I really wasn’t going to write about this again this year.
In fact, I made a pact with myself that– other than a few errant tweets– I was going to stay far away from this subject… But the AP (Associated Press)– specifically reporter Sandy Cohen– in a sense, forced me do it.
Before I get started, I want to freely admit I unequivocally respect and admire Sandy Cohen’s Hollywood reportage… And I also feel the AP– a venerable, long-standing news agency– does its absolute best to present truly fair and balanced reporting. (Unlike, say, Fox News.)
But this is Comic-Con, not a world crisis. It’s not political (in any meaningful sense of the word) and no one at this gathering is curing cancer… At least not while they are geeking out in San Diego.
And Sandy? Ms. Cohen’s just doing her job– and, as always, doing it well. She’s also doing what every good reporter does… Commenting on what she sees. It’s not her responsibility to be a shill for the comic book industry (like so many soulless comic websites famously are already)… And if her reports lean heavily on Television Panels, Film News and Toy Releases– it’s because they’re what’s news at SDCC 2012. Whether or not Marvel is rebooting/rehashing/redesigning a group of their characters doesn’t interest the writers (or readers) of most of the mainstream press.
But my problem is, the San Diego Comic Con used to be a COMIC BOOK convention… A really cool one too. And despite what other comic-centric columnists are saying (I suspect, so their employers will continue to fork over large amounts for free airfare and lodging so these sad corporation-bought souls can have an excuse to geek-out on the company dime)– San Diego it is no longer the site of a comic convention. It is a Movie/TV Con… With some toys, video games and, Oh Yeah!, comics thrown in. Or, as Sandy puts it best in her great series of articles, SDCC is now a “pop-culture” event.
Here’s a few excerpts from one of Cohen’s first pieces on this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Tell me how many references to comics you see. Please note, references to the name of the convention do not count:
To be fair, Ms. Cohen does mention in this same article that Robert Kirkman has 900 exclusive hard-bound copies of The Walking Dead Compendium for sale at the Con… You’ll see it referenced below– at the tail end of a long paragraph about movies and toys:
And that’s it.
I could rave on and on… But what’s the point? Sure, San Diego has lots of comic news too… But do you see hardly any of it on mainstream entertainment sites? No, you don’t… Unless it’s related to a Movie, TV Show, Web Venture or a Toy. And now, with the realization many Movie Studios have eschewed the Comic-Con experience this year (fearful their upcoming product may be derided by geeks, perhaps?)… There’s an even bigger danger that SDCC will soon become a TV/Toy Con.
And the reality is, there’s nothing wrong with that. Everything evolves– or dies. It’s just, again, SDCC is no longer a comic con… Hasn’t been one for a long time– and that makes me sad. (I’m not alone, many Comic Pros and Fans also seem to agree.)
So what to do? Well, as the title of this column suggests– maybe a name change. In keeping with Cohen’s columns… How about the San Diego Culture Con?
That way, SDCC can keep the same initials… And maybe, just maybe, we can get on with the mourning process and start to accept– as a whole– that our once thriving passion is swiftly turning into nothing more than a proving ground for TV/Motion Picture companies and Toy manufacturers.
[Article excerpts via the AP. You can follow Sandy Cohen on Twitter.]
Good article, it just illustrates how little innate respect that comics have amongst the population of the US and most other english speaking countries. You’d need to go somewhere like France or Japan to find comics being respected as art and culture in its own right.
I’ve been posting this everywhere. Deadpool video game trailer http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2012/07/sdcc-12-watch-the-teaser-for-the-deadpool-video-game/
I would like to think that the person who posted a link to the Comic Con announcement of a god damn Deadpool VIDEO GAME after reading this column was doing so to be totally fucking ironic on purpose… But sadly I really don’t think that was the case at all. It’s enough to make me want to smash my head through this laptop screen.
Actually, it does sorta prove my point, eh?
It really did work out kinda perfectly, didn’t it? Great job on the post by the way.
Thank you very much!
