Understanding What San Diego Comic-Con Is and What It's Not

 29 JULY 2024

Now that we're all home, laundry done, comics and Funkos unpacked, pets reunited with, it's time to summarize the Great Return of San Diego Comic-Con 2024!

Or, for me, it'll be that time tomorrow. Right now I want to address a bugaboo that's bothered me for a few days now: a misunderstanding of what SDCC promises you.

I addressed this in a diatribe about offsites last week. I'll now address it again because I keep hearing sentiments such as:

~ This event packs in too many people without enough to do. I feel ripped off.

~ I didn't travel this far and pay this much money to stand in line most of the time. I feel ripped off.

~ I waited 4 hours to get into this offsite and all I got was a baseball hat. I feel ripped off.

This is apparently the inevitable and unpleasant conclusion of the cascading attendee obsession with offsites. Over the last 12 years, offsite activations have gotten more numerous and more elaborate while attendees have become more monomaniacal about them. Now they are the point for some attendees, whose vicious case of FOMO has convinced them their life is incomplete if they can't spend 4 minutes inside a marketing diorama. I know it's partly about posting it on social to make their friends envious, partly about a sense of union with their favorite fandom, and other murky factors. 

But is it actually Comic-Con? In the larger sense of the concept, yes. But literally? No, and I think that's where people are getting confused. 

Or to put it more bluntly: the convention center is full of half-empty panels and screenings. You know, the actual SDCC programming.

Shifting SDCC Math

I would never try to persuade people to like the nerdier stuff if they don't - you like what you like. But you can't buy a badge for an event that you're largely ignoring and then complain it didn't offer enough to entertain you. 

In other words, if you're disinterested in panels and tournaments and film festivals, if you really are 90% motivated by offsites and parties, maybe this isn't the Con for you. I know it seems like it is at first glance. But considering the thousands of people who spent hours in line for offsites and then complained it wasn't worth it - maybe a reassessment is in order. 

Numerically speaking, the number of badges sold is massive compared to the number of attendees accommodated by offsites and Funko Fridays and the Fandom party and IMDB boat. You might get some access to those experiences but not all of them. They were never intended to accommodate every person with a badge. Make your peace with those limitations and stop complaining or move on. 

I'll admit I'm a little biased because I've attended so many nerdy panels featuring brilliant writers and artists who had to look out at rows of empty chairs. It's depressing to go to a spotlight panel for a world-famous comic artist and see that just 17 people showed up for it at San Diego Comic-Con. There are plenty of people who'd love to attend those panels, of course. But it's hard for them to get a badge when they are drowned out by the massive crowd of combatants who are mostly looking to get a selfie with a celebrity.

I know this sounds judgmental and it's not intended to be. But this year, I heard more complaints than ever about how unfair it was that attendees couldn't simply go from offsite to offsite like bees pollinating flowers. Some of them called SDCC boring and said there wasn't enough to do. If you genuinely feel that way, then SDCC isn't for you. You are not one of us. Go forth and find your people, your fun, because this isn't it.

Again, not judging those interests - I quite understand the allure of a well-done offsite. But you do have to make your peace with the odds of getting tickets, the amount of time in line, and the reality that every offsite is a roll of the dice - maybe it's great, maybe it's a snore. 

And please stop saying that CCI failed you by not giving you more to do. There is plenty to do. Maybe next year you can spend more time inside the convention center. You might be surprised by what you find.

ECCC accused of an offensive badge? Say it isn't so.

3 MARCH 2016

If there's a Comic Con that's the poster child for being sensitive to harassment concerns - sexual harassment, gay-bashing, sexism, transphobia, racism, you name it - it would be Emerald City Comicon. So imagine the cries of outrage rising up from Twitter over the Sunday ECCC badge, below.

Yes, it shows a woman looking horrified as a monstrous clawed hand descends on her shoulder - and while that might not indicate any kind of sexual assault on its own, the need to have her shirt unbuttoned and coming down to show her bra is pretty suggestive. So more than a few attendees have protested. (Consider also that Sunday is Kids Day and it's just a bad image choice all around.)

 

I really didn't notice the badge when I saw the whole group on ECCC's Tumblr, and I didn't get a Sunday badge, so this is the first I'm focusing on it. I agree that it wasn't the wisest image they could have chosen, partially because it's presented out of context - as ReedPOP acknowledged in their official statement on the kerfuffle:

"We are aware that some Fans are uncomfortable with the art depicted on the ECCC Sunday Badge. The art on the Badge is from the Image Comics' series The Discipline. Within the context of the comic, it is understood that these images do not depict non-consensual acts or sexual assault. Without that context, such as on the face of a Sunday badge, that is not clear."

I'm sure some people are reading this and thinking, what's the big deal? One reason: violence in comics (and other art forms) is often sexualized when the victim is a woman. She's not just stabbed, she's stripped first with a special panel to show the readers that her underwear is this close to coming off. This has gotten called out quite a bit in recent years, and it's improved somewhat in my opinion - but still, readers who have no problems with nudity or sex in a positive or egalitarian context are sick of comics that present the suffering of women as sexy. So when an image like this is shown, with no explanation for people who've never even heard of The Discipline, hackles get raised.

