Valerie D’Orazio has a really interesting post about the future of Comic Con, stemming from an e-newsletter by Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics, which I’m going to excerpt here:
Sadly, where this leaves all of us in the comics world is totally screwed. With a reported waiting list of 300 media/consumer products companies lined up for booth space here at San Diego Comic-Con International, the convention feels absolutely no restraint as regards raising booth rent. What does exist is a totally uneven playing field, where mom-n-pop comics retailers, publishers, and creators are now being asked to pay the same cost per square-foot as the international corporate giants. That being the case, it should come as no surprise that we comics exhibitors are rapidly being priced out of our own house. I heard from several comics retailers who have been here at the convention for decades that they are either cutting back for 2010, or completely pulling out of the show… If present trends continue, I predict with more than a small measure of sadness that comics will be a very minor part of this convention within five years.
So is the Comic Con really cannibalizing its roots, in order to draw in Megan Fox and the Twilight cast? I don’t know about that — it’s not that the comics publishers are going anywhere, but that comic book stores are getting hit. Valerie brings up one interesting point — the so-called “fantasy” economy, in which comics fans bucked financial trends by continuing to buy luxury products in skimpy times, came somewhat to a halt at SDCC, with fans spending all they’ve got on travel, and thus hitting every convention they could find in order to make the trek worthwhile. (I know I’ve certainly been in similar straits — when I was covering NYCC in the fall, I was at the point with my bank account that I had to choose rent, or comics. Rent won out.)
But Valerie has this tidbit, which I think really sums a lot of these problems up:
Really, the bigger issue is this: media conglomerates have taken comic book culture and “Andy Warholized” it, presenting us with mass-market, mass-produced, highly vetted versions of that culture’s icons. But not only that, the conglomerates have appropriated the comic book/”fan” community’s mechanism of promotion & dissemination of information: the convention. So that’s the Icons and the Mechanism being appropriated.
And I think that’s the key here — the fantasy economy, even in these times, still exists, and Hollywood wants in. And with more than 150,000 people cramming into the San Diego Convention Center, Hollywood and the Big Two certainly have more weight than anybody else. But the Convention, for many, is a chance to meet and greet, and catch the biggest news firsthand — Hollywood and the Big Two are planting seeds for later purchasing, while the retailers are trying to make sales NOW. And unless retailers can have expansive selections for highly discounted prices, Rozanski may be right. What do you think?
July 27th, 2009 at 8:53 am
It’s really side that less and less time is spent on comic books as the conventions increasingly become a catch-all for what the mainstream sees as “geek culture” like Twilight, Star Wars, and video games.
It’s a shame, personally, I would rather hear about exciting new Indy series than a two hour presentation on the latest Star Wars MMO. Maybe the game will be great and I’m sure someone out there is excited to play as a bounty hunter, but tell me about it at E3 or something.
July 27th, 2009 at 8:58 am
It’s really side = it’s really sad
Darn iPhone autocorrect!
July 27th, 2009 at 9:52 am
I’ve also read that Comic-Con is demanding even more space, or they’re taking their toys and going somewhere else, maybe Anaheim. Maybe that will help keep booth rental costs lower.
However, I really think SDCC has reached critical mass, and sometime in the next 5-10 years either it will split into two conventions, one for comic books and the other for comic book related media, or another convention will rise to promenance to showcase comic books while SDCC continues to focus on other media.
July 27th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Hollywood taking over SDCC is why this year I chose not to attend, after going the previous eight years.
I think the biggest problem is all the Hollywood/Toy Company/Video Game booths are positioned dead center of the hall, and it doesn’t become worth it to attempt the half-hour trek through 200 feet of crowded aisles to get from the small press section to artist’s alley.
July 28th, 2009 at 6:47 am
There is a reason I would rather attend the smaller, if far less comics friendly, local SF cons. They are still for the fans, by the fans. We trade the hype of Hollywood and the Big Two for the chance to talk about our favorite films and books and comics with each other, in a place that is cheaper much of the time, with a lot less pressure to see everything or buy everything.
Never mind SDCC doesn’t have filk.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I still enjoy SDCC, even though the push is to go further and further away from comics.
It does sound like San Diego wants to push ahead on plans to build another addition to the convention center, pretty much just to keep SDCC. My only fear is that with an increase in size, we’ll see an increase in attendance, and that Exhibit Hall can’t hold any more people.
But they really ought to just change the name from Comic Con to Media Con.
July 29th, 2009 at 1:22 am
I do believe Comic Con is a big reason San Diego’s mayor is aggressively trying to get funding approved for the SD Convention Center’s expansion, but the city is well aware that many other large conventions want to come to San Diego, but won’t because of the lack of hotel space and convention center floor space.
Right now, I’m somewhat skeptical the expansion shall happen given the financial peril of the state of California and how it’s affecting each city. Basically, the state is taking away even more sales tax / gas tax revenue to fix their progressively deteriorating budget debacle.
The shift from comic books to TV, Hollywood, and games is nothing new for the Comic Con. It was that way more than ten years ago. Alex Toth wrote a post card to someone stating he didn’t wish to show up to SDCC back then simply because they were so “rah rah!” with regards to everything other than comics. Only in recent years are we really seeing Hollywood and the gaming industry take advantage of a captive audience that will eagerly support certain things.
It has been good for comics though. Without the lure of Hollywood, was there much reason to keep a lot of these comics if not as a means of marketing these characters for more lucrative licenses such as movies and toys? And the children that are into toys, cartoons, games, the women and girls that love anime or read the Twilight books, that’s bringing a potentially new audience to comics that simply wasn’t there ten years ago to this extent.
In the early 90s, I saw a lot of guys, very few women attending comic book panels. These days, you find many more women, thanks in part I believe to anime, independent comics to a lesser extent, and the authors that created True Blood and Twilight.
Maybe that stuff will kill the “Comic” in Comic Con, but in the long term, Twilight may save the whole Comic Con culture. Our “Mecca” may just have to move to accommodate the growing crowds, however. San Diego simply cannot handle it, regardless of whether the convention center expands.