Two online essays are generating some online debate about the Comic-Con International in San Diego.
This one is by someone I've probably met or at least crossed paths with, but I can't seem to find his name anywhere. He's a longtime attendee of the con and is rather distressed at what it's become. His criticisms are all valid in and of themselves. The con has changed and many once-wonderful things about it have gone away.
Yes, it is as much (if not more) about movies than it is about comics. I'm afraid these days that's true about the comic book business, as well. Yes, it's true that certain merchants or kinds of merchandise no longer are as plentiful in the hall. For good or ill, a lot of that trade has moved onto eBay or over to the big auction houses. Yes, it's true that parking stinks and the food in the convention center is bad and overpriced and that there are some security guards who seem to have learned tact at the feet of Genghis Khan. I've complained about all that and more…
And you know what? I have a great time down there, anyway. I guess I've come to accept that when you go to any convention center that's enveloping that many people, you're going to encounter bad, overpriced food as well as security guards who have more responsibility than manners. I also accept that the con — indeed, the whole comic book industry and surrounding community — has changed and that there's not a damned thing I or anyone can do about it. So my choices are to lament what's gone or to find something I like in what's there. I try to do both to the extent they're constructive.
Complaining can certainly be constructive up to a point. It's a good way to vent one's frustration and, every so often, you bitch about something which can actually be changed, at least a little. It's also good to remind people how it was because that kind of thing should never be forgotten. Still, I think I'm past the stage of thinking we can roll back progress and stuff the con (or, for that matter, the comic industry) back into the niche it occupied twenty years ago.
I have a friend who calls me like clockwork every year after each con to grouse about the traffic going to and fro. He says it like he honestly expects the convention organizers to do something about the fact that late on a summer Sunday afternoon, there's a wee bit of traffic on the 405 and the 5, especially as the latter passes Disneyland. Having bitten off large chunks of my own steering wheel some years, I know how he feels. And he knows like I do that some things ain't gonna change so you just have to decide if the total good outweighs the cumulative bad. For me, it always does.
The other essay is about some reported incidents of sexual harassment at the convention. My morning blogging time has run out on me and I have to turn my keyboard over to something that pays…but I'll try to address this rather serious topic before the weekend is out.