From Comic-Con Nation

Hello, hello, hello. If you saw my schedule, you'd be amazed that I have time to read the Internet, let alone add new content to it. I am having my usual great time at Comic-Con, rushing from event to event, eating occasionally, sometimes even finding time to sleep. I am not complaining for each year I do this not only willingly but eagerly. I could not live at this pace for long but it's stimulating in so many ways for so few days.

Actually, it's longer than we sometimes realize. Comic-Con stretches from Wednesday evening at 6 all the way to Sunday afternoon at 5 but that's ignoring the week or two of prep time and at least a week of recovery. Some aspects of the recovery have been known to last long enough to bleed into the prep time for the following year.

Photo by Bruce Guthrie

Above is a photo from a panel yesterday called "That 70's Panel" which I do every year, discussing comic books that came out in that decade. I think we're going to change its name next year because apparently a few people showed up for it thinking it was about the That 70's Show TV program. The folks you see in the pic are in the back row, left to right: Richard Pini, m.e., Steve Leialoha and Elliot S! Maggin; front row: Wendy Pini, Marv Wolfman and Rick Hoberg.

I post it here for the benefit of those who keep saying there's nothing about comic books at Comic-Con.  There's plenty, fella.  You just don't take the time to look.  I also want to address those who say there's too much hard-selling at Comic-Con.  You people, I agree with.

There's nothing wrong with telling folks about your current project or product…although on my panels, we do very little of that.  On Thursday though, I had the time to sit in on smidgens of a few others.  I loved my pal Leonard Maltin's, where he invited anyone and everyone to come up to the microphone and tell him why he'd underrated or overstarred a certain movie.  I was less impressed with a few others that reminded me of a presentation I once got roped into, hectoring me to invest in a Time Share on Maui.

I have a prejudice about Hard Sells: The more you tell me how good your product is, the crappier I assume it is.  This applies to used cars, investment opportunities, the junk you're trying to unload at your garage sale and many other commodities.  It applies doubly to creative enterprises like telling me how much I'll love your comic book, cartoon, TV show, etc.  When you pass a certain level of humility to tell me how great your novel is, I invariably think, "You wouldn't need to say that if there were others who had read it and come to that conclusion.   They'd be saying that."

This assumption may seem unfair…and I'm sure it is in some cases, just as it's wrong to assume you'll love something because the guy selling it says you will.  But I took in a little of two panels Thursday that sounded way too much like those Maui Time Share pushes and I wish Comic-Con had less of that.  And I'd like the folks who do them to consider — just consider — that they may be unselling their wares by overselling their wares.

Saturday at Comic-Con awaits. Tomorrow is even more loaded so you may not hear much from me 'til I'm home. And by the way, another thing I'm enjoying here is meeting readers of this blog. No matter how busy I may seem, I'm never too busy for that. Except just before Quick Draw!