Nevermind, Comic-Con Registration Canceled for Third Time

The long and annual international nightmare that is Comic-Con registration grew even longer this morning, when the organizers of the San Diego show had to close down ticket sales for the second time this year following some unspecified technical issues. The largest pop culture event of its kind, Comic-Con International is probably a victim of its own success, with the computer woes a likely consequence of the massive and simultaneous demand for tickets to the beloved convention. A new registration date has not yet been announced.

The following statement was published this morning on the Comic-Con website:

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED

Once more, unfortunately, there have been issues with Comic-Con registration. So we have, again decided to close it down.

We are well aware that many people have taken time from work, school or other activities and others woke up very early. There really is no way to convey our level regret for this turn of events.

We are currently researching our registration options.

More information and further remarks from Comic-Con officials after the jump.It should be noted that the technical issues appear to be localized to the website of Event Planning International Corporation (EPIC), a contractor hired to administer the ticketing process. Comic-Con Director of Marketing and Public Relations David Glanzer elaborated this morning in conversation with CBR:

"EPIC has been working on their site since easily 6:00 this morning, but the decision was made to go ahead and shut down registration again," he added, saying that it was unknown when registration would restart.

"It's still an incredibly fluid situation over here and if there's anything I could convey to everyone is that there's an amazing sense of frustration on our part, which is nothing compared to the frustration of those who have been trying to log on for the last two or three hours. We can't apologize enough."

2011's Comic-Con International in San Diego will be held from July 21 through July 24. Registration was originally to begin in October, but similar obstacles pushed ticketing back to today. Although no new registration date has been announced, if all goes according to plan then adult attendees will be able to purchase either four-day memberships for $105 or single-day memberships for $37. Four-day passes that include access to 2011's Comic-Con Preview Night were already sold out at this year's convention, but more may be made available later.

More on this as new information becomes available.

[Via CBR]