What can I say… Comic Con this year belonged to one man. The Joker. To be more specific, Heath Ledger’s Joker, if you were under 35 that is. And if you were over, you were either a razor-tongued conservatively-dressed movie exec or dressed as Indiana Jones.
Motor City’s Jettila Lewis counted around 35 Jokers. Just behind that she counted around 28 Indiana Jones.
The weekend had it’s highlights. But I must say, having worked the entire convention, and being a convention patron the last 18 years of my life, I was a little worried this year. The isles which contained comic book dealers, often vacant, the isles which contained indie and small press comic book artists and writers… vacant. The further you walked toward Hollywood’s chocolate factory like section, the more you found people. But not the people you would think. This year more than any, I saw comic con packed with non genre type fans. Is this good or bad I really don’t know. Is the change in climate at the very least frustrating? Yes.
I think my friend William Davis (www.incorporatedincorporated.com) put it best today, “For years and years we all bitched that comics didn’t get the respect they deserved… Well, now we’re getting what we wished for.”
And is it cool to go to a theater and see The Dark Knight and have it actually be like a comic book? Yes. And is it cool to have a summer where Iron Man, Hulk, Hellboy 2, and the Dark Knight come out and are pretty darn faithful to the comics they were based on? Yes. Is it cool, that you can where a T-shirt with the USS Enterprise on it and the girls around you actually think it’s cute. Yes.
Is it nice to have a gathering for the arts you love? Of course, and as a freshman-professional is it nice to have a meeting and networking place to meet the people you admire or want to work with? Of course.
But I fear the event itself has outgrown the content of the event, or the reason the event existed in the first place. So many people had wandered in (to the sold out show) stumbling through like zombies wanting free schwag. They didn’t care what, as long as it was free. They didn’t care what movie, property, content, or origin of the item, as long as it was handed to them and fit in their insanely oversized goodie bag.
Now I feel I have a little more insight into the weary independent film voices who have had to flee Sundance. Paris Hilton at comic con?! What’s next? Giftbag-suites in hotels where celeb’s go for designer goodie bags? Get your diamond studded “super hero” cellphone case!
I think there will be a price to pay. Nerd Culture is kind of like the Punk Rock of the 70s 80s, the Hip Hop Culture of the 80s 90s, or the Alternative Culture of the 90s… It’s lived long (and prosper…) just under the radar of mainstream of acceptance, but now that it IS pop culture… it’s just a matter of time till it’s corrupted and taken out of the hands of those who kept it alive all these years. Or at the very least it will burn itself out, there will be a rough period for those still interested, and then it will re-grow as counter culture again. I think the change in flow at comic con 2008 was a sign of all of this.
It’s both good and bad for all of us who are fans or creators. As a patron of comic con 2008 one thing was very clear to me. Things have changed… But then again, things always change don’t they?
