So imagine me reading the non-comparison above. If it were a magazine article, I would have instantly thrown the magazine against the wall the *second* I read that it was attempting to compare San Diego with Las Vegas (much less with the Los Angeles Convention Center.)

Where to begin, where to begin? There’s just so many levels on which this blog entry is so wrong, so full of straw-men arguments that attempt and fail to make any case whatsoever for *Los Angeles,* much less Las Vegas, being a credible alternative location for Comic-Con that I honestly don’t know where to begin. Especially several of my points have already been said by other posters.

Okay, first off, I’ll just recap the most obvious points from the comments above:

1) Vegas, 110-degree heat, gambling, huge amounts of prostitution and strip clubs. On that basis alone, Comic-Con, which is geared toward older teenagers and young (ie: under-21) adults, moving to Vegas simply would not happen. Period. Your lack of consideration for Comic-Con’s younger skewing audience just makes your bias in favor of Las Vegas all the more appallingly obvious.

2) Los Angeles. You know, there’s a reason that AnimExpo’s own attendees were so appalled by the location that they made it known to that convention that if it returned to that location, they’d stop coming. You note one of the big ones — that the hotels aren’t nearby. And that should have been enough for you to have deleted it from your comparison at the same time that you should have deleted Las Vegas from your comparison. But hey, if the convention could get merged with the TCAs at the Beverly Hilton and surrounding hotels up in Hollywood, that would be great for me (and, okay, totally unfeasible.) since I’m both a comics fan and a tv/movie geek (a redundancy, I know.) But since the hotels aren’t nearby, you essentially have a mess that is inhospitable to guests and exhibitors who don’t already live in the area. So there goes the last few comics dealers from the convention and at least half of the artists and publishers as well. The SDCC’s proximity to so many large hotels makes it practical for industry professionals, exhibitors and attendees alike.

3) San Diego is Comic-Con and Comic-Con is San Diego. For reasons number one and two above, if Comic-Con were to leave San Diego, it wouldn’t work. Another convention would come in, take its place and become “Comic-Con” in destination if not in name for exhibitors and attendees alike. Maybe it would mean that CCI would take the movie and TV segments with it if CCI ever moved, but that really would do nothing but delay the inevitable, assuming that the CofSD weren’t able to expland the SDCC by 2012. With movies and TV being absent from a new San Diego convention, it would revert to being an actual convention for howeverlong it took after 2012 to expand the SDCC and after that, whatever con that took over the space from CCI would be in place to grab the movie and TV aspects from CCI, wherever it would be at the time.

Or, in other words, the comics convention aspect of CCI would likely stay in San Diego — partly due to tradition, partly due to the superiority and the gorgeosity of the area. And that whole shedding the movie/TV aspect of the convention would be a huge plus for comics fans. It’d suck for fans like me who are interested in comics, movies and TV, but nevertheless, I don’t see any longterm upside for CCI if/when it were to move out of San Diego. And I hope that nobody on the San Diego City Council is reading this as it might make them move more slowly on any proposals or plans to expand the SDCC.

— Rob

The promoters in San Diego need to leverage the hotels that if more don’t throw there rooms in the convention blocks they’re going to lose the convention in general. In my opinion the Hotel Issue is the biggest problem. The gouging is disgusting.

If this show thinks it’s moving to LA or Vegas and not being replaced by a Wizard World San Diego in July or August, you’re high. The venue is a large part of the draw, not just the show (believe me, Shamus and Co. wouldn’t be the only ones trying to fill this void should it happen).

Anaheim has the convention space but the hotels are maxed this time of year with Disneyland peaking.

If L.A. worked, Wizard World LA wouldn’t be such a flop.

San Diego can still work but some things need to change. The people that run the show do such a great job with the greater volumes of people now than they did 10 years ago—their experience in running this thing is invaluable. Perhaps the thing to do is to spread it out to a six day event, only sell three day passes and singles, and only allow three days at the con, per person. I have never had trouble findng an affordable place to stay on the trolley line (a major plus IMO), despite all the complaints you hear from everybody.

While some people may be mad that they couldn’t go, I’d say that the majority of people that attended had a great time, like usual. If you plan ahead and do your homework, this is still an affordable, hassle-free experience—I think the problem is that there are just a lot of whiners who want to just show up if they feel like it and don’t plan ahead (therefore, paying higher prices for everything or not being able to go at all).

If the con is to ever grow and help comics culture become a part of the mainstream, it needs to be in a place that can accomodate it. The Las Vegas Convention center is that place. With many presentation halls that dwarf Hall H you can say goodbye to those 3 hour lines. Immense show floors mean less crowding and claustrophobia. More room availability means lower prices.

The only issue with Vegas is the heat. It’s a punishing, relentless heat that kills pets and old people weekly. Walking to the con is simply not possible. Fortunately Vegas has a somewhat effective monorail and would obviously have con shuttles and pedicabs and plenty of taxis, so people won’t drop dead walking from place to place.

The choice to move to Las Vegas seems clear.

LA is out (and I live here). That convention center “sucks” for lack of a better word.

If you want to keep ComicCon in San Diego then let’s do a few things:

- Stylin’ tshirts? You get 1–ONE– booth. Doesn’t matter how much you pay. Oh and no tiny inside area either. If I didn’t buy at the one end, or the middle, I’m not buying at that other.

- Old comic book stores that bring all your stock? You’re gone. Scram

- Playboy playmates? Sorry, fun to look a few a few minutes but you’re gone. you too Suicide Girls.

- Bob the Angry Flower? I know Keith Knight likes you but… sorry, man but don’t you have better things to spend your money on than a booth at the Con?

- Weird booths selling crystals? You’re gone.

- If you’re not Comics, SciFi or “fantasy” (ugh) you’re gone. Just because you have action figues to sell doesn’t mean you should have a booth.

- Weird, random artists who just seem to copy stuff? Why don’t you all just share a booth and take shifts.

- NBC, did we really need a 30 Rock/Office booth? Really?

There, I’ve just freed up space for us all to move around.

Oh, and people can we stop freaking out about huge, useless bags? Who at Warner Brothers do I have to stomp to end that nightmare…

(Though I LOVED the registration process this year: was inside and registered in 5 minutes… just didn’t know where to go after that)

Please know that most of SDCC is created and run by Volunteers. Yes there are the folks who work for the Convention center, and the Elite Services people but most, if not all of the pre-show work and organizing, and some important floor work is done by volunteers if it goes to Vegas it would lose most of that. nothing in Vegas is free. (no offensive to Vegas Fen, go WesterCon!)

San Diego has a great Trolley system and many a nice and slightly less expensive hotel can be found along the special ComicCon trolley line. A $15 4 day pass gets you all over San Diego, with the last rain leaving the Convention Center a 1:30am. Many of my LA friends take the Amtrak Surfliner down from Los Angeles. Most of the trip you get great ocean views and there’s a bar car, a bar car!

Anyway… How much bigger does ComicCon have to get? Do the BSG and Joss Whedon Panels have to be held in Padres Park? If it’s crowded while you hunt for swag so what, Disney land is crowded as hell in the summer and they don’t give out free stuff.

What I would really like is a simulcast and podcasts of the panels. Hall H and Ballroom 20 are so big, if your not in the first 50 rows you might as well watch the panel on a screen. A podcast would also allow people to catch a neat panel they may not have known they wanted to see until it was recommended. That and better traffic control in the halls and to get a day of the Con sponsored by a deodorant company.

If ComicCon leaves San Diego, San Diego will just create another great Con (Try Conjecture or ConDor to see what I mean) and that will fill up and take ComicCon place.