The Venture Edge

Despite my concern that I might end up feeling like a big sardine jammed into a little can, I decided to brave the Sunday crowds at Comic-Con. Arriving with my kids in tow at 9:30am -- right as the doors opened to the public -- I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Sunday crowds were much less intense than what I have experienced onother days during previous shows. I suspect the reason was some combination of typical last-day trade show blues, and burnout on the part of the 4-day passholders who decided to sleep in on Sunday and arrive fashionably late.

One of the fringe benefits of being assistant editor of Leader to Leader magazine is that I am usually able to wrangle press passes for some very interesting events. For the past several years, I have used the power of the pen to get a pass into what is possibly the world's largest convention for lovers of pop culture: Comic-Con. Born 40 years ago in San Diego, Comic-Con has steadily grown over the years into a four-day extravaganza that draws lovers of comics (and science fiction, fantasy, superhero, supernatural, and horror films, television shows, blogs, websites, and most any other form of media you could ever imagine) from across the country, and around the world. And while only 300 people attended the very first Comic-Con, last year 126,000 showed up.