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COMICS PROS AND COMIC CONS
“Oh my god -- you’re actually going to a comic book convention?”
Why I love comic conventions.
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This summer, I often had to put up with statements like the preceding from close friends and relative strangers alike. Usually, I’d take the easy way out by telling them, “It’s for work – I’m going to promote Comiculture” and let the conversation move on from there.
But today, I’m not moving away from the topic of comic cons – in fact, I’m here to directly address it.
When I was a young teen, I’d take the train from my suburban hometown into Center City Philadelphia in order to go to the odd comic cons that came to town. I would be sure to buy my return ticket in advance because I knew I’d end up spending the entire remainder of my cash at the show.
I went to comic conventions for several reasons:
- Access to huge collections of back issues (in a time when trade paperbacks were few and far between.)
- The chance to go to panels featuring my favorite creators (and even confront a few when I thought they’d ruined my favorite characters.)
- Opportunities to see rare and / or independent videos, movies, animation and more. I started going to these things Before VCRs (“BVCR”?) and, even when VCRs did become commonplace enough for my family to own one, the content was still to be found nowhere else.
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As an editor at Marvel Comics, I went to Cons as an excuse to travel for free. I made it very clear that I didn’t care where I was sent; I just wanted to go anywhere on the company’s dime. That’s not to say I didn’t do my job (I did) or that I didn’t enjoy myself (I did that too.) But, as a Marvel employee, I was getting every comic project Marvel and DC published for free. Large stacks of comics were being handed to me on a weekly basis and the last thing I had any interest in at the time was buying more. Also, we usually had booth schedules to keep, portfolios to review and, of course, expense accounts to run up. There was not a lot of free time to wander around or hang out in video rooms.
As a freelancer who was doing very little work in comics (if any at all), I didn’t want to go to comics cons if I could avoid it. I felt too much like one of those middle-aged guys who visits his high-school with tales of how great things were when he was there. On those occasions when I did go to one (usually accompanying a friend), I inevitably met people I knew from the comics industry. I was glad to see them and usually felt a twinge of regret for good times that had gone by. I try to avoid getting sentimental over the past (it rarely helps anything in the present and usually bores others to death) but I’d get dangerously close after a day at a comic con.
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This summer, I went to Wizard World in Chicago and Comic Con International in San Diego. It was a very different experience than any in the past, but I have to say I was glad I went. I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t like having to pitch my product to random passersby as if I were some kind of carnival barker (in fact, I really dislike it). I also didn’t have the budget for those bar and dinner bills that used to be the stuff of song and legend.
I did, however, feel like I was much more a part of the whole con experience since I was "in the trenches" rather than at a huge corporate booth. I also got to spend a lot of time catching up with my old cronies and meeting and talking to regular convention goers and I was reminded of another reason I used to go to conventions as a young teen. I went because I enjoyed being surrounded by people who got the same pleasure out of comics that I did.
As obvious as it may sound, I'd forgotten that it's fun to be in a large crowd that loves what you love. After all, a good movie can be made even better when it's watched with an appreciative audience, so what's so strange about gathering together to appreciate something else? Are people mocked for being members of wine-tasting clubs? What about attendees of events like A Taste of Chicago or the Los Angeles Festival of Books? Of course they're not. But the basic reason for those events is no different than that behind comic cons.
So, the next time someone starts in on me about going to a con, I'm not going to let them freely rant without sharing the following information with them….
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK! Check out Rob's Galleries for some great convention photos!
Discuss this weblog here!
Comiculture at Comic Con International 2002.
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