I love Comic-Con International and have naught but admiration and gratitude for the folks who run it every year…well, every year there isn't a deadly pandemic killing people.
But I'm a little puzzled about something, not about the con directly but about the Comic-Con Museum, which has struck me as a very confused work-in-progress since the parent organization acquired control of an empty museum building in Balboa Park in 2017. The original idea of a Comic-Con museum — I thought — was for a place that would have presented and preserved the history of the convention and all the creativity and creators and wonderment associated with it.
That would have been in a much smaller building than the one they now have in Balboa Park. At some point, that premise morphed into a larger vision devoted not to the con but to all the art forms it embraces…another worthy idea. Comics — in all the forms the annual convention celebrates — deserve a year-round brick-and-mortar monument to the importance of the art form and the men and women who have contributed to it.
My puzzlement flows from something the museum has established called the Comic-Con Museum Character Hall of Fame. I guess I thought it would involve the creators at least as much as the creations. An art museum recognizes the artists, not the paintings…or at least makes the inseparable connection between the painting and the painter. The Comic-Con Museum Character Hall of Fame kicked off to coincide with the 2019 Comic-Con International and the first inductee was Batman. If you want to honor great characters, that's as fine a choice as any.
The Batman exhibition was…well, it was loud. It was so loud I had to leave it due to a headache that kept going POW! and ZAP! on my Cerebral Cortex. It was loud enough to wake Cesar Romero and he's been dead since 1994.
But the whole experience was impressive as an exhibition of Batman toys and Batman props and Batman "pop art" and Batman memorabilia and there was an extremely noisy carnival-type machine outside where you could "fly" a little on air jets as Batman did in no appearance of his I've ever seen. Someone did a helluva job putting the thing together. I am only complaining about two things…
- The Noise. (Tijuana called three times to ask them to for God's sake, hold it down.)
- That there wasn't more attention paid to Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, Sheldon Moldoff, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Gardner Fox, Dick Sprang, George Roussos, Neal Adams, Carmine Infantino, Denny O'Neil, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Frank Miller, Jack Schiff, John Broome, Joe Giella, Frank Robbins, Jim Mooney, Irv Novick and at least eighty other talented folks I could name. You know: The people without whom there would not have been so many comic books of our beloved Batman from which all that commerce could evolve.
But…okay. Batman is great and Batman is important and there was artwork on display from comics written and drawn by a few of those folks and maybe if I could have stayed in that building for five more minutes, I would have found some real love shown for the guy we try to remember each year at the con by giving out The Bill Finger Award. I guess the event was a smashing success in many ways.
So now let's turn our focus to this year's Comic-Con Museum Character Hall of Fame and discuss which iconic creation is to be feted. I made up a little graphic of six of the many characters I think everyone would agree match up with their mission statement — and I quote — "To honor these timeless icons who have made a significant impact on popular culture." Here are the six…
Okay, I know what you're thinking: "Superman? Fine. Bugs Bunny? Fine. Popeye? Of course. Snoopy? No question. Spider-Man? Sure. Pac-Man? Uhhh…"
I understand your hesitation. Pac-Man has never been a property of any significance in comic books or comic strips. There was a Pac-Man cartoon show but whatever fame Pac-Man has does not flow from the characters in it. It was a fine video game and its impact on that industry is undeniable…but it's kind of a game, not a character.
It's the creation of a videogame designer, not a cartoonist or writer, and it was conceived not to tell clever, entertaining stories but to play a game. It's a great game, no question, but so is Monopoly™ and they wouldn't honor Rich Uncle Pennybags, the mustachioed gent on the box or the little metal dog that scampers around the board, passing "GO" and collecting $200 each time he does.
You're right. Pac-Man doesn't belong in that list. So why did I put Pac-Man in with the other six? Because Pac-Man is this year's honoree…
The Comic-Con Museum is thrilled to announce PAC-MAN™ as the second inductee into the Comic-Con Museum Character Hall of Fame.
Born in 1980 and widely considered the original digital game mascot, PAC-MAN™ made a profound impact on the video game industry, the role of storytelling in games, and popular culture as a whole.
For an entire generation, PAC-MAN™ ignited a love of video and arcade games. Those of us who were there for the start of PAC-MAN™ remember going to the arcade and lining up for a chance to play while our friends stood around and cheered on. We were able to connect with PAC-MAN™ on an emotional level in a way we hadn't with other video game characters.
True, it made a profound impact on the video game industry…and if this were the E3 Museum, that would make perfect sense. The role of storytelling in games? You chase the ghosts around until you die and then you put in another quarter. That's the story.
Popular culture as a whole? You could say that about The Beatles, Elvis, the Kardashians, Deep Throat, McDonald's, psychedelic drugs, Coca-Cola, cell phones and a thousand other things that we could all name. And yes, video games have a place at Comic-Con but that started when they began telling comic-book-type stories and introducing characters who were designed to look like they came out of comic books…characters with faces and voices and colorful costuming.
People are already writing me to suggest that Pac-Man must have been selected because the owners of the property made it rain quarters on that building in Balboa Park. I don't know if that's true or not. I don't even know if that would make the choice more or less logical. I just know I don't get this.