There was no question that the Summit Entertainment Panel at Comic-Con, featuring the cast of New Moon, was going to be a big draw. Just how big it was, though, still blew everyone’s mind. Many started camping out almost two days beforehand and thousands more were turned away once the 6,500 seat Hall H was filled to capacity. Needless to say, tears ensued. The Comic-Con policy is that you once you are in a room you may stay as long as you like, meaning that many who only wanted to see clips from New Moon sat through two earlier panels to view their prize.
This also meant that others were turned away who had no interest in The Twilight Saga. They simply wanted to attend Thursday’s first panel, Disney Digital 3-D, to catch the teaser trailer for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and shout "The Dude abides!" when Jeff Bridges took the stage for Tron: Legacy.
By the time Sunday rolled around, several Comic-Con attendees were walking around with homemade signs with one simple phrase: Twilight ruined Comic-Con. They were greeted by cheers and posed for photos.
We asked several people about the severe backlash and got some very interesting responses. For some it was simply the "we hate everything that is popular" attitude. They just didn’t think that Twilight, with its hoards of screaming fan-girls, had any place at Comic-Con.
Others felt that the Twilight fans, many of whom only bought one-day tickets for Thursday, missed the bigger picture of Comic-Con. Their singular focus on only Twilight matters, meant that they missed out on discovering new movies, books, TV shows, comics, etc., which is what makes Comic-Con such a special event for many. Evidence of this was seen with the traffic jam around the Summit booth in the exhibit hall. Fans stalked it out, waiting for the next allotment of New Moon posters, clogging up already crowded hallways only to leave as soon as they got them. Small children were almost crushed (seriously) when they began handing out posters.
Finally, there were those who were simply angry at missing the Disney 3-D panel, since Disney's fan base may be even more passionate than Twilight groupies.
One fan we spoke with summed it up best. His daughter is a HUGE Twilight fan, he is not. But he did say that Twilight, with its vampire and werewolf mythology, does belong at Comic-Con. The characters and themes are a perfect match for it. He felt the fault lied with the Comic-Con organizers who put Summit's panel third in the day instead of first. If it had gone on first, more fans could have gotten in who only were there for the New Moon experience, which is okay in his mind, and then moved on to make space for those who were there for Disney, Avatar, and the rest of the convention.
Let’s hope Comic-Con learns their lesson if they want to feature Eclipse or Breaking Dawn in the future.