An estimated audience of over 170,000 fans, industry professionals, celebrities, vendors, and staff made San Diego California the most exciting place to be this past week for Comic-Con International 2018. The largest pop-culture celebration in the world brings countless stars of television, movies, video games, comics, and all things pop culture to the fans that are eager to see the new offerings, gain insights into what is to come, and ask questions of their favorite celebrities.
I started my coverage by visiting The Walking Dead: Our World set up across from the convention center which allowed me to not only see the game and speak with the developers; but also to take photographs of and with the various props from the shows and enjoy interactive and walk-through experiences themed on the show.
With some time before my next appointments; I made my way to Ballroom 20 and enjoyed the “From the Bridge”, panel which looked at a very impressive pending documentary about the rise of fandom over the years. I also got a chance to have a look at a new show called “Tell Me A Story” on CBS All Access which looks very interesting.
When I was not walking around the floor taking pictures and doing pop-in meetings, I visited the DC booth to play the new Lego Villains game ahead of our interview the next day; and managed to catch the end of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars panel with its major announcement of more episodes coming ahead of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Zombies panel.
I then headed over to the interview area for a couple of scheduled interviews before popping into Hall H for the “Assassination Nation” panel which showed off an interesting new film.
With only a little bit of time before I met up with my wife who had been covering conference rooms all day; I went to the dealer room for some pop in meetings with Think Geek and others and took some pictures before wrapping up the first day of the convention.
The next day was incredibly busy as well as I had an off-site meeting to see the new Shadow of the Tomb Raider game with the developers before rushing back to the interview area for a series of interviews and press conferences for Final Space, Star Trek Discovery, The Walking Dead, and Preacher amongst other scheduled events and general coverage.
This is just a small sample of the numerous things that were there and I was happy that I got take in more panels than usual this year including some fantastic offerings from FOX regarding their upcoming animation schedule and the extremely impressive DC superhero shows on the CW network.
With so many events going on it can be easy to become overwhelmed at the number of quality options available. The panels alone offer a very diverse set of options and there are autograph sessions, exclusive items in the dealer room, interactive events in and around the Gaslamp, Petco Park, and area hotels to say nothing about the entertainment and invite only events well into the night. There was a really nice pop-up of a futuristic Taco Bell and a store dedicated to the upcoming The Purge television series that was extremely popular with those in attendance.
With so much going on it always helps to have a strategy in case you cannot get into your first or second choice however with so much content available you have the opportunity to experience things that you otherwise might not have put on your schedule and become a fan in the process. It is also great to see the interactions between celebrities and fans as this is their time to not only see their idols in person but people ask them questions while previewing what’s to come. There were so many amazing things to see this year that I am constantly amazed how the show continues to constantly keep offering more and more to those who are in attendance. While it was an absolute whirlwind covering so many quality offerings; the fantastic interviews and panels we took part in as well as seeing so many fans and the always impressive props and displays in the dealer room made this our favorite comic con to date which is really saying something considering the number of fantastic shows we have covered over the years. We already have our calendars marked 2019 and cannot wait to see what they have in store.
