Don't forget to visit the Comic-Con Museum

 23 JULY 2024

It's the easiest thing in the world to stick to the convention center and Gaslamp during Comic-Con. No cars, no cabs - it gives you a defined territory to work within. But if there's one place you'll want to visit - call it the ultimate offsite - it's the Comic-Con Museum.

I will say upfront that it's not for everyone, but if you appreciate nerd culture, you should hop on over to Balboa Park. The mix of exhibits is good, blending the super-famous with the more quietly lauded, and the tonal shifts between sections keeps your experience from feeling monotonous. So far, my favorite exhibits have featured my beloved Charles Addams, Gene Roddenberry (surprisingly deep dive and it even had his original computer!), and Gumby - reruns of which were the only English-voiced kid's show I could find living in Holland when I was little.

In other words, it's a great mix of nostalgia and comic books and high art and video games. They even have a little movie theatre.

If you live in San Diego, you've probably attended their other events. But if you don't, the museum may not be on your radar. Somehow, I just don't hear attendees talking much about it, which is a shame. Here's why you should go.

The Auction

I'll admit to being puzzled by this combination of players, but the museum, Turner Classic Movies, and Julien's Auction House have come together on an exhibit of "iconic props, production material, and memorabilia" from DC Comics, Marvel, and Harry Potter. I don't quite understand how TCM, which I associate with my favorite Vincent Price movies, is involved in this - but you can bid on items now, with the live and online auction happening this Sunday.

The Other Exhibits

Betty Boop has one, so does John Jennings and artists from Tijuana, and there's something called Popnology, an interactive exhibit "that demonstrates the connection between pop culture and real-world technology." I've never seen a bad exhibit here so I safely say without having seen these that they're probably pretty great.

If you didn't get a Saturday badge or you simply need a quiet break from SDCC, consider visiting the museum. You can find out all the details here.

You can still get a full SDCC badge and a Museum membership for the low price of $1900

 23 JUNE 2024

If you lost out in both badge sales last fall and have been bemoaning your fate ever since - it's not too late! CCI has dished up a tasty and partly tax-deductible option for you: paying $1900 to get a badge and become a Museum member. 

If you pony up to take advantage of this offer, you'll get...

• A Preview Night badge
• A Museum Legend membership that includes general admission for 1 year, guest passes, swag, discounts and - mysteriously - "recognition." I'm assuming this means Legend members get their names carved into a wall or brick sidewalk like philanthropists of yore.
• A nice tax deduction minus the $455 market value

If you recall the old Ebay badge sales, this tracks in terms of dollars - and if you can afford it, it really does grant your Comic-Con wishes while giving money to a good cause. 

In other words, I would do it if I didn't have a badge. And if you're especially flush with cash? You can set this to auto-renew every year and skip the bothersome (some would say thrilling) stress of badge sales.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Do you want to become a Legend? And when is Returning Registration?

 4 OCTOBER 2023

There's been a lot of speculation on which Saturday morning will be claimed by Returning Registration this fall. Because of the Junior Badge email CCI sent out, many predicted an early sale. (Though what qualifies as "early" is debatable: last year it was October 15.) Quite a few people thought we might get Ret Reg this weekend. But if you were waiting for a CCI email today announcing a Saturday, Oct. 7 badge sale, you got something else instead: an invitation to empty your coffers to become a Legend member at the Comic-Con museum. 

A membership which includes a full Preview Night badge. A membership which costs a mere $1900. (Missing the visual gasp of a $2000 price tag by a whisker.) CCI assures us that "the memberships will sell out quickly" (will they, though?) and that you get all kinds of discounts and previews and a docent tour - for one year. Yes, this is not a lifetime membership. That $1900 and the ghost of compound interest floating behind it is an annual fee. Not tax deductible, I believe, but correct me in the comments if I'm wrong. I know museum membership tax rules aren't clearcut. 

