This year’s PREVIEW NIGHT at ComicCon seemed a lot less crowded and I spent a pleasant three hours basically roaming the floor with no real agenda, just seeing what there was to see.

The following are a few hopefully coherent random thoughts presented in no particular order.

– There seemed to be a lot of vehicles on the floor (or maybe its just because I’m a gearhead that I notice them) – Bond’s Aston-Martin, The Owlcraft from Watchmen, Chuck’s Nerd Herd car and even Marco Andretti’s Indy race car with Clone Wars artwork on it. (But no Batmobile or Bat-Pod)

– The Small Press area seemed bigger with more indy publishers and more interesting comics to make sure I go back and take a closer look.

– Some of the aisle space seemed wider hopefully making it easier to get around the show floor.

– While the major publishers booths were busy there was no real sense of "buzz" around any of them like there was last year – this may change during the week depending on announcements.

– Actually thinking about it there was no one booth dominating the hype as in previous years.

– Several major toy and collectibles licenses have switched around leading to some interesting new products from some new names on the scene.

– SF themed TV was as prominent as the movies at the media end of the hall.

– As always Artist’s Alley was only about 30% occupied on Preview Night – why pay for space and then not use it when the floor is full of the more hard core fans and collectors?

– One thing that was noticeably absent was a rash of people in costumes – I’m guessing they will crawl out of the woodwork as the week progresses.

– Badge issue seemed a lot smoother this year and I didn’t hear any complaints.

– Best give-away so far – large purple shoulder bag from the SiFi Channel with the words "Big Frakking Bag" emblazoned across it.