Conventional Counting

The other day in this post, I said that this year's Comic-Con International would be the 56th one and therefore my 56th one. It no longer says that in that post because I received a flurry of e-mails from folks who said my count was off.

This prompted me to try to recall how I'd arrived at the number I cited and I realized how: Someone — an acquaintance of mine — told me that number and I just assumed it was correct.  I forgot that I have acquaintances who don't know what the hell they're talking about.

I decided to do some research and my own math and in so doing, I realized why there's a confusion.  Here is my list…

1970 – Golden State Comic Con – U.S. Grant Hotel1971 – Golden State Comic Con – Muir College, U.C.S.D. Campus1972 – San Diego's West Coast Comic Convention – El Cortez Hotel1973 – San Diego Comic-Con – Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina1974 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1975 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1976 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1977 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1978 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1979 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1980 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1981 – San Diego Comic-Con – El Cortez Hotel1982 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1983 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1984 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1985 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1986 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1987 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1988 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1989 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1990 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1991 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1992 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1993 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center1994 – San Diego Comic-Con – (Old) San Diego Convention Center

In 1995, the convention moved into the spanking new San Diego Convention Center and the con also underwent a name change…

1995 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center1996 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center1997 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center1998 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center1999 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2000 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2001 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2002 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2003 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2004 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2005 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2006 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2007 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2008 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2009 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2010 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2011 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2012 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2013 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2014 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2015 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2016 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2017 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2018 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2019 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2022 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center2023 – Comic-Con International – San Diego Convention Center

So what's the confusion?  I can explain.  My list does not include the one-day "test" con they held in 1970 before the first "real," multi-day convention, the three-day bonus con they held in November of 1975, the two "at home" cons in 2020 and 2021 or the "back from COVID" event they held in November of 2021. If you want to count any or all of them, you can say there have been 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 or 57 of these gatherings.

Take your pick.  The convention operators ignored the test con and the bonus con when they celebrated the 2019 event as Comic-Con #50 so I didn't count the test con or the bonus con either.  I didn't count the two "at home" ones because we were all "at home" and I didn't count the November 2021 one because it was labeled as a Special Edition.  Unless someone finds fault with the above list, I'm sticking with this year's being #53.