Dispatches From the Fortress – Day 248

I'm not going to write much about the post-election squabbles except to say this: It seems to me that the cases that the Trump lawyers are putting before judges are feeble, easily-dismissed cases which even if they stood up would not change the fact that Joe Biden will be the next president. By contrast, what Trump team members are claiming in the media as evidence that he won are very different cases that will never be ruled on in any court because they'll never be presented in one.

And notice I said "next president." Those who keep saying Biden will be the 46th President of the United States are forgetting that it's possible that Mike Pence might have that honor for a week or two. During Watergate, Nixon was getting various legal experts to advise him on whether a president could legally pardon himself. Since the question had never been tested, no one would say for sure that such a pardon would stand up to later legal challenges, whereas a pardon from Gerald Ford certainly would.

Then again, who knows what 45 might do? He certainly doesn't.


People keep asking me what I think are the chances of WonderCon and Comic-Con International happening next year. I keep deferring to my belief that we need to view The Pandemic as one of those things that defies that kind of prediction. So far, everyone who's said "It'll be gone by Spring" or "It'll be gone by the end of Summer" have been not only wrong but so far wrong that you realize they had absolutely nothing on which to base those predictions besides wishful thinking.

I have talked about this to absolutely no one in the organization that runs those two wonderful conventions…and even if I did, I doubt they have an answer now that's worth anything unless it was that they'd already decided WonderCon will not happen March 26-28 as is presently scheduled. As far as I know, they haven't made that decision yet and may not have seriously discussed it…yet.

But Dr. Anthony Fauci — who's the closest thing we have in the public arena to someone who knows what he's doing — says that "a coronavirus vaccine could be available to all Americans by April, 2021." Taking note of the words "could be" in that statement — and knowing that scientific things always take longer than you expect — and knowing that the roll-out of the vaccine will take time once it's available…

…I will be very surprised if WonderCon takes place in March or even April, May or June. I will be a bit less surprised if Comic-Con takes place as scheduled July 22–25, 2021 but I think there's plenty of time to dial up or down the level of that surprise. I will not be surprised one bit if at whichever of those cons occurs next, you'll need to show a negative COVID test and/or Proof of Vaccination to be admitted…and it won't just be cosplayers in that hall wearing masks.

Lastly: If you long for the touch of Comic-Con in your life, a new line of Comic-Con merchandise is now available. Enjoy it in your own home. It may be as close as we all get for a while.