A loose cabal of folks in this Facebook group have been talking about starting something called Creator-Con as an alternative to the Kong-sized Comic-Con held each year in San Diego. I'm a little fuzzy on what it is they're envisioning, though it does not seem they're all envisioning the same thing. What some seem to want is a smaller convention with more emphasis on comics…and we already have hundreds of those around the country. I've declined invites to two just this week.
What seems to unite the people on the Facebook page is a common belief that Comic-Con is too big. Well, yes, for some folks, I'm sure it is. That's why there are smaller conventions. They also believe that at the Comic-Con, there isn't enough emphasis on comics. I think these folks need to accept a hard, perhaps bitter truth about our industry, which is that the comic book business is in many ways morphing into the movie/TV business. Yeah, the Comic-Con is in some ways more interested in movies than in comics. So are DC and Marvel these days. And the last time I was in a comic shop, there was a tiny section of Iron Man comics and a huge selection of Iron Man toys and DVDs based on the movie.
At any convention anywhere, if you have two panels — one featuring the folks currently creating the Avengers comic book and one featuring the folks behind and in the Avengers movie, guess which one is going to get the bigger turnout…and more coverage on the comic book news sites. And that's fine with the publisher of the Avengers comic book because they're going to make a lot more money off the movie than they could ever make off the comic book. I'm not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing…just that it's reality.
The thing to remember is that Comic-Con has plenty of programming about comics. If you're interested in the history of the medium…well, last year I hosted a panel there which united for the first time, the last three surviving "Bob Kane" ghost artists, two of whom worked on the character in its first year. You can't get a more important event relating to comic book history than that. I hosted a panel on Jack Kirby. I hosted a Golden Age Panel and another on the so-called Bronze Age. I and others hosted spotlight interviews on various veteran comic book creators. There were panels on current comics as well…dozens upon dozens of them. So what if more people were in line to see the cast of Glee?
Here's a link to the programming list for last year's Comic-Con. Look it over and then tell me there weren't plenty of events about comic books there. Find me one hour of the day where you didn't have your pick of at least five.
I'm not attacking those who complain about the con or want to start something else, even though I don't quite understand what they want that's doable and doesn't already exist somewhere. I'm just suggesting it's silly to bash the biggest con for being the biggest con or to fault it because people who are into comics these days are more into movies and videogames and TV shows. That's how it is and it ain't gonna change soon, if ever. And if all you care about is comics, believe me: There's plenty about comics at San Diego. It's there. You just have to look a little…and maybe navigate your way around the line of people waiting to see the Star Trek panel.