It's entirely possible to have the badge sale right before this Legend launch, of course. It officially starts Saturday morning at 10 am and involves museum staff who won't be involved with the badge sale. But that's a lot to pack into one morning so I'm going to assume we can cross Saturday off our Ret Reg list of possibilities. 

Should You Become a Legend?

If I lived in San Diego, I'd probably do this just to be a good supporter (and I really like the Museum) so maybe there are many other people who feel the same. But if you are contemplating this solely to lock down a badge - I wouldn't advise it. CCI will likely put some badges up for auction like always and you can probably pay about the same or less to score one that way. That's just my advice - but if you're one of those luckless people who've been striking out in Open Reg for years, I can see where this would appeal.

Anyhow. The membership sale starts Saturday morning at 10 am for people with a current SDCC Member ID and runs through Monday night. Then the general public gets their shot on Thursday. Oct. 12.

I'm hoping CCI then catches its breath, skips over October 14, and serves up Returning Registration on October 21. Or October 28 or returns to November. Anything but October 14 as I'll be enjoying the tacky Halloween pleasures of Salem, someone else in my group will be traveling for the eclipse, and thousands of SDCC people will be wandering around New York Comic Con. It's just not a great day. And it would be pretty savage to schedule an SDCC badge sale during the next best-known Comic-Con.

But who knows what our cunning overlords will do.

How to Become a Legend

The process for becoming a top-tier Museum member is strangely analog. You have two options:

1) Visit the Museum in person on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.

2) Watch for an email with a link to an online form where you will not purchase your membership, but "express interest." Then a museum staff member will call you to process your payment. I feel like this is extremely inefficient - will they call right away? Are you supposed to hang around waiting so you don't have to recite your credit card number from yoga class or a screening of The Exorcist: Believer or wherever you happen to be when they call? I feel like there's a story behind their attempt to avoid online payment, but we're never going to hear it.

So! Will you become a Legend at the Museum - and the very first verified attendees of San Diego Comic-Con 2024? Do you have any Returning Registration dates you're hoping for? Any dates you're worried about? Share your theories.

Badge sale links, vax cards, and other considerations

 22 SEPTEMBER 2021

Happy Fall Equinox! CCI delivered its own harvest today in the form of badge sale links! These are going to play a huge role in everyone's fate, so let's talk about that right off. We've been waiting to see which of 2 possibilities was true:

1. Everyone gets a generic link, which they and every colleague, family member and friend paste into a zillion browsers.
2. Everyone gets a unique link, workable for one entry into the badge sale waiting room.

Now that we have our links (check your email and your Member ID account), what's the verdict? At a glance, the links are labelled the same. But in my group, the links point to different targets. And it makes sense they'd be unique, because CCI has promised that if we get ejected from the badge sale, we can just click our links and go right back to our spot in the waiting room. It also makes sense because CCI does not want to crash their badge sale with an astronomical number of entries. That said, we'll see on Saturday how it all plays out.

Onto other business.

Once again, review the different screens. The badge sale process has changed slightly. In my conversations over the last week, I am amazed at how many people did not realize this, or notice we were losing registration codes. Look, if there's one thing I've learned over the years - never take CCI for granted. They will always throw a monkey wrench into your assumptions when you least expect it.

Also - please log into your Member ID account pronto and make sure everything's working and accurate. I got locked out of mine, had to request a new password which didn't work, had to contact support, etc. The trouble started because of a weird nonsensical message that came up as soon as I typed in my Member ID name. Who knows what gremlins were at work there - but I'd make sure your information looks good, even though you have the link in your email. 

There were also some troubles with the professional badge sale, which is another reason to play it safe.

Let's talk vaccines and testing.

I know this upsets many people, but you do need to be vaxxed or have a negative COVID-19 test result in the last 3 days. That's vaxxed as in fully vaccinated - 14 days from the last shot. If your last shot is 5 days before the Con, you'll need a negative test as well. You can do the math here; counting back two weeks from November 26, and a month between shots for that, you can see that you need to get vaccinated pretty damn quick.

