Pictures from the 2016 Comic-Con International, part 1: Tuesday (the day before!)

It's time to once again check out some pictures from the recently concluded 2016 Comic-Con International in San Diego! There's a lot to get to, but let's start out slowly with some pictures from the day before Comic-Con, Tuesday the 19th. I usually arrive in San Diego the day before the convention in an attempt to function like a human being once things start on preview night, but this year was a little different in that for the first time since 2012, I was able to do some setup on Tuesday.

Getting to enter the convention hall a day early is a lot of fun, if for nothing else than the fact that it's an experience not many other people get to have. Comic-Con instituted some changes with their badges this year, sending them in the mail weeks before the show rather than having on-site pickup. This eliminated one of the long lines to enter and I appreciated that. Not everyone is a fan of the new RF tagged badges, but I had no problems with them and thought the process went smoothly.

Another cool thing about getting to enter a day early is getting to run around the convention floor before it opens. A lot of sightseeing happens on this day from exhibitors.

There was no air conditioning inside the hall on this day, which was fairly terrible as the first few days of the convention were hot and sunny. So I didn't do too much inside other than getting the boxes where they needed to be and getting the appropriate lanyards and tags.

To the left of the above picture, you can see the new electronic monitors at the entrances. Other than having to go in and out of specific doors, it wasn't too much of a hassle.

Here's the inside of Comic-Con while setup is still happening at a furious clip. In the above picture we can see DC Comics on the left and Sideshow Collectables on the right. Lotsa freight to unbox on Tuesdays.

Comic-Con sprawl continues, and on Tuesday afternoon I went to my first Comic-Con panel...before the show officially opened. This was the Lindley Lecture on Law & Comics, held at the San Diego Central Library. I signed up to attend online, and when I entered the auditorium, I was asked to write down my name and bar association number.

Apparently, a vast majority of attendees were practicing lawyers (this probably counted as some sort of continuing education lecture), but the panel was nonetheless enjoyable for someone who was there as a fan. Terry Moore (and his entertainment lawyer) was the featured speaker and it went well. It was also nice to get out of the heat for a bit.

The banners adorning the light posts this year had Dr. Strange branding. These stayed up until several days after the show ended. Maybe you can just take one? Let's find out next year, shall we?

This was easily the busiest Tuesday that I've experienced at the show in the few years that I've been attending. I had a lot of fun but it did make the rest of the show a little tougher to get through, as I didn't relax nor did I go to sleep early this night. And Wednesday came early this year, too! But I guess that's what to expect with Comic-Con. More pictures to come soon!