And also, these badge images from sponsors weren't just plucked at random. Out of all the Image comics in existence and all the beautiful art inside them, someone thought this image was ideal for the Sunday badge. And there was probably an approval chain to boot, because I've never yet seen an organization that didn't have to discuss every creative decision to death. I doubt the team involved realized the image would offend some attendees, but that's kind of the point; industry professionals still make tone-deaf blunders like this.

Anyway. Maybe you like your Sunday badge just the way it is; the 4-day Monstress badge is still my favorite. But if you do want a new Sunday badge, you can exchange it at ECCC Will Call that Sunday, according to ReedPOP.

What you didn't like about Comic-Con

29 JULY 2014




Stories from my first-timers are still coming in so those won't be up for a day or two. In the meantime, I'm going to answer a few questions and observations from disgruntled attendees who were clearly surprised by Comic-Con and what they found there. The lines. The unfairness. The failure to dazzle. Everyone has expectations and sometimes those expectations go down in flames.


Why do they let so many people in? It's too crowded. No kidding. First off, while everyone would like more breathing room in the convention center, it always seems to come at the assumption that other people would be losing their badges in return - not them. Fewer people = a smaller chance you'll get a badge.

Yes, the convention center is being expanded but it's not going to double the space, as people keep saying. We don't know the number of extra attendees that could be accommodated. We do know the plan is to add 740,000 square feet to the 2.6-million-square-foot center IRT exhibition and ballroom space, along with a 5-acre rooftop park and a 500-room expansion of the Hilton Bayfront. That's all well and good but it's not going to admit an extra 80K people.

Why doesn't it just move to Vegas? Every year talk of Vegas comes up. But they have virtually no reason to fill their hotel rooms with our stingy selves instead of gamblers and business people who will pump cash into their economy. According to the NYT, we only spend $603 per person at Comic-Con. San Diego, on the other hand, adores us and wants to hang onto us. And CCI is very much a Cali organization.

The system is rigged against people with single day badges.  I know. My dream is that they keep the Town & Country open Weds-Saturday and let everyone get their badges a day in advance. I don't understand why they can't make this happen.

Where are all the comic books? Back in 2006, I'm guessing. It's been 80% Hollywood for quite a while now. Everyone knows that if you need space on the floor, you head over to the comic book area - it's nice and spacious over there. You can still pick up books and get them signed at Fantagraphics, Last Gasp, Drawn and Quarterly, Top Cow, Image, Boom! and such but it's not the place to hunt for back issues or discover indie artists and writers. 

The lines make it impossible to see anything. It's true that investing in one line comes at the expense of other panels - along with sleeping and eating sometimes - which means you really need to decide whether it's worth it. And ultimately, whether Comic-Con is worth it. I'm always accused of "negativity" on this blog but I am just trying to realistically prepare people for what awaits them. If you think SDCC is going to be a four-day dream of panels of all your favorites shows and movies, you're going to be very chagrined when you realize you can fit in maybe one panel or one day of panels, half of which won't be to your taste.

The staff was rude. Some of them are. Some are pretty nice. I've already heard a few "a security guard ruined my show" stories and I'm always sympathetic but at the end of the day, there's not much redress here. That's why I always advise attendees to suck it up and be as charming as possible. I'm not a particularly obedient person and I quite understand the impulse to tell off a fascist guard - but it is always, always better to take the long view, swallow your gall and preserve your SDCC freedom. You won't achieve anything by challenging them in a belligerent way. You have to be smooth about it.

The entire set-up is unfair. There are a lot of small (and considerable) injustices. One set of doors opened first so those people got in ahead of you and got your exclusive. People with inside knowledge or access seem to be beating out normal attendees. Parties are advertised that then shut everyone out. Part of this is the chaos and size of the Con and part of it is The Powers That Be not particularly caring.

I wasn't impressed. Great, now you know not to come back. I don't mean that sarcastically. It's good to know that SDCC isn't for you. Despite the ravenous demand for badges, many, many people have walked away from San Diego Comic-Con over the last six years because it just doesn't do it for them anymore. It's a valid feeling. For me SDCC is currently more about the experience - finding weird things like shirts with Vampira and the dead Shining twins on them and the occasional rare comic book, seeing friends and hearing artists talk about their work. I'm done bemoaning the lack of comics and have accepted what SDCC is. I'll be at Emerald City and other Cons to get a taste of what it used to be. I suggest everyone look elsewhere too if San Diego was a vast disappointment.


At some point, you have to accept that the halcyon days of SDCC are gone and they're not coming back. We just have to make the best of what's out there. That said, I'm sorry for all of you who had a bad experience this year. Remember, Cons are going to keep mutating and we shouldn't think the current state of San Diego will last forever. In a few years, it may break into 2 Cons, look wildly different, or fall into the shadow of a more popular competitor. Anything's possible for our future.