I am actually looking forward to that lol. XD
it started as comic con it is comic con it should always be comic con. this con is what 40 years old? it was a comic con and the rest came to them. the rest of the pop culture world came to a comic con in little ole san diego to become what is it today. its built on the backs of comic fans and thier love for sci fi, fantasy and action adventure. be it in the movies, tv, or video games. do you really mind sharing your con with game of thrones, adult swim, or vampire diaries? even the big bang theory as much as i dislike that show its got enough geek cred with plenty of super hero t shirts and jokes and trips to comic store to be sitting at a comic con table. so its bigger then just scott snyder and stan lee, the avengers made over 1.4 billion dollars by the end of the the avengers, spidey and the dark knight are going to give hollywood one of its biggest summers.
why not let the comic world take a victory lap every year in july around san diego? ho many memos, emails texts and suh make the rounds around hollywood from may till july with the words san diego COMIC CON in them? let them keep doing that. let hollywood and rest of the world come to our con ” thats right we love paste pot pete , squiril girl and groot and you are standing on the same line to get in with us!” comics are going to make trillions of dollars from film and tv companies over the next decade or two they can take second billing once a year show their stuff at COMIC CON. everyone knows what CC at the end of sdcc stands for they might be there for twilight or teen wolf but they know.
every year abc’s castle starring nathan fillion does a panel. not really a geek show but tons of firefly fans watch and the show does lots of shout out to firefly its alsdo done a comic boo show and a super hero episiode. detective kate beckett is a self proclaimed frank miller fan. so i have no problem with that show being there. also molly quinn who plays castles daughter cosplay every year at sdcc. do you think she would cosplay at some straight tv event? yeah the tv and movie stuff looms large but it got a comic con flavor. if warner brothersstarted a con for their tv and movies 40 years ago do you think you would get cosplayers?
like i said let the comic community take a victory lap every july. let joe q and dan dideo hob nob with studeo execs and get treated like they are vip for a week. let the main stream media all do stories and have to use the term comic con in their coverage. remember they came to us no reason we should leave.
Well, comics will be dead soon enough so they WILL have to rename the convention. Might as well do it now.
Very interesting and I think I see your point view. I’m not that upset that more and more Hollywood ppl go to San Diego to promote their wares, however if I went to more conventions I might feel differently. I think if there’s a problem it’s that although Hollywood recognizes the advantage of using the comic book community to create buzz, they do little to promote either the hobby of comic collecting or comics as a art form. What I think would be cool would be if on some talk show where Robert Pattinson was hyping Twilight, he’d say some thing like, “Yeah we were just at SDCC and met with the fans, then I walked around and bought some books. If you like our movie check out I Vampire or some Tomb of Dracula reprints!” But I see your point.
However, just to be snarky…someone please STOP Joe Q and Marvel management from hob-nobbing with VIPs. It leads them to making questionable decisions. The latest one being Nick Fury Jr. Someone down there think that ppl will be confused that there’s two different lines with two different Furys so their solution is to create a third Fury? Jezz…(smiley face)
Here’s a list (with LINKS!) of the AP’s Comic-Con coverage. I have no idea if it is complete. How many comics are mentioned in the story titles?
Hey, at least Marvel gets a mention.
- Comic-Con crowd goes crazy for ‘Hobbit’ footage: http://apne.ws/P8ak42
- ‘Man of Steel’ flies into Comic-Con with footage: http://apne.ws/MvSrXU
- Marvel announces its upcoming slate at Comic-Con: http://apne.ws/P8ausd
- Cast spills ‘True Blood’ hints at Comic-Con: http://apne.ws/MvSHq0
- Del Toro offers ‘Pacific Rim’ glimpse at Comic-Con: http://apne.ws/P8aQ29
- ‘Game of Thrones’ additions rouse Comic-Con fans: http://apne.ws/P8b3Ch
- Godzilla is coming: Comic-Con gets first look: http://apne.ws/MvTaZe
- Captain Hook sailing to ‘Once Upon a Time’: http://apne.ws/MvTgzW
- Tarantino unchains bloody ‘Django’ at Comic-Con: http://apne.ws/P8bjRL
What comic news deserved to get mainstream press? With the exception of the Sandman stuff, all the announcements relating to comics were pretty underwhelming and certainly of little interest to the general public.