Reporting From Comic-Con: Overlap
by Doug TenNapelWhat does Voltron, Gumby, “Gods of War III” and Bone have in common? Nothing and everything. This is the great cultural collision that occurs at the San Diego Comic-con. I moved into my booth as all of the exhibitors to the world’s most popular cultural event prepares to overwhelm, nay, smother an unsuspecting public when the doors open.
The last ten or so years has seen a deliberate migration of Hollywood into what used to be a convention to celebrate just comics. A general sense of grumbling can be heard from the true comic fans who resent the beautiful rich crowd carpet-bagging onto Will Eisner’s turf. But what many don’t realize is that this has contributed to the mainstreaming of comics into the rest of culture. With entertainment’s money comes stability of the comics medium, a broadening of a market, more books sold, artists, writers, publishers and bookstores able to stay alive a little longer this is good for our tribe.
But getting back to Voltron and Gumby, why does a convention that celebrates comics also have hundreds of video game consoles, movie stars, even classic 70’s cereal boxes for sale? It’s the overlap. I don’t care who are, if you loved the limited run 1980’s anime television series “Voltron” you read comics. Period. If had to roll my 20 sided dice I’d also bet my last saving throw that you also played video games.
There’s probably a real good chance that you have a throw-back t-shirt of some ancient classic like “Star Wars” and you probably owned a “Planet of the Apes” lunch box. We were raised on the peak of cheap plastic manufacturing that figured out how to get a free toy in a box of cereal while we were figuring out how to put a man on the moon.
Let’s go back to Comic-con 2005 where Dreamworks executive and marketing genius Michael Vollman rolled out a giant diesel truck on the show floor. It was covered in a giant black tarp so that one could only see the wheels of the vehicle but the logo silkscreened on the side said it all…the “Transformers” logo. Ever hear of “Transformers?” Well, at least now you do. And the word of mouth started with a potent, core audience because some savvy marketing folks knew where to find the highest concentration of “Transformer” nuts in the world. Two years later the movie comes out, two years later the sequel.
No matter if you love anime, Dungeons and Dragons, Iron Man or just dress like a Klingon, this is orchestration of those forces converging on America’s Finest City. Oh, and if you don’t have tickets you can’t come because they sold out three months ago. Scalpers are getting 400 bucks and up for passes but you can come back here each day where I’ll bring you the sights (woman wearing that Princess Leia slave outfit who should not be wearing the Princess Leia slave outfit), sounds (of money dumping on my lap by the truck-loads) and smells (mostly pungent B.O.) of the convention floor for free.
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ComicCon, the geek mecca.
I'll see you that last saving throw, and raise you the last THAC0.
That t-shirt rules.
I hate the really big conventions. Somebody always brings their latest case of the common cold, and by the end of the weekend five thousand people have caught it.
Someday I'm going to buy my own booth at SDCC and sell nothing but Zest, Pert Plus, Old Spice, and Purell hand sanitizer. I figure if I don't make back the costs of buying wholesale, at least I'll be doing a public service.
Definitely agree, the overlap in pop culture has been happening since the late 80's. The difference has been how "popular" popular culture has become. Since 2000 geeks, nerds, their tech and their hobbies have gone mainstream. I have noticed this trends for years, actually wondered what took the various factions (comics, games, tech, hollywood) soooo long.
Do I mind? Not really because you gotta take the good with the bad. More often than not the good definitely outweighs the bad in pop culture. Great post Doug, thanks for keeping up in the loop.
5 bucks to the first person who actually knows what THAC0 means..(without Google). I so miss 2nd Edition…
Yes, comics are an afterthought at the show. It's mostly about movies, t.v., and video games these days. The only thing that bothers me is how they have slipped more and more decidedly non-genre material into the convention. The excuse that geekdom watches those t.v. shows or movies doesn't wash with me. I watch everything from "America's Got Talent" to "Dog The Bounty Hunter" to "Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations." It doesn't mean those shows merit panels at Comic Con.
To Hit Armor Class 0
"I don’t care who are, if you loved…" should be "I don’t care who you are, if you loved…"
I'm a professional proofreader who used to love going to little conventions in the basement of the Raddison. I dreamed of being a continuity editor for Marvel when I was a kid, no lie. If you have any interest in my services, I'd like to send you my resume.
