Long Box Thoughts Commentary: Comic Con Thoughts

Oh, Jonathan is going to LOVE my post this week. I only bought one comic again. I have a couple of cool trades I’ll be reviewing soon, promise.
 
They’re also long, so I am still reading them.
 
The comic was MIKE MIGNOLA’s Witchfinder: Lost and Gone Forever and I’ll spare J-Lo’s sanity and just tell you to go buy it. It’s the shit.
 
I was reading B-Dub’s article about Warner Bros. mucking up SD Comic-Con for a girl who was a fan of something that isn’t a comic book or even comic book-related, but oh well. The spirit of the article and her “plight” (she could afford a multi-day pass to Comic-Con. How hard could her life be?) got me to thinking about my own dealings with WB and their shenanigans last year.
 
If you want to know the full story, check out the comments section on Walton’s post. I don’t really feel like re-capping.

Dickson got pushed to the side for this guy? NOOOO. That could never happen.

For those of the MTV generation that can’t be bothered to take some time to read something, the short version is that WB screwed up the trade floor so badly that I had to leave for a while. That has never happened. I actually quite enjoy the large crowds. I make a video every year and the geeky throng provides me with tons of opportunities to talk with my brethren.
 
Things have changed recently.
 
I think it started with the inclusion of “Twilight”. Now, I don’t hate Twilight. It’s not my cup of tea (sparkly, sparkly tea) but, hey, to each her own when it comes to that. If people want to read that stuff, that’s fine with me. 
 
I’m also no Comic-Con purist who believes that SDCC should JUST be about paper and ink. I enjoy the booths and the excitement of seeing what’s coming up in the world of comic-book-related movies, cartoons and toys – the operative element being “comic-book-related”.
 
I’m cool with some technically non-comic-related things like Star Wars and Star Trek because they each spawned and have maintained comic book lines well after the initial franchises were done. I’m even cool with “Ghostbusters” for the same reasons.
 
I’m even coming to terms with the inclusion of horror movies in the greater Comic-Con sphere. It just seems like Jason, Freddy and certain other franchises just fit, you know?
 
Twilight is not a comic book. It is a novel series. It’s a movie. They can make a comic out of it at some point, but it will never be a comic-book-related thing. Vampire Diaries (Twi-Lite) is the same thing.

Are you sure they don’t like us? I mean, I don’t think I can handle the nerds not liking me.

 
These things do not belong at Comic-Con. The event is already filled to bursting with stuff and people. They have raised prices dramatically, but all that does is ensure that privileged, self-centered and entitled brats can afford to go. Mix the high prices with the ‘tween fan base of some of these newer inclusions and you have a recipe for disaster.
 
You turn the event into a place where rich, ignorant parents drop off their entitled spawn for the day as if it were a mall or theme park. They come in, have no respect for the “real” culture and start bossing people around and writing letters to people whining that they didn’t get to touch some lady-boy’s dainty hand.
 
Comic-Con should be for everyone. I get in as a pro for the hard work I do. I make my video and I go to the panels. I spend part of each day looking for cheap trades to buy and back issues to fill the holes in my collection. I love to talk to people who are into the stuff I’m into. It’s the only place where I can jump from a discussion about Star Wars to Ghostbusters to DC Comics and – yes- even Marvel Comics once in a while.
 
Even restricting ticket sales only to people with Internet access divides things even further.
 
Maybe the solution is to go the E3 route and just banish the general public from the event completely (or just about) and focus more on industry news and interest. Last year, the vendors expanded to the streets and to the hotel next door. That’s a positive step. Move the non-comic stuff off the trade floor and to another venue altogether. That way the ‘tweens and their ilk can go lick on their CW heroes and the rest of us can have some fun and not have to leave for two hours in the middle of the day.
 
I understand that the Organizers are working hard to figure out these problems. I am not someone who goes to Comic-Con to party hop or drink or be part of some group. I go because it’s the only time once a year that I can talk Geek. Real Geek. Not Twi-geek. Not Internet meme Geek. I’m talking the kind of Geek who doesn’t need to wear an ironic t-shirt to be cool.
 
Maybe it’s just the ever-growing curmudgeon inside of me, but this is how I feel. I remember my first Comic-Con as being a fun, exhausting week that I never wanted to end. Recently, someone got stabbed in the eye. Last year, we had to wait 30 minutes in a corner like bad kids while Ryan Reynolds was ushered out. This year? Well, let’s just say I wish they’d moved it to L.A.
 
See you there!