July
24 Preview night: Crowds and lines kick off Comic-Con

Preview night has come and gone, raising expectations as well as fears that the crowd situation will again be a cause of immense frustration. First, the check-in process for picking up badges (none are being sold on site — they’re long gone) seemed to go smoothly for everyone except the press. Arriving around 5 p.m., it took nearly two hours to get to the front of a line that at times didn’t move for 15-20 minutes. The cause was apparent when only three booths were set aside for press registration — and two of them were for on-site registration for press (Wednesday was the only day this was being done, according the letter attached to the email registration confirmation). Obviously, most of the people in that line were less than pleased.

The convention floor itself was crowded but not terrible. The only mob scene I spotted was at the Warner Bros. booth, where the giant, oversize bags of last year have returned though this time featuring a full-color image of Wonder Woman.

Today, the real madness begins — we’ll let you know how smoothly (or not) things go.