Events: SDCC 2024 Event Recap
San Diego ComicCon 2024 is in the books. Christy and Kelly hit the convention center for the 4 day event and tried to be more present in panels this year, than on the show floor. I think it worked, we only bought books, which is amazing on its own accord.
It was so cool to be back after 5 years! Well we technically attended SDCC at Home in 2020, but still – physically being onsite in SD was awesome! The city, the sights, the scene, the friends, it was all and everything I wanted. And of course, yet again, there were a few missteps when it came to ADA access and we will get to that later.
The Panels
Misfits – Moderated by Christy!
Bucket list item checked off for Christy!! She finally got to moderate an SDCC panel! A dream come true and yes, you may remember she has moderated at many bookstores, and even Wondercon, but finally SDCC moderating has been achieved! I was so proud of her, she is one of the clearest, and most conscientious moderators I have ever listened to, and I am not just saying that…we went to many panels, and Christy made it clear she read the books, and understood what to have the panelists talk about to keep the audience engaged in the content they choose to consume.
*tear* Kelly saying so many nice things. It really was a dream come true – and I ended up with a completely queer panel so we had a blast. It was amazing to talk to 3 authors and 1 illustrator about their worldbuilding processes, who the misfits from their youth were, and how they embrace being a misfit in their creative lives. Don’t sleep on those early morning or young reader panels – we have a blast. We even had a kid ask us a great question!
Quick Recaps from a Variety of Panels
- Never meet your heroes. JK always go meet them, especially outside of the element you know them from. We go to see Josh Gad promoting his very much adult comic book called The Writer. This was a highlight for me (Christy) because…well, Josh Gad. We learned that Josh got an email from Frank Miller years ago asking if he would be interested in a comic book so here we are. The Writer is based on the occult, Jewish, and a mythological version of history and is a story of a comic book writer who can write down superpower, eat it, and gain the power but with Nazis. Josh watched The Mummy films for research (highly approve). We felt it hard when Josh said, “Guys like me don’t get to be superheroes.” The first two issues are out now!
- Invite Kiersten White to more sapphic things. How was SDCC her first sapphic panel? She shared that she likes to take books she likes but make her mad and rewriting them (yes). Lucy Undying is the goriest thing she’s written.
- SDCC brings people together. Christina Lauren met at SDCC 2009 and started discussing their Tangled retelling (Tangled Up in You – out now!) in 2016. You never know what is going to happen at a con!
- Trailers galore. Ballroom 20 (aka Hall H jr) runs like 2 hours of all of the trailers debuted at the con. We had a chance to sit in on the trailers and I added a ton of horror movies to my TBW (is a to be watched a thing!?).
- Boys will be boys. THE BOYS YALL! Somehow Jensen Ackles keeps bringing me back to Hall H despite my desire to stay out of there. What a fun panel with nearly the whole ongoing cast, moderated by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. And we are getting several spinoffs, including one with Jensen/Soldier Boy as the lead!
- Women of Marvel. This is a never miss panel that features current voices writing within Marvel. This year we even had Gail Simone!
The Publishers & Books
Penguin Random House wins SDCC – they had the biggest booth, the most clear and advertised events, giveaways, and panels. Of course they had their big SDCC special edition this year was The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville – a new novel set in their best-selling comic book world, BRZRKR, it had special cover art, color way, foiling, end pages, and spredges!
I was so happy to get a few of the highly anticipated upcoming sapphic adult fantasy ARCs signed by the authors, A Dark and Drowning Tide by Alison Saft, Lucy Undying by Kiersten White, and The Crimson Crown by Heather Walter. Thank you Del Rey!
Kiersten White was a honored guest of SDCC, and we literally saw her every single day! What a gift she has been to the book community and I loved hearing her speak about her books, career, and the con!
Of course the powerhouse imprints from Macmillan where represented by Fierce Reads, Tor, and First Second, which had a very nice spread with giveaways, sales, and great author signings and panels. Quirk, Simon Teen, Saga Press, Abrams, and Disney Books were all present as well – just less advertised beforehand (IMO) so we had less scheduled visits to make sure we got there for any giveaways etc.
