Comic-Con wraps after 4 days of pop-art indulgence

From left, executive producer Caroline Skinner, Actors Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and writer/executive producer Steven Moffat attend “Dr. Who” Press Line during Comic-Con International 2012 at Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel in San Diego, California. — AFP

SAN DIEGO — This year’s 43rd annual Comic-Con festival may be over but die-hard fans of the pop-culture celebration already have their minds on next year’s show. “There’s no more pre-registration,” lamented Chris Herrera, 26, of Los Angeles, who was attending his sixth consecutive Comic-Con. “Now you have to register online, and that website always crashes.”

Fans used to be able to register onsite for the following year’s convention, but organizers eliminated that option this year for the 2013 convention, set for July 18-21. The event has become so popular that organizers have capped attendance at around 130,000 and implemented the digital-registration system to reduce long lines onsite (there are enough of those already) and to prevent ticket brokers from buying blocks of admission badges for resale.

“It seems more and more crowded every year,” Herrera said of the festival, which has become as much a marketing mecca for movie studios and TV networks as a celebration of comic books, which is how it all began. ­ — AFP