From: [m--kb--y] at [oak.circa.ufl.edu] (Holy Moley!)
Subject: DragonCon Review [1 of 3]
Date: 19 Jul 1994 21:10:42 GMT
Reply-To: [m--kb--y] at [oak.circa.ufl.edu]


Here are some of my impressions of DragonCon/Atlanta Comics Expo
1994.  There's not as much news in this report as my Heroes Con
'94 report, since I didn't schmooze with the artists as much this
time.  Plus, DragonCon wasn't as well supported by the main comic
publishers.  But more on that later...  I'm sure somebody's already
said all this, but it's hard to shut me up.  =)

   DragonCon was held in the beautiful Atlanta Hilton and Towers
in downtown Atlanta from July 15 thru 17.  There was a trade show
for retailers in the same building on the 13th and 14th.  It's
a nice hotel, and not a bad place to stay if you have the moolah
to burn (about $100/night).  Alternatives were the Mariott (even
more expenseive), the Ramada (less expensive), and the Radisson
(which con organizers didn't mention but prices were comparable to
the Hilton, maybe a bit lower).

   I attended the con with a couple retailer friends of mine who
gave me a retailer badge.  The retailer seminars started two days
before DragonCon proper on the Wednesday before the weekend of
the show.  Wednesday is basically a waste of time and money, as
the "swap meet" set up for retailers was very poorly attended, and
only a tiny space was set aside for it.  If I remember correctly,
there were only 9 retailers with tables, and one of them (Southern
Fantasies Distribution) took up a third of the tables.  Still,
I did pick up some cheap stuff like Penthouse Comics #2 and Shi
#1 below cover price.  Prophet #6 was available for $1.  There 
were some decent deals, but nothing worth an extra night's worth
of expenses.

   The "retailer expo" included a display room where a lot of the
publishers were set up in advance like at a trade show.  I finally
saw the true colors of most dealers when I saw them at the Del Rey
Books booth.  Since Del Rey was giving away free books, the dealers
were going absolutely nuts grabbing as many as possible.  I felt
sorry for the poor schmo who had to take care of the table!  Wizards
of the Coast who are the makers of that ultra hip game, Magic the
Gathering, had the largest display.  They even threw a free dinner
on Thursday night for retailers.  Instead of a serving line and cheap
food that I was expecting, it was actually decent.  We had some kind
of ravioli and various types of bread for an appetizer.  Then salad
was served, after which the main entree of boneless chicken breast
stuffed with lobster meat with rice and steamed veggies on the side
was brought out.  Dessert was a parfait-like concoction in a sugary
shell with fresh fruit.  After that, we were treated to a relatively
short presentation from the WOTC people and a magic show from a
magician who was pretty decent and sarcastic to boot.

   Oh yeh, I forgot to mention... thanks to White Wolf for the
free drink tickets!  They gave out free drink tickets to be redeemed
at their live role playing event (I think it was Legacy or some
such game involving Vampires), so I went and drank but passed on
playing.  To me, live role playing brings to mind real knives
and biting people on the neck, but it appeared to be quite tame.

   Starting Thursday evening, it seemed like the entire lobby of
the Hilton was taken up by brainwashed zombies who couldn't do anything
but play Magic the Gathering (from here on in abbreviated, Magic).
They were either doing that or walking around asking, "Wanna play
some Magic?"  If you wanted to play Magic, DragonCon was definitely
the place to be.  All weekend long, you could see the Magic cards
everywhere.  I even when to the downtown food court to eat, and lo
and behold, there are people trading and playing Magic cards!  
AAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!  Magic was the bane of my existence -- I was
there for the comics related activities, but Magic followed me
everywhere.  The only good thing I got out of it was the free dinner
that WOTC put on because they made so much money off of Magic.

   Anyhow, after Thursday's dinner I went to go see an old friend of
mine from when I lived in Atlanta looking only to be up until maybe
2 am at the latest, but we wound up staying up way past then, so
it might've been 5 am before I caught some shut eye.  And I was going
to have to pick him up the next morning to go to the show!  So much
for running into the dealer's room first thing in the morning!

[... continued in next message ...]
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As long as it's hot and wet and goes down the right way it's fine with me.
     -- The Duchess of York, Fergie, on tea.
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