July 22: It was preview night, the night before the official opening of Comic-Con 2009, but you wouldn't know it. The crowd gathering at the San Diego Convention Center was already quite large. "This is preview night?" I thought. Preview nights past was a way for season ticket holders to get a sneak peek at the exhibit hall floor, of the vendors and what they were going to hype, in a relative calm before the frenzy. No more.Seems like everyone has season passes this year - Comic-Con has been sold out for months, after all - and this year's preview night served as an appetizer for those who couldn't wait one more day for the opening. Sure, there were a few pilot screenings of anticipated TV shows - Human Target, V, and The Vampire Diaries - but the majority of the throng was there to endure the long lines to grab any free swag, or to scope out the new and exclusive action figures for sale.
All the comic book publishers were on hand, as well as the big media giants like Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and Fox, and the major toy and game makers like Hasbro, Mattel, and EA. The fanboy/girl crowd was warming up, taking it all in, ready to endure the next four days. And the newbies, who were experiencing Comic-Con for the first time were easy to spot: they had the wide eyes and that slightly overwhelmed looks on their faces.
"This is just preview night!" Welcome to Comic-Con 2009.
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