the Comic Con celebrity lineup), but those were 20 awesome minutes, all right?? Stan was sarcastically arrogant and pretty funny as he responded to cliche questions like "Who would win in a fight between Wolverine and the Hulk?" and everyone there was salivating over his every word. It was crazy and a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I'm glad I had.
Nerdiest moments: Three moments stick out in my mind: First, when a kid was on the verge of tears as he thanked Ray Park for making "Episode I" worth watching; second, the moment when a girl approached my friend and fellow blogger, Crystal Nichols, about LARPing; and third, the guy I overheard while in line for Stan Lee who was complaining about Spider-woman's web-slinging abilities. So nerdy. So hilarious. So awesome.
Biggest surprise: Hands down, the biggest surprise of the entire weekend was that I actually came away from Salt Lake Comic Con with a handful of new friends, which I never expected to happen. On Thursday, I was pretty self-conscious and reserved - almost nervous - to talk to strangers, ask questions, or take pictures, but, as the weekend progressed, I realized that everyone there was super friendly and, in most instances, actually wanted you to take pictures with them. With the help of a little personal confidence, that same talk-to-everyone attitude I learned on my LDS mission, and a little activity called, um, Sci-Fi Speed Dating, I was able to meet a lot of really cool people of both genders that I never in a million years would have met otherwise. Now, post-Con, I want to talk to people everywhere I go - the gym, the store, church - and I've returned back to the sad reality where very few people are outgoing and absolutely nobody wants you to randomly stop them for a picture. What the heck is up with that?
The problem: The fire marshal almost had to shut down Comic Con on Saturday because we had filled the Salt Palace to maximum capacity and were still trying to get people in the doors. Now, this is actually a pretty good problem to have. Salt Lake Comic Con exceeded - scratch that - BLEW AWAY its expectations and was wildly successful on almost every single front. Undoubtedly, this was an enormous financial success, not only for the city, but for the entire state! But it to the point where there were basically just too many dang people at the convention. It was inconvenient, it was frustrating at times, and it was just plain hot in there! So there's that. -- The other big problem with Salt Lake Comic Con's monumental success, going forward, is two-fold: 1) ticket prices will undoubtedly increase and 2) ticket availability will undoubtedly plummet.
The solution: Stop selling tickets at some point. I don't mind having tons of people at Comic Con, but it needed to get to the point last weekend where they stopped selling tickets to people at the door on Saturday. First come should mean first served, but instead we had a bunch of late-comers clogging up the halls and increasing line length.
Overall experience: Salt Lake Comic Con was one of those weekends that I'll look back on and say, "Dang, that was really, really awesome." I absolutely loved it. Sure, there were some points where I was tired of waiting in line or trying to navigate through the sea of humanity on the vendors' floor, but as a whole, Comic Con was a total blast. I'd use the term "once-in-a-lifetime" again to describe last weekend, but they'd be freakin' idiots if they didn't turn Salt Lake Comic Con into an annual tradition for years to come. Now that I'm back at work and living life in the real world, I just wish I could go back to the convention. What's more is that, for those of you that know me, you know that I'm not a big fan of Halloween. In fact, you could easily say that Halloween is one of my two least-favorite holidays. I just don't really like dressing up anymore. With that being said, if I had to do it over again, I think I would definitely dress up in costume for Comic Con. I'm actually almost looking forward to Halloween in 2013, thanks largely to my experience last weekend. As I recently heard somebody say, "Comic Con is my new favorite holiday." It was an incredibly fun experience from start to finish and I can't wait to go back next year. Bravo, Dan Farr and associates, and thank you for a wonderful time at the first-ever Salt Lake Comic Con!
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Did you go to Salt Lake Comic Con? If so, what did you think? If not, why? Let's get your feedback in the comments section below!
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