Vaccination proof needs to be directly from the healthcare provider that vaccinated you and it needs to be on your phone or a physical copy. My own vaccine card looks super sketchy - it's handwritten and the clinic I went to has a bizarre, non-healthcare-sounding name, so I'm going to try to get something digital as proof. Consider doing the same for the sake of expediency. And yes, you'll need to show government-issued ID with a matching name. 

For negative tests, they can be PCR or antigen, but they must be done by a certified lab, clinic or physician. In other words - your home test from Amazon won't cut it.

And yes, you'll be masked, even if it conflicts with your cosplay. If you're anti-mask or anti-vax, this is not the place for you. You need to provide your own masks - but you know vendors are going to be selling the most fun masks ever, so there's that.

Badges won't be shipped out - we'll have to pick them up.

This sounds burdensome, I can't lie. It'll happen in Halls G and H (see, you ARE getting into Hall H for once!) and it'll also involve the vax/test checking and ugh, I'm having flashbacks to the days of waiting in line for hours to get my badge. I'm hoping they open up on Thanksgiving night and let us come in and get situated - otherwise many of us will miss half of Friday.

This won't be "the large gathering reflective of the summer event."

Yeah, we know. There will be reduced attendance for a more "intimate gathering" - and something called Fannish Friday Shopping for Black Friday. All of this sounds like heaven to me. But I've never been into the gargantuan pageantry some attendees look for. If you crave long Hall H campouts and snapping selfies in huge outdoor activations, maybe this isn't for you. Those of us who fondly recall the old, more laidback, days will probably be smitten with this Con.

But we will get the Comic-Con Museum opening!

A "limited opening" will happen on Friday, 26 November, with the grand opening scheduled for next July. I'll go if I can, but "limited" in this case sounds extremely limited.

So there's where we are. I'll admit I'm surprised by how many people are blowing this event off, but hey, more badges for the rest of us. To me, this is about seeing friends, blowing money, enjoying some offbeat panels, and luxuriating in that convention center feeling. And of course, supporting CCI.

Good luck! I'll live blog the sale like always. I'm guessing it will go quite fast unless a storm brews up like with professional registration.

You can visit the Comic-Con Museum for free during SDCC

2 JULY 2019

While we're anxiously awaiting the complete panel schedules to drop this week, CCI has given us another mental morsel to chew on: the much-awaited Comic-Con Museum will be open for free during SDCC.

Well, a pop-up version of it anyway. (Did you know the complete museum will feature 68,000 square feet of vintage and current nerdy treasures? I didn't and now I want to hide out there during the zombie apocalypse.) This smaller version will still offer some enticing attractions:

• An immersive VR Batman experience, where you turn into Batman swooping over Gotham City
• A gallery of 80 years of Batman art
• An exhibit of designs from the Her Universe fashion show 
• Art classes taught by a Certified Bob Ross Instructor (yes, capitalized)
• And daily panels in the Museum theatre*

Here's what available: staff to answer questions and chat with; a cafe with sandwiches and drinks. And doubtless some vintage comic book art.

Here's what's kind of available: parking, on a first come, first serve basis.

Here's what isn't available: merchandise! You can't buy anything, which may be the first time I've ever typed that in regard to an SDCC event.

What you also need to know: If you're a first-timer new to San Diego, Balboa Park is worth exploring. The world-famous zoo is there (though the pandas have gone back to China) and so are a lot of other museums and attractions, including the Fleet Science Center. You might be thinking, "I'm finally at San Diego Comic-Con - why would I want to go visit a park?" The answer is that either you don't have a full badge and have a day to fill, or you do have a full badge and will be able to use a break from the Con at some point.

