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.