There's always Plan B

Age of the Geek Column: In 2003 I used a chunk of my high school graduation money to hop on a plane and fly out to San Diego for my first Comic-Con.
Meeting up with a group of people I'd only known from internet message boards, it was a crazy week of shopping, meeting artists and writers of various comics, and getting the autographs of minor TV celebrities.
I returned with a stack of hard-to-find back issues to fill the holes in my comic book collection, a bunch of signed memorabilia, and about a hundred digital photos without which there would be no way for me to pin down exactly what I did that long ago.
The next year, for reasons that might have made sense at the time, I decided against a return trip. I don't recall why I decided not to go back, but I do remember regretting it. In fact, I vividly remember my friends at college telling me about the cool things happening at that year's convention and me kicking myself for not seizing the opportunity to go back.
It was that moment that I decided I wouldn't make the same mistake twice. I went back to Comic-Con in 2005 and have returned to San Diego for the convention every July since then. For more than a decade I've basically been spending 51 weeks out of the year killing time in between conventions.
This year will probably be a noteworthy convention. Among the usual suspects that I enjoy every year, Marvel Studios will be there, presumably to start up the hype-train for the post-Endgame landscape of the MCU.
And I won't be there for it. Getting into Comic-Con isn't easy. The unbelievable popularity of the convention has practically turned the process of getting passes into a lottery. Tens of thousands of passes are sold in seconds as vendor websites buckle under the strain of the virtual stampede.
Traditionally, I've used alternative methods to secure my way in, either operating as a reporter for a comic book news website or going on behalf of a local comic book shop. However, as demand increases, these passes have become harder to get.
This year, like every year, I reached out to my contact to see about doing coverage for them in exchange for a pass. For years this process has been little more than a formality. However, times have changed. They are scaling back their Comic-Con coverage, which means scaling back the people they send. Specifically, freelancers like me.
I always knew this day would come, I just hoped I'd have a little more warning.
Thus, the frantic search for an alternative began. I reached out to other outlets, hoping that my experience in specifically covering this greatest of conventions would make me an appealing catch for an overwhelmed and short staffed crew. No takers.
That's OK, because there's always another way. You don't spend 15 years going to Comic-Con without forming a network of people who also go to Comic-Con. So, with a couple months to go, I reached out and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And eventually it started to look like the unthinkable was going to happen. I wasn't going to Comic-Con.
Normally by the time this column would see print I would be two time zones away preparing myself for a weekend of convention adventures. Instead, much to the relief of my coworkers, I will be here preparing myself for a week of fair coverage.
It's going to be a hard week, and not just because of the fair coverage. The entire pop culture world is gravitating to San Diego this weekend, churning out a thousand articles a day to remind me that I am not there.
But there is a silver lining. While I hate missing out on Comic-Con, the downside of dedicating your whole year around that one week means that you don't really get to do other things. This year, I can do something else.
The possibility of missing Comic-Con has become an opportunity. While I waited to see if my network of friends could get me a pass, I started on Plan B. A trip to Tokyo, something I've always wanted to do but have never been able to fit in until now.
As June came to an end I pulled the trigger. The plane ticket is bought and my friend out there, who has been urging me to visit for years, is already planning activities. I haven't been this excited to fly out to a strange new place and sleep on somebody's couch since 2003.
Of course less than a week after buying the plane ticket I heard back from a friend who could get me a pass into Comic-Con.
Next year.
Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and is going to have to go on a media blackout this week.

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