Now, it's worth noting that this will be open to people without a badge, which means it could attract all those people who linger around the area to pretend they're at Comic-Con without actually going inside the convention center. It may even attract a few of the bible-quoting protesters. So how hard will it be to get in?

I don't know, is my unsatisfying answer. I think a lot of attendees would head over at night but it's not open then; still, I think a fair number will be interested. CCI plays coy in their blog post, saying, "If the building reaches its capacity, there will be a single entry line, organized on a first-come-first-served basis." Normally I'd roll my eyes at their tendency toward understatements, but it is a big building - so maybe getting in won't be terrible.

Anyhow, put this on your list - especially if you have a Thursday/Sunday badge.



* Since these seem to be part of the regular programming, make a note to build in travel time; this will be an entire excursion, not like getting from 6BCF to Ballroom 20.

The clock is ticking on the Comic-Con Museum contest for SDCC 2019 badges

11 SEPTEMBER 2018

You have to hand it to CCI - they know how to keep us guessing. Usually our questions are along the lines of "When is the badge sale?" and "Why didn't I get a hotel room?" and "Am I even in the right line?"

But then CCI tantalized us with hints about the Comic-Con Museum - and then at SDCC, they announced an audacious contest-fundraiser for 2019 SDCC badges that has sparked a few questions. If you haven't entered it yet, skip on over right now. The deadline is only a month away. And it's worth a shot, even if you don't feel like raiding your 401K to play.

Because yes, this is a contest where you have to pay to play. It's for a good cause, of course; the ultimate nerdy experience, Comic-Con Museum. You may be wondering just how much money it takes to create a museum like this - the answer is apparently $25 million. That seems high to me but I guess you can't put a (reasonable) price tag on pop culture memorabilia. 

How The Contest Works

You fork over a certain amount of cash - anything from $10 to $5,000 - and receive a commensurate amount of entries. $10 gets you 100 entries, $5,000 gets you 50,000 entries, and everything else falls somewhere in between. (For some reason, paying $25 for 250 entries is the most popular option, even though paying $50 gets you 1000 entries.)

What You Get

Quite a bit, actually:

• Full badges, including Preview Night
• Airfare and hotel
• Photo ops
• Exclusive tickets to live shows
• An SDCC "concierge" to help the winner plan out their show
• Reserved Hall H seating
• An invitation to the Comic-Con Museum inaugural event - or a "similar 50th SDCC event"
• Dinner with a Comic-Con executive who will answer any questions about SDCC

The Important Questions

Badges, hotel, plane tix: that's expected. Ditto photo ops. The concierge and AMA dinner, that's not something other contests can offer and potentially interesting. I would take full advantage of that dinner.

But what's really intriguing is the "similar 50th SDCC event" mentioned as an alternative to the Comic-Con Museum event. I'm guessing that's because they aren't quite sure the Museum will open in tandem with SDCC (I've seen 2020 mentioned as a more realistic date) or at least be event-ready. (Right now it is hosting small events, though not technically open. But I can't imagine they'll hold a fancy inauguration until every finishing touch has been perfected.)

So what kind of 50th event are we getting? If it's something where tickets are hotly coveted, that implies most of us won't be able to attend. So will there be a celebration that's open to all attendees?

And more importantly - does the October 18 contest deadline hint at a Returning Registration date?

I know many of you went on high alert with the child validation deadline passing last week; others are convinced RR won't take place until after this fundraiser ends. However, I'm not sure that's the case since you could argue getting shut out of Ret Reg would be a powerful motivator to contribute. In other words, I just don't think we're in a position to make good predictions. As someone who's going to be on a plane all of Saturday, October 20, I'm hoping there's no connection.


We're in that season where SDCC 2018 already feels like a distant memory while SDCC 2019 feels too far in the future to worry about. But with this contest-fundraiser drawing to a close, it's something to pay attention to. You and I probably won't win anything, but at least we'll be contributing to the Comic-Con Museum and our futures at SDCC.

You can become a charter member of the museum here.