What I Did on My Summer Vacation – Part I
Sorry to try the patience of regular site readers with an extended period of inactivity followed now by a willful decent into personal mania and obsession, but I just arrived back from nearly a week of full-body immersion in the miasma of popular culture and I would be remiss in not providing a full report. So, unless members of Bush’s re-election committee are caught hacking the Howard Dean website, politics will take a back seat for a couple of days while I get these stories out of my system.
First a bit of background. When the San-Diego Comic-Con got started in 1970, it was exclusively a gathering of people who had maintained their youthful interest in comic books into their adult years, studying the artwork and collecting the back issues as a more-or-less serious hobby. The Con was an opportunity to meet others of similar interests, buy and sell old issues, and meet the invited guests (artist Jack Kirby and author Ray Bradbury in that first year). While there had been a few interactions between comic books and other media – notably the 1960s Batman TV series (which permanently warped popular perception of the superhero genre in America) – interest in comics themselves was the passion of a few diehard fans and would-be professionals. They and Hollywood regarded each other with mutual suspicion and contempt.
You can still find traces of that original foundation in today’s San Diego Con, much as you might find an old turn-of-the-century brownstone nestled between glass skyscrapers in a stretch of downtown Manhattan. Some of the dealers and exhibitors trace their involvement to the earliest days, and, during the four days of the event, you may encounter a couple of folks who boast an unbroken record of attendance since 1970. The ongoing presence and participation of these people is what helps keep the Con centered, and able to support the weight of everything else it has come to represent. Consequently, it is one of the few institutions of any kind that has managed to grow 20-fold in size and still maintain its essential character, despite a radical change in scale and appearance.
The organizers of the Con promote a single event, but there are actually at least ten distinct and exclusive things happening over the course of the weekend:
- The world’s largest gathering of comic-book, science-fiction and fantasy fans, to track down old issues, meet creators, collect sketches, and socialize with each other.
- A super swap-meet for high-rolling collectors and investors, where the crown jewels of the comic book marketplace (Action Comics #1 @ $500,000, Detective Comics #27 @ $400K, etc.) are on display, and several occasionally change hands.
- The largest of several annual tradeshows for the comic publishing industry, where publishers make important announcements and freelancers pitch their projects and portfolios to editors.
- An enormous tournament for devotees of role-playing games (Dungeons and Dragons, etc.), card-based games (Magic, Pokemon, etc.), and whatever else is new and hot.
- A film festival, featuring new independent shorts and features, previews of major studio releases, plus screenings of important archival works, with extensive commentary and appearances by creators.
- An academic conference, with several tracks of programming geared toward educators and scholars, presentation of papers, and the chance to do research using rare primary sources.
- A mega focus group for Hollywood studios seeking reaction and early marketing opportunities to upcoming film releases.
- A fun few days of entertainment for families with kids.
- A series of wild parties.
- A mass-media spectacle, teaming with news crews.
As a result, it’s no wonder that it draws upwards of 75,000 people over the weekend and fills the cavernous San Diego Convention Center so completely that fire marshals are seen nervously counting the crowd on Saturday afternoon. It’s a lot of distraction, but it also provides the critical mass that raises this convention above the pack and transforms it from a parochial gathering of freaks and fanatics into a kind of cosmic convergence of art and storytelling that manages to transcend the many tawdry, banal and commercial elements of its constituent parts.
My own interest in comics dates from childhood, when I not only read the issues on the newsstand, but also developed a curiosity about the history of the characters and the medium. I got to know the artists’ styles, I sought out older issues (those I could afford, anyway), and came to enjoy the camaraderie of a subculture where the entry costs – extensive and detailed knowledge of comic minutia such as issue numbers and creator credits – paid off in the ability to have rewarding and substantial conversations with complete strangers at gathering spots such as comic stores and conventions. Comics also encouraged me to develop skills in writing and drawing at an early age. I drifted out of the hobby in the early 80s, when the onset of adolescence gave me other things to think about (and the quality of comics was at a 20-year low). Sometime in 1994 or 1995, I renewed my interest and have since become a more active fan and collector than I was in my youth.
Apparently there are a number of people of my age, background and tastes currently working in the industry, as I find many current-day publications whose interests and influences resonate strongly with my own. For those with an affection for the artform, we are in the midst of a Golden Age of quality, sophistication and commercial acceptance of new and interesting material – a development which has occurred within the lifespan of some of the earliest pioneers of the medium.
This co-existence of history, artistic ambition and commercialism is what makes the San Diego Con so interesting, as the setting provides so many unique opportunities to interact with creators, publishers and fellow enthusiasts. Virtually the entire past, present and future of the comics medium is present in one place at one time, focused on the celebration and discussion of their art. Tomorrow, I’ll post some of the wonderful moments and interactions I observed and participated in over the course of the week.
10:56:24 AM 
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