My guess is a few years from now you're going to see a situation where much of the "traditional" Comic Con exhibits are shuffled off to the back rooms, if whatever it is can't be repacked and marketed in some new way by the Hollywood execs to potentially make big money. It's not going to be the content anymore as much as it's going to be the deal you can make with the content.
I must confess, I didn't start playing DnD until 3.5. I just am so much a geek I pick up on this stuff.
LOLZ
the travel size products ought to suffice
MUST HAVE:
Big Hollywood correspondents onsite producing 2-5 minute HD quality videos of ComicCon 2010
BRILLIANT
Doug TenNapel at the Comicon…
Graphic novelist and game designer Doug TenNapel writes more on the SanDiego Comicon International at Big Hollywood…
It's been six years since we moved from San Diego. I've only been back to the Con twice since then.
It SUCKS missing out on five days of geek-goodness!
Way to peddle your services without giving anyone a way to reach you
Either that, or I can see the traditional comic exhibits starting another show of their own and leaving the 'Con altogether. Or Comic-Con could even go the way of E3 and be reduced to a really limited amount of people.
The original Voltron was fantastic (not that crap with the cars…f all that)…I don't care if they used tons of the same footage of the fights with every episode. To this day, Voltron is the only "big robot" cartoon I could ever get into…I was never into transformers, although I always thought the toys were really cool.
"And I'll form the head!"
Wow, it really has grown huge since my daughter and I went three years ago. It sold out 3 months ago? When we went we were able to purchase tickets right there at the entrance. It was pricey and we had to wait in a long line but we did get in. Since this was our first (and so far only) experience with CC I was wondering. Do you now have to purchase tickets for different events? For example for our one ticket we got into pretty much everything we wanted to see with the exception of those things that were overcrowded. Does CC now charge per event?
I'm so old I'd play the blue book D&D.
SDCC sold out of tickets? Wow, when I attended during the late 80's I just waited a few minutes in line at the tickets booth on the second day of the convention. Things sure have changed.
No, unless you're going to some off-site event like a party or something not part of the actual convention.
Sort of like how the genuinely independent filmmakers started Slamdance after the big studios pushed them out of Sundance.
The ones I feel bad for are the small, independent press guys who are selling their own work. The Big Boys, i.e. Marvel, D.C., and Dark Horse have their own pavilions right in the middle of all of the action. The indies are relegated to the far end of Hall A and B. Heck, even at Artists Alley, my favorite part of the con besides the Star Wars stuff, you have a lot of well-known and talented illustrators but it's never all that crowded, even on a Saturday.
Shouldn't "Gods of War III" be "God of War III?" Or is that something else?
I totally agree with you.
On a fun side note, one of my buddies goes to the FX show in Orlando every year, and he brings a sketchbook with him, and goes to every one of the comic artists there and has them draw a stick man any way they want it and then sign it afterwards. He showed me his collection and it's pretty awesome to see what these artists think up when just drawing a stick man for a minute or so.
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i live in san diego and couldn't get tickets…..but will head down to people watch…what fun it is when comic con is here
Agree about the cliche. Sorry, I'll work harder to do my job a little better next time. I spent 15 seconds debating between the Slave outfit or the Klingon woman outfit and decided to put the cookies on the bottom shelf.
I vote for MachoSauce.
When the female dwarves had beards!! Now THOSE were the days!
THAC0 was the 2nd Edition version of BAB.
2nd and 3rd Editions used the same equation, it was just expressed differently.
If I was still going to cons, I would definitely stop by your booth if needed. I ALWAYS forgot something while packing. I'm perfectly happy to use hotel-provided soap and shampoo, but I'd have to buy deodorant or toothpaste from the hotel gift shop.
I always love the cosplay pics. There are a few talented cosplayers and a whole lot of fat kids in batman pjs and cereal boxes. Doug- bring on the pics!
I'm surprised that Dial or some equally big company in the personal-hygiene business haven't thought of sponsoring a booth at SDCC. They're headquartered in Phoenix; maybe I should drive over there and pitch it directly to them. I'd love to set up the booth with the banners:
* FORGET TO PACK SOMETHING?
* ELIMINATE "CON FUNK"
* FOR WHEN THE FREE STUFF YOUR HOTEL GIVES YOU ISN'T ENOUGH
* CHEAPER THAN THE GIFT SHOP
* HELPS ATTRACT THE OPPOSITE SEX — GUARANTEED
You might be surprised at how poorly you do. At GenCon, poor hygeine is a recognized psychological warfare tactic among the CCG tourney set. My husband used to complain about it after his matches. You don't really want to go into the large card tourney halls during the big tourney days.
