Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Wednesday Evening

Dahlia Lithwick analyzes the Gay Marriage decision. Just as a lay person, it seemed to me that the lawyer defending Proposition 8 put up an awfully feeble argument. Actually, I've long thought all arguments against letting gays marry were pretty feeble but the folks who put up the $$$ to defend 8 didn't even get their money's worth.

Lithwick explains why it was a sound decision but that really won't matter. The losing side in any such battle these days always think that every court decision that doesn't go their way has to be morally bankrupt, possibly crooked and certainly the work of an "activist judge." I remember when O.J. Simpson was acquitted there were folks who thought he was guilty but who said, "Given what was presented in court, I completely understand why the jury voted the way they did." That never happens when political issues are involved. Everyone thinks their view is so overwhelmingly just and valid that no one could possibly come to another view via honest means.

• Posted at 11:36 PM · LINK

Wednesday Afternoon

Okay, so the judge here has overturned Proposition 8 and the right-wing pundits and politicians couldn't be happier. They don't really care about Gay Marriage — or if they do, it's secondary to the big prize, which is an issue to outrage their base and motivate it to march and vote and buy books and watch their shows and most of all, donate money. They were all disappointed when they lost Flag Burning as an issue that had that power. It was good for a time but it was so damned stupid, it soon collapsed. They all know Same-Sex Wedlock will eventually be of no use to them. The trend in this country is moving inexorably towards its acceptance. But they had hoped to get a few more years and a few more election-cycles out of it...and now they will. Rush and Hannity have to be turning cartwheels.

I have no idea what's going to happen with the courts on this. It probably has something to do with where it heads, how quickly it gets there and who's on the various benches when it arrives. Eventually, it'll get to the Supreme Court, I guess. Before then though, a lot of people are going to rake in a lot of cash.

• Posted at 2:47 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

I think you all know how this one goes...

• Posted at 10:52 AM · LINK

Later Today...

Between 1 PM and 3 PM, Judge Vaughn R. Walker will issue his ruling on the constitutionality of California's Propostion 8, the one that banned Gay Marriage. Most of the court watchers seem to think he's going to strike it down, which would mean a lot of screaming all around for months — maybe a year or two — as this thing wends its way towards the U.S. Supreme Court. I still think a neater path to equality would be via the ballot box. It would make it all the Will of the People, rather than a decision by the courts, plus we'd be spared all the delighted outrage of the Fox News crowd. But we'll see...

• Posted at 3:32 AM · LINK

From the E-Mailbag...

Rob Rose writes to ask...

Mark: a lot of people have expressed concern, not just with the crowding at Comic-Con, but at the fact that it seems to be more and more dominated by Hollywood. Movie, television, and video game companies dominate the exhibit space, and they use up an awful lot of the programming time as well. True, a lot of the Hollywood stuff is comics related (there was a lot of buzz generated for the Avengers movie, for example) or at least within the related genres — science-fiction, fantasy, horror, anime, and so forth. But some is not — in particular I've heard people remaking on this year's Glee panel as an example of how the convention has gotten away from its roots.

I don't think anyone can really question that the media is not only a huge part of the convention, but a major reason why it attracts so many people and so much attention. But my question is this: what's the effect of such a large, diverse convention on the comics industry? I have to think that it may be Hollywood that brings people in, but once they're there, some of them might just think about picking up a comic or two, or at least some related merchandise, and that helps the field. Others may feel that the way comics seem buried in the avalanche of other stuff makes them seem even less relevant, and that a smaller, but more comics-focused, convention would be a better idea.

Curious to see if you have any thoughts on the matter. Thanks...

First of all, having things other than comics at Comic-Con is not a betrayal of its roots. It was always part of Shel Dorf's original Mission Statement that the con would embrace forms other than comics, if only to demonstrate that comics were part of the same world. He had a little speech about it that I believe he cribbed with permission from Jack Kirby. At the 1974 convention, the big Guest of Honor was Frank Capra. Mr. Capra had about as much to do with comics as does the cast of Glee...maybe less since the cast of Glee has probably read some comic books.

If you want to attend a smaller convention that's more focused on comics, that's easy. You just go to one of them. WonderCon, which is in San Francisco next April, is run by the same folks who run Comic-Con and while it has some movie stars and film promotions, the ratio is more favorable to comic books. There are other cons where comics are even more dominant.

The thing I don't think some people get is that the comic book industry is no longer about comic books. Maybe some of the smaller publishers only care about those things on paper but DC and Marvel are now companies where comic books are only a cornerstone. At both firms — at most firms for that matter — the product is comic books turned into movies, comic books turned into TV shows, comic books turned into videogames, etc. If Marvel comes to the con to promote Spider-Man, they're not going to just promote the comic book. That isn't where the money is these days. They're going to promote the Spider-Man movie, the Spider-Man cartoon show, the Spider-Man videogame, etc. And most of the attendees want to hear about all of it, not just about the comic book.

The barrier between comics and other more ostensibly lucrative fields is blurring to the point of non-existence. It has never been that tidy and especially not since Star Wars and Star Trek became ubiquitous at comic conventions. Those franchises fit right in...and not because there were comic book versions of those properties — which brings me to the answer to your key question...

What's the effect of such a large, diverse convention on the comics industry? I think it's not only terrific, I think it's life-saving. At a time when magazines of all kind are folding or suffering plunges in circulation, the intermingling of comics with more mainstream media establishes that comics are more than just magazines. It gives them parity with forms of entertainment that aren't dying out or becoming obsolete. It also gives the word "comics" an importance it never had before. Once upon a time, the comic book business looked at the movies and tried to imitate the trends that were selling in that form. Today, it's the other way around.

I love comic books. I own more of them than you do, whoever you are. But the times, they are a'changin' and the era when they could just be these things on cheap paper is gone, probably forever. For good or ill, what the Comic-Con in San Diego is about is what comics are about, these days. If I looked real hard, I could probably come up with some downsides to this evolution but why bother? This is what it is, where we are and where it's all headed. I share with those who bemoan the Hollywood Invasion a grand nostalgia for the old days...but old days have a way of not coming back and some things change just because they have to. Once you accept that, you can have a very good time in today.

• Posted at 3:23 AM · LINK

August 3, 2010 • Current • August 5, 2010