Comments (8)

• Can’t wait for con to arrive here. Should be fun time.

  Comment by Shogun — July 13, 2008 @ 1:38 am  Reply to this post

• I find it fascinating that Nikki (a women who once ferociously declared “I don’t do Geek”) is posting this here. Obviously, the massive financial success of “comic book” MOVIES has turned Comic Con into a major media event that she MUST cover, whether she wants to or not.(And, indeed, Comic Con is much more about Hollywood than actual printed comicbooks these days). Back in the 1980’s when I was an eager wannabe cartoonist, we all thought the best way to break into the Mainstream was to force comics to “grow up”: to eliminate or transform that silly superhero stuff that was “holding back” Comics from reaching a more adult audience. The result of this attitude was a lot of material which, while often excellent, was at the time considered “transitional”- comics which were really just more sophisticated versions of the superhero/sci-fi/fantasy material that had dominated the medium since the beggining (or at least since the censors had killed off “Crime Comics” in the 1950’s).We all thought WE were the ones that had to grow up and earn a seat at The Big Table with the Adults.Instead, the dreaded GENRE of Superheroes got invited to the party, and the actual ARTFORM of comics was left by the wayside- no longer mocked and reviled, but still basically ignored- except when there’s a possibility of making money, of course.Oh well…

  Comment by cst — July 13, 2008 @ 6:07 am  Reply to this post

• Nikki! You are hastening your own nightmare!
  Quote: Nikki Finke (Again!)

  Comment by Mike Cane — July 13, 2008 @ 9:46 am  Reply to this post

• It’s surreal for me to see this here. I have been going to the Comic Con since 1975. No that it has become so mainstream, it is not the same. And not as enjoyable as it once was. The Hollywood people buy up all the hotel rooms before anyone else can get one. And the place is so packed it’s like being at Disneyland on Memorial Day.

  I’ll be going anyway, but I miss the old days.

  Comment by James Hudnall — July 13, 2008 @ 9:53 am  Reply to this post

• Agree with James 100%. The con has all but been lost to Hollywood and it’s almost a chore to go anymore. Hall H — the cavernous room that houses all the “big movie sneaks” — is a joke, as not only does it take a good 15 -20 mins just to get over there, but once there, it’s nothing more than a never ending line of thrill seekers who want to be the next TMZ and have info on the big budget releases. Not only are all the hotels overrun by Hollywood types and forget about finding any restaurant in town any more that isn’t pulling a line of 20 all day long. We used to head donw there Sat morning and still be able to find parking, find a place to eat (anything half a mile away was sort of off the charts back then) and buy a day pas, all by 11 AM. Now, if you don’t reserve a hotel a year in advance, forget it. Gone are the days when actual, true fans of genres (sci-fi, mystery, fantasy, horror, etc) could go to see there fave authors, writers, illustrators and yes, if it was relevant, actors and directors. Getting close to anyone anymore is impossible and it’s a circus with no ringleader. This is one event where Hollywood’s big wallet has truly corrupted the event. Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound, Nikki.

  Comment by kokitty — July 13, 2008 @ 10:32 am  Reply to this post

• Thousands of “true fans” are going to Comic Con this year, kokitty. Tens of thousands. They just planned ahead is all. Sorry that geek stuff got to be so popular that it ruined your own personal little party. I will be having a blast for all four days and enjoying every single second of it although it will be impossible to see everything I want to.

  Comment by TLA — July 13, 2008 @ 2:01 pm  Reply to this post

• Those who feel Comic-Con is more about Hollywood than the printed matter may be unaware of our guest list which includes:
  Forrest J. Ackerman, Sergio Aragones, Kyle Baker, Ralph Bakshi, Mike W. Barr, Lynda Barry, Frank Beddor, Ray Bradbury, Steve Breen, Max Brooks, Ed Brubaker, Matt Busch, Jim Butcher, Eddie Campbell, Howard Chaykin, Kim Deitch, Mark Evanier, Al Feldstein, Keith Diffen, Neil Googe, Victor Gorelick, Mike Grell, Paul Gulacy, Joe Hill, Bryan Hitch, John Howe, Al Jaffee, Geoff Johns, J.G. Jones, Todd Klein, Dean Koontz, Verne Langdon, Jim Lee, Rutu Modan, Noel Neill, Floyd Norman, Jim Ottaviani, Mike Peters, Wendy Pini, Steve Purcell, Robert J. Sawyer, James Shoop, Jim Starlin, Joe Staton, J. Michael Straczynski, Adrian Tomine, Ethan Van Sciver, James Warren, Jeff Watts, Len Wein, Signe Wilkinson, Bill Willingham, Connie Willis, Jim Woodring, Bernie Wrightson and Dean Yeagle.
  And apologies for any misspellings. It’s been a very long week.

  Comment by David — July 14, 2008 @ 12:18 am  Reply to this post

• There’s something seriously wrong to me about a California lawyer being able to get four credits of continuing legal education by attending the four ‘Comic Book Law School’ sessions of Comic Con apparently run by someone who put together a *comic book* (that is now out of print and potentially out of date) on copyright & trademark law of whom I’ve never heard.

  Compare this to South By Southwest… the University of Texas puts on a separate lawyers and professionals conference in a venue SEPARATE FROM where the bands and artists are performing or the convention hall but in Austin, the speakers are all bona fide professionals (they keep their publications current and get the nuances of the law even if they write some of their work with the general public in mind) and you can genuinely professionally network with the conference attendees.

  Then later if you want to go see bands all night long like the general public, or go to the films in the festival or ogle the latest stuff at the media/ interactive conference in the Convention Center you can do so to your heart’s content.

  I’m with the fans on this…Comic-Con sadly doesn’t belong to them anymore and really it should.

  Comment by VDOVault — July 14, 2008 @ 6:07 am  Reply to this post