The San Diego Comic-Con is upon us, offering the fan-faithful an opportunity to get the advance scoop on this year’s iteration of Snakes on a Plane or receive the official word about the creative team involved in comics’ NEXT BIG THING from the mouth of a weary publishing rep (as opposed to from the comics internet, where the info has been common knowledge for a few months now).
SDCC’s shift in focus from a gathering of fans and creators to multimedia trade show has been the subject of much discussion. Is it validation of the medium’s (by extension, its affiliated subculture’s) significance outside its traditionally small realm? Or proof that the scene has been co-opted by deep-pocketed marketing flacks from outside the comics’ biz for their own purposes? To me, it means too many people (with a significant proportion possessing dubious personal hygiene habits) crammed in with too much stuff in too confined (relatively speaking) a space.
To tell the truth, I’ve never been a big fan of conventions, even when I used to attend them with some regularity. Attending cons was a necessary evil, a means to an end – that end being the acquisition of fan ephemera unavailable from my usual suppliers. My typical con sojourn involved getting in, getting what I came for, and getting my ass out of there as briskly and efficiently as possible. The panels, symposiums, and creator appearances held zero appeal for me.
I’m apathetic about whole hobnobbing with celebrities (and I use that term in the broadest possible way) deal. While it’s nice to be able put a face behind a work I happen to enjoy (or despise, for that matter) or to pick up some contextual insights through an interview or article with a creator, I have a hard time imagining a scenario where I could offer more than a terse “I liked/hated -----” at a face-to-face meeting in a noisy venue. This is why I always disappoint when asked one of those “which five people living or dead would you like to meet” questions. My natural introvertedness and my aversion to hero worship have effectively killed my interest in meet-and-greet affairs. I did once shake hands with Larry Storch, and I quite literally bumped into Brett Anderson prior to an in-store appearance by Suede in the mid-1990’s.
I also really, really hate crowd scenes (which has also restricted my concert and club going to only the top tier of “must see” acts), and even the most sparsely attended cons make me feel claustrophobic. After a few minutes spent flipping through a longbox of poorly sorted teen humor comics, with several hundred pounds of Dorito-fed fanboy pressing in on either side of you, a two week stay in the Black Hole of Calcutta seems like a welcome alternative.
I’ve been trying to think of any amusing stories from my con-attending days, but so far I’m drawing a blank. Maura, on the other hand, has several. That crazy gal loves the con scene and makes the effort to travel to at least one of the bigger events every year, usually of the anime variety, though she’d like to eventually make it to the Small Press Expo or SDCC in the near future. My favorite story of hers has to do with an Anime Weekend in Atlanta even she attended a while back where the non-convention guests staged a minor revolt at the check-in counter over the all-pervasive aroma emanating from the otaku herd. Way to counter the stereotype, guys.
So, yeah, no nerd Hajj for me. It’s just as well, as I lost my faith some time ago and I’m fully content with being a comics agnostic.
Translator - Everywhere That I’m Not (from Heartbeats and Triggers, 1982) – “You’re in San Diego, but I’m not! You’re paying five bucks for a bottle of water, but I’m not! You’re stuck in line listening to a cosplayer dressed like Speedball loudly summarize his Generation X slashfic, but I’m not!” Actually, this song is a catchy bit of guitar pop honoring John Lennon, from a SF new wave outfit that, like too many bands of that era, never got the attention they justly deserved.
The Go-Go’s - Vacation (from Vacation, 1982) - Former Go-Go Jane Wiedlin is going to present the Eisner Awards at this year’s SDCC. For those unfamiliar with things comics-related, the Eisners are like the Oscars, but don’t really mean anything to folks outside the insular little scene.
Okay, so they’re more like the Tony Awards, then.
I know I posted this track last year (in a post about waiting for Maura to return from a con, oddly enough), but it fits perfectly with the Wiedlin-SDCC connection and the fact that my second vacation of this summer began a couple of hours ago. Synchronicity trumps all.
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