Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Comic-Con Rampage

I know I promised to have this up by the end of last weekend at the latest but with all the Comic-Con news I got a little wrapped up in other things. So instead you get a mid-week update.

Comic-Con had a metric ton of news, and it’s a little daunting to try to go through it all. Before the weekend started I went through the schedule of events and panels and was amazed at how much there was. Events would start as early at 9 a.m. and go until 11 p.m. in the evening. Some of the tidbits: new characters were unveiled for the upcoming sequel, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. The Ultimate dimension was revealed for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (and its coming to PC). A graphic novel and animated film are coming for Dead Space 2. A new Capcom game was announced, pitting the Street Fighter characters against Tekken. There are loads more, and that’s just focusing on games.


While Comic-Con is considered the ultimate Nerd convention, combining games, films, television, and comics into one, it is still portrayed by media outlets as an outcast gathering. I’m not going to spend most of this entry on this idea, but I wanted to point out that most “mainstream,” media coverage still portrayed Comic-Con as a place filled with body-odor induced, antisocial, internet junkie outcasts. Now, I’m not arguing that there are not a handful of these types of people in attendance at Comic-Con, but it is not the majority. In fact, I would argue that that type of demographic probably fills less than five percent of the total attendance. That being said, if you want to learn more about the exciting things announced at Comic-Con, go to any number of sites that focus on that aspect, rather than a conglomerate media company like ABC or CNN.


What I want to talk about in this entry is one incident that happened at this year’s Comic-Con that is getting most attention from the outside media sources. In between the Resident Evil: Afterlife panel and the Paul panel in Hall H, a dispute over seating erupted in a stabbing. The victim was stabbed near the side of his eye. Those standing by helped detain the attacker until police officers arrived on scene. He was then arrested and taken to be processed. The victim was taken to UCSD Medical Center and received treatment. The suspect was charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

After reading the report, my initial thought was confirmed. They incident began because one person was sitting through a panel only to attend a later one, at which the other party disagreed and told them to leave. The panels following the incident were delayed by 30 minutes. The Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Comic-Con, David Glanzer, said, “I've been with the show since 1984, and I don't remember an incident anything near to this in all the years that I've been here, and anything I've heard about prior...I don't know that it was anything like this. This is a first time.”


Really? That’s the first thing that came to mind after I heard and read about this. It wasn’t in the sense that I didn’t believe this happened, but more to the fact that something like did happen. Was your (the suspect) enjoyment of Comic-Con so focused on having that particular seat for whichever panel you were waiting for? Would your overall experience be lessened by taking a seat farther down the row, or a few rows back? If there one thing I’ve learned from the several conventions I’ve attended, it’s that there is never enough room. If it was held inside the Staples Center with its 19,079 seats, there still would be a crowd standing in the back. What did you think would happen if you stabbed someone in the eye, and then took their seat?

I’ll be posting my next update around the weekend of August 7th, in the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter and Facebook.


New Articles

Here are the links to my most recent articles, including a preview for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, which is now coming to PC as well.


Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Preview

DC Universe Online gets the Blur Treatment

Capcom Reveals Six New Characters for Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Green Lantern Game Coming Next Summer

Alice: Madness Returns Officially Announced

Microsoft Kinect Pricing Announced

Call of Duty Multiplayer to Remain Free

NBA Elite 11 Details Hands-On Control

Puzzle Agent Review

Infinity Ward v. Activision, New Details Emerge

Black Ops Could Sell up to 12 Million, says Analyst

Dead Space Ignition Coming to XBL and PSN

Research Shows Review Scores Directly Impact a Game’s Success

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