As you'll hear me say in this video, I love what Comic-Con is these days but I also loved what it was when it was <3000 people back at the El Cortez Hotel in the seventies. As Mr. Wolfe said, you can't go home again…but I think you can go to places that remind you of home. Mike Towry, who was one of the main folks responsible for starting what is now Comic-Con is spearheading the San Diego Comic Fest which runs October 19-21 and which seeks to recapture some of the intimacy and non-commercial fun we had at the El Cortez.
I may over-explain this thing when I mention it in the months to come because I fear some people think all comic book conventions are like what we had last week in San Diego only smaller. This is not a "mini" version of the same thing. It's a con more like they used to be without major corporations attempting to have a "presence," without movie stars, without defining "comics" as loosely as they are now defined. As I understand it, it's mostly going to be people just talking about and maybe selling comic books, plus I'm sure there'll be a lot of reminiscing about The Old Days. If that sounds good to you, you can find out more about the Comic Fest at this website, plus you should watch the following video…