The Comic-Con International commences Thursday in San Diego. Somewhere between (this is a guess on my part) 110,000 and 125,000 fans and creators of comics, animation, fantasy films and television and video games will be descending on the convention center. Roughly (this is another guess) 500 will be wandering about in some sort of costume, in some cases because some exhibitor has paid them to dress that way to promote a product. There will also be 7,000 video reports and news stories that will make it look like half the people there are dressed like Vampirella or Klingons to live out some sort of personal fantasy.
I attended my first comic convention in New York in 1970 and later that same year, attended the first comic convention in San Diego. I'm among the handful of folks who've been to every San Diego gathering. Shortly after one of them in the seventies, my aunt saw a TV news report on the con and asked me, "What did you go dressed as?" It took me a minute to figure out the question but when I did, I told her, "Myself. I dressed like I always dress…shirt, jeans, shoes…"
"But I thought you had to dress like Superman or Batman to get in," she said.
I explained to her the reality of the situation…but later, I saw the same TV news segment she saw and I could sure understand why she thought what she thought. Since then, a majority of the press coverage I've seen has at least exaggerated the number of people who wander the aisles in super-hero costumes. It's getting to the point where I'm thinking of wearing my Hawkwoman suit to the convention. If you can't beat 'em…