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Monday, July 24, 2006
I'm tired of these motherfuckin' crowds at this motherfuckin' convention!
At my most impatient I channeled my inner Samuel L. Jackson at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con International. Even if you weren't there you certainly know by now how populated the con has gotten. By Saturday the convention had to turn away those who weren't pre-registered. Running all over the place while covering the con I sometimes felt that distress of time slipping away. You think two panels and a quick lunch will leave you plenty of time to see people you know on-line or meet creators you admire. Then walk from the convention floor to upstairs take place takes longer than you thought and that quick lunch that sounded so good becomes another mess when you see the line at the deli inside Ralph's. All these people, panels and exhibitors and it still feels like there isn't one significant news story, at least not in comics. It's not about big news or revelations for most attendees anyway, the teasing back-and-forth between creators and fans at the panels for Marvel and DC's universe spanning series prove that much. It's about finding the escapist faire you enjoy, horror films or role-playing games or whatever, and interacting with fellow fans as well as the people behind these projects. For those working in the entertainment industry SDCC offers a much more heightened (and stressful!) version of what they already do. But for most people SDCC is an inversion of their world. Escapism becomes the duty of the day and pretty soon you feel like reading the business section of the newspaper to relax a little. That business section will most likely have a piece on SDCC and “the nerd dollar,” though.
I probably gave myself too much to do and too little time to do it the first three days. The con started to become a blur. It certainly felt that way when I walked over the room 24B to see the crowd after the blogging panel (I missed the actual panel, covering Vertigo's showcase instead). I shake hands and say "hi" with people I only knew before as text and picture on a monitor but it’s for much too short a time. It was surreal to see Graeme McMillan, who lives down the street from me in San Francisco, for what I'm pretty sure is a total of three milliseconds. I wish it was more but everyone at the con, professional or no, is being pulled in three different directions at once.
One panel that did make me forget about Nerd Rush '06 was the Fantagraphics 30th Anniversary panel. Gary Groth, Kim Thompson, Mike Catron, Dan Clowes, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez all seemed to have a fun time recalling the early days of putting together a comic company that didn't have much of a plan except that they wanted more quality comics. I learned that Groth used to drive an ice cream truck in the early days of the company, a thought that made me smile for the rest of the weekend.
The nights were more fun, though. Friday night I got see Church in all his glory. The sight and sound of him arguing with drunk UCLA students about the merits of Alex Ross is one of those perfect “San Diego moments” that I come to the con for. Standing on a crowded Broadway St. that erupted into cheers when Stormtrooper Elvis rode past in a rickshaw was another wonderful memory, which could only improve if he was riding in the rickshaw that was blasting the Star Wars theme.
Coming into Sunday rested and alert (I saw a production of Jesus Christ Superstar with old friends I hadn’t seen in fifteen years) was way better than coming into Saturday hungover and tired. I actually got a lot more work done there, both professionally and as a fan, than I think did all through Thursday to Saturday. All before 2:30 as well, for Kid Chris and I needed to catch a train back to Ventura. Talking to Eddie Campbell about blogging made up for missing the panel on the subject. I loved the quote he had from a friend who professionally reviewed comics, comparing what he does to bloggers who write of comics for free on their own: “I feel like a prostitute in a world of nymphomaniacs.” Brett Warnock and Melinda Gebbie were super-nice people as well. Lost Girls was a big success at the con. They had a mountain of 500 books and she was visibly surprised when she turned around to see that most had been sold by Sunday. From what I saw I think Alan Moore will be working with Top Shelf for a long time to come, with little of the struggles he has had with other publishers.
If I go back next year it will probably just be for two days and only as a fan. I’m not the kind of person who likes big crowds and I tend too worry too much about being rude when I have to leave someone abruptly for another booth or internet-friend. The idea of a more subdued Comic-Con experience sounds nice but then I realize that next year the crowds will get even larger. The popular booth on the floor then will be holding a contest for whoever does the best impression of Charlton Heston in Soylet Green.
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