Ah, geeks, if they can't reconcile themselves to bathing, they'll find ways to use it to their advantage.
Ah, another proofer? Ain't it fun?
I am so jealous that you are at Comic Con…
BTW: The Princess Leia slave outfit is so cliche and overused. The only person who should wear it is the Leia figure in the wax museum because if Carrie Fisher can't wear it then no one should be able to wear it.
Manic, I really wasn't looking to throw my email out there to everyone. The administrator could see my email if he or she was interested.
Unfortunately, I was posting in a rush and I screwed up my email address, thus disqualifying any of my talents, I'm sure.
The upside is that the sentence was changed, so I guess I can claim a Pyrrhic victory.
Olivia Munn pulled the slave outfit off nicely.
I remember when comics went from ten cents to twelve cents. I was in a new-to-me newsstand/luncheonette looking over comics and I was stunned at the increase. I thought the place was doing it themselves. I bought them anyway. Think I got a Flash and a Green Lantern and a Superman or a World's Finest comic. I only would read Sgt Rock at the barber shop.
Nevr bought Marvel comics – still proud of that. Their characters were absurd.
These comments show when a Con. gets too big it becomes an exclusive media event which comic geeks even in the area are excluded. Comicons are a place to meet the gods of comicdom and the new and impressive. I have seen the rise in this art form to the point the cons have alienated both fans and artists by ceasing to be fun for either. If the cons are prohibited due to cost of the independents why go, if not for the cons my life would be sad for I would not know the guilty pleasure of Deep Fried.
Did Doug check out a one-shot special issue of "Drafted: One Hundred Days" that has Obama on the cover? It just came out last month. In it has a strong anti-American sentiment (bad guys are American, good guys are one-world/one-people rebuilding Earth).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafted_(comics)
Anyone up for running the Giants or Slave Lords series?
I do recall there being a small company that does just that. Their bars of soap (all-natural non-allergenic, if I recall correctly) have a 20-sided die in the middle of them.
Now that's a great idea. Whaddya think, Zo?
Wish I could make it out there this year, Doug, but I'll be camping with my family in the Grand Canyon this year. Hope you rake in some serious dough at Nerd Prom this year!
I'm the opposite. I enjoyed the classic Marvel characters like X-Men and Spider-Man because I could related to being the minority and the high school geek, respectively. The DC
I didn't get into DC comics until well into adulthood and even then it was usually the imprints (MIlestone, Astro City, Wildstorm, etc.). Frankly, I found the animated versions of DC classic heroes like Batman to be more impressive and thrilling than the source material.
"and you probably owned a “Planet of the Apes” lunch box. "
Actually, I currently own an "Evil Dead" lunch box and I take it to work everyday. My coworkers are sooo envious.
I started in early 80's. Been hooked since. Just recently hooked up with alot of younger RPGamers who are film students and we'll be putting a project together on it all.
Gives you something to really hold on to!
Hells yeah! I want one!
No Axe?
Actually, I would go for the Klingon woman outfit. My wife wears that one very deliciously and saves it for my birthdays.
I so hear you there! I went to San Diego State University in the early 90's and going to the con (as well as the pre-con expo – was in the business) was the ultimate in fringe benefits for this life long geek. I do miss it.
Keep the rest of us geeks informed on that project then. We always appreciate those kind of things.
Marvel comics today are really twisted to a terrible degree. I don't know if you have heard of the Spider-man Unmasking, which was basically nothing but an excuse to get Aunt May sick again and nearly die (She died in Amazing 400) and so Peter Parker makes a pact with Mephisto… I'm not kidding. Also, Tony Stark locks up people for no reason and Captain American started a bloody war before he quit and died.
All they do is put out hyped-up stuff, much of which isn't very good.
The X-men was good despite the fact that there are like maybe a couple hundreds mutants left anymore. I'm amazing people still read Spider-man. It's terrible.
Indeed I will. We're still in concept for the moment (fundraising the next step) so it might be awhile, but this one is definitely going forward.
My wife would probably kill you to get that thing.
I was a big Spiderman reader up and until they started splitting the story between upwards of 6 titles, and conveying the story archs through all of them.
I have to share with my wife, to be honest, so she would have to get past her first. *lol*
Read was interesting, stay in touch……
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