So I looked up the comic conventions in the area, plus the other two Wizard World cons that have prices up.

And to compare to some non-comic-focused conventions, some nearby, some just big:

It’s interesting to note that WonderCon (San Francisco) and ConDor (San Diego) are extremely cheap if you sign up far enough in advance. Also, when you expand to more general cons, San Diego Comic-Con is right in the middle of the range, with several conventions being more expensive. I’d guess that the more volunteer-based cons like Westercon and Worldcon probably don’t bring in as much money from exhibitors, so they’d be more dependent on memberships to keep afloat.

In compiling this, I discovered that this year, Comic-Con International isn’t going to be selling any memberships on-site. It’s going to be pre-registration only.

I guess they’re expecting it to sell out again like last year, and don’t want people to count on something they won’t be able to deliver. Plus I’m sure it’ll simplify matters for the con, since they won’t need to deal with taking money for registration.

Update: Added Loscon for nostalgia’s sake. Also fixed some links; GenCon rearranged their website sometime in the last 4 days, and I somehow typed in the wrong domain name for ConDor.

Note: These are the 2008 prices, except for the ConDor advance price, which is for 2009. All prices were obtained from the events’ websites except for the way-advance price for San Diego Comic-Con, which is simply the price I paid last summer for this year’s con. For shows with multiple membership packages, such as Wizard World, I selected the most basic package that lets you walk in the door.

*CCI always has a booth selling pre-registration for the following year’s convention at an even lower price.

Out in the exhibit hall, near the art show, someone had set up this display:

It’s too small to read at this size, so I’ve transcribed it:

Help us save a world!

On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that a celestial body must meet three criteria to become a planet

1. It must orbit the Sun.
2. It must be round.
3. It must clear its own orbital path of random rocks.

By this criteria, we found that Pluto, long the distant guardian of our solar system, was no longer a planet.

We are resolved to correct this.

We have a plan.

The IAU definition is a good, useful definition for a planet. So we’re not going to challenge the law.

We’re going to fix Pluto, and you can help. Our plan is simple.

1. Collect rocks.
2. Throw rocks at Pluto, increasing its mass.
3. When Pluto gains enough mass, it will clear its orbital path and, by IAU definition, regain the title of planet.

We need your help.

Help us save a world.

Pluto needs rocks!

Please, think of the planets. Together, we can make a difference.

Brought to you by GT. Rebuilding worlds, one rock at a time.

Below the display was a cardboard box:

The Illuminatus! Trilogy

The most insidious part of the book(s) is the frequent use of historical or other authors’ fictional sources. “Oh, there’s Emperor Norton.” “OK, we’re back to Buckminster Fuller again.” “Hey, that’s right, ‘Tekeli-li!’ does show up in both Lovecraft and Poe.” And this constant mixing of fact with fiction, familiar with strange, and things known to be true with things which seem implausible does make you wonder: how much of this did they make up on their own, and how much did they stitch together out of real events, prior works, and creative synthesis?

After all, if you had never heard of Joshua Norton, and one day heard the story of a man who declared himself Emperor of the United States, and was allowed to continue to make the claim, issue his own currency and get local merchants to accept it, and even settle disputes from time to time… would you believe it? You’d have to check the history books first, wouldn’t you? (Side note: I was actually at the 1993 WorldCon in San Francisco that featured fans dressed as “time travelling guests of honor,” including Mark Twain, Emperor Norton, and others, which is mentioned in the article linked above.)

So of course I’m starting to notice all the eye-in-pyramid symbols — it’s a common motif, after all, like the cross or the ankh, or like using an eagle as a symbol of power — in places like the site icon for catb.org, home of Eric S. Raymond and The Jargon File (in which I looked up a phrase this afternoon), or the logo for Icon Comics (I picked up the new Powers collection today). Everyone’s looked at the back of the dollar bill (the only bill in common circulation that hasn’t been redesigned in the last decade).

But what really confused me was a mention of the Erisians as an actual cult on Kuro5hin, and a subsequent Wikipedia search that actually found the “philosophy” of Discordianism, complete with a diagram of the Sacred Chao (chao being the singular of chaos). And it was clear that, assuming the article is accurate, the subculture and its founding document predate the Wilson/Shea trilogy by several decades.

And that brings me back to the original question: how much is creative invention, and how much is creative connection? What other little-known but real people, organizations, or events are hidden away in these books?