And a major win for me, was finally meeting an author I absolutely adore and admire, Aiden Thomas – his upcoming release Celestial Monsters, the 2nd book in the The Sunbearer Trials duology releases on September 3rd!
All in all we tried to take a more laissez faire approach to this event this time around. More panels, more taking it all in, and less be there at 9am to get the special book ticket drops etc. I personally tried to bring less books from home even though I knew the authors were going to be here (flying across the country with heavy books isn’t the easiest thing – and an extra suitcase is an extra $40) I left two books on my desk at the last minute because I realized I was cutting into space to bring anything I purchase or was gifted home.
The ADA
I don’t even know where to begin, as a physically disabled person (Kelly) going to an event like this will take a serious toll on my body. So I need to plan my time, and understand my capacity for a giant event. My disability may not be completely visible, as I do not always use mobility aides, and from my past experience here, I knew the place would be too crowded to get around on an electric scooter, and I remember the lines for the elevators last time I attended, and it was just out of control wait times. So I decided to spend money on a really good pair of sneakers ($170 for some HOKAs) and a rolling backpack with heavy duty wheels (the one I brought last time broke before I even got home) to get me through this event.
Knowing SDCC makes it quite easy for people to register for ADA, I didn’t realize it meant tons and tons of people requesting access as well as making the accessibility “capped” or “limited” throughout the event. I want everyone to have the extra access they need, but also hearing a line has been capped after waiting in it for over an hour was extremely hurtful.
How can you limit the number of people seeking some sort of accommodation? Mostly when that meant, something as simple as not standing in lines or ‘weaving’ through lines? Or to save people from walking in a street with no sidewalks and traffic? Like seriously that happened to me this year at night walking in a street to get to the Hall H lines, because the ADA line was continually accepting people after they had well over the amount of wristbands to give out. And for a hall that has a capacity of over 5K seats, there is absolutely no reason to cap the ADA at 100 ppl or less…like not all of us need special seating, but we do need the benefit of not all the extra walking or standing in line all night long. It wasn’t hard to see there they over estimated the number of ADA waiting in line, when they could have just grabbed another 40 wristbands for those who were waiting well over an hour to be told “whoopsie, you will have to go to the VERY BACK of the regular waiting lines.”
If you are ever in attendance and the ADA Hall H lines are capped, we learned if you arrive the next morning before the line cut off time (7:30am? – I can’t remember) you may just get a wristband, and if not you can just camp out in ADA overflow, and after all the wristbands are let in, they will then start letting in the overflow…which is so much better than waiting all night for a wristband in the regular line. Of course there is no guarantee that the overflow will get you in, but if you cannot get into the regular line this is the more ideal chance. Also if you end up with a regular line wristband and you are marked ADA you can still skip the cattle herd lines, and go to the ADA entrance to wait to enter. So that is a plus and some insider information we were happy to have this year. Hope it may be the same for next year, as that is very important information to skip the cattle herd.
The Offsites
In my opinion the offsites grew a lot this year! (can only compare to 2019 personally) Huge undertakings of specialty events, half of which we did not even get to experience. These are free to anyone, you do not need to have SDCC credentials to get into the offsites. There are some smaller installations in the Gaslamp, but most are behind the convention center along the waterfront area. Oh and don’t forget each hotel nearby usually has some things going on in their event ballrooms & more! There is a lot to see and experience if you have the patience to wait…in the longest lines.
ABC recreated the entire school fair from Abbott Elementary tv show – Ava Fest with swings, slides, fair games, and even the Philadelphia Eagles Drumline! Super cool for them to get to be a part of this event as well as the actual TV show! And being a Philadelphian that was so cool to see in San Diego! FX had a cool setup highlighting the biggest shows, like The Bear, AHS, and more! Hulu Animayhem had the largest set up by far, and we didn’t get inside of there to check it out because the lines were absolutely way too long!
Again, the ADA lines were capped which is nonsense when all we are asking is to not stand out in the sun or weave in and out of their waiting lines, but apparently they just have 30 spaces to give to ADA and that is all for the entire day. Make it make sense? The ADA is so we do not have to wait in line as long as a more able bodied person can…like if the able bodied folks can wait and get a “freebie” then why would there ever be a cap on the the ADA if you still have freebies available for all those waiting in line? I just do not understand the reasoning!
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