Saving Strategies for Comic Con 2010 San Diego

It's that time of year again when comic book geeks and fans of all things four-color funny and superheroic converge on San Diego in droves. If you haven't already secured your place at the Comic Book, pop-culture event of the year, then your only recourse is to scour eBay or Craigslist for a pass to the event. But that might cost you more than if you planned in advance and bought a ticket before the early sellout a few months back.

For those who already have a ticket, or have friends on the inside who can get you in, the following two-buck wisdom from yours truly is for you.

Transportation: Whether you're planning on going for just one day (from past experience, unless you just have to be at the early panels on Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the best days to go and get all of the juicy details on your favorite comics, movies, video games, and artists.), or the whole event, it might  be better to hop on the Amtrak if your point of origin is anywhere relatively close to San Diego. If that is indeed the case, then a ticket will run you about $36 each way; $72 in all (Yay, mathematics!). Not bad for a round trip from LA to San Diego and a chance to avoid paying for parking or gas during the trip. It might cost more the farther away you are, but if the distance is too great then this is not really an option for you anyway.

Lodging: Your first best bet is to reach out to that old friend living in the area or ex-girlfriend who doesn't absolutely hate the very thought of you and crash for free--or a few promised rounds at the local bar. If you're heading to the San Diego Comic Con with a group of your very own super-friends, then a great way to save is to share a room. Flip a coin for who gets the bed(s), couch, or floor. If you have to (ahem) not be quite honest about the number of guests per room to avoid paying more, do that as well.

Obviously, last minute deals aren't going to be as nice as a well-planned-in-advance deal, but look to inns and motels while avoiding trying to get into the big fancy hotels unless you have money to burn. Really good San Diego hotel coupons will certainly help. Going by the Comic Con International website's hotel booking engine, the lowest priced rooms still available, as of this writing, range from about $149 a night to $229/night. Not that cheap, but it is very, very last minute. Make new friends on the train, mooch off of them.

Bargain Comic Shopping: Sure, there will be a ton of newer books and DVDs on sale at the convention. But you can overpay for that stuff any day, anywhere. This is Comic Con. Time to scour the best back issue bargain bins and collector discount booths for cheap needles in the proverbial fandom haystack. Look for retailers selling bulk discounts, like complete series sets at prices cheaper than the trade paperback versions of those same series. If the special story from your youth isn't available in trade, Comic Con is a great place to hunt down bargain copies in pretty good condition. The same doesn't always hold true for long-cherished action figures, but with a little patience and haggling skill, there are deals to be had. DVDs and old videos of long out of print Sci-fi series are also readily available. The prices for these can, in all honesty, range from super low to outrageously high.

Load up on free stuff: There is a ton of cheap to free swag to be had over the course of the show. Grab whatever you can carry. Keep what you really want like that sketchbook from your favorite indie comics artist (Food One in the house!) or the girl in the Sailor Moon cosplay outfit. Okay, you really can't take her home--but you get my point. Whatever you don't want to store away and keep forever, sell on eBay or Craigslist. I've done it before. Attach the words Comic Con to the for-sale item and you'll see a mad rush of collectors looking to take the items off your hands for a few pretty pennies.

Food: Best advice: eat off-site. Having wondered where my cash went after two days of grubbing at the Con in the past, it is way cheaper and healthier to lunch, brunch or whatever you do in the city instead of in the sweaty fanboy-infested convention hall.

Experience vicariously:  Didn't have the cash or time to make this year's event?  There are a number of ways to keep on top of all the geek-tastic happenings.  Arguably the biggest comic news site on the web and very popular among fanboys, Comic Book Resources will be posting minute by minute updates, podcasts, videos, articles with all the news from the show floor. Also Jen Chaney of The Washington Post is in attendance at Comic Con 2010 and has been posting and tweeting her experiences via the Celebritology blog.  It's not the same as being in the convention hall with hordes of caped crusaders and Princess Leia bikini-clad attendees milling about--but maybe that's a good thing...

So what's your plan while taking in the sights and sounds of thousands of fanboys and fangirls geeking out over Tron Legacy cast sightings or fighting over the latest news from the Marvel Comics X-Men panel? Let me know in the comments section below. Or look for me in Artist's Alley sometime this weekend. Maybe. Fingers crossed...

As always, you can follow my tweets on all things comics, video games, and tech via Twitter @SavingsGCapes. Live Long and Prosper. Oh wait, wrong convention...