Highlights From Comic-Con 2012 74
Comic-Con 2012 got underway yesterday, and some interesting bits of news have been filtering out. Digital comic sales boomed over the past year — something to be expected given the trend with ebooks and newspapers. But oddly, print comic sales are up as well, to the tune of 18%. At a Firefly panel, Joss Whedon spoke briefly about how the series would have ended if he could have done it on his own terms. "I don’t think I would have killed anybody," he said. TV shows are a strong theme this year, which much discussion around The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. All in all, about 80 television programs are represented at Comic-Con. The show is also highlighting the recent trend away from strict superhero stories. "Image Comics is indeed banking on 'superhero-ed out' readers, not only with Kirkman's The Walking Dead, (Kirkman has been called the 'unofficial mayor of Comic-Con') but with books like the spy-fi The Activity. The title's second issue, out next week, was co-plotted with actual Navy SEALs."
Tee-vee (Score:5, Insightful)
So its TV-Con now, with a highlight being yet more discussion of a short lived, long dead show that still manages to be at least as interesting as anything that has been made since.
Re:Tee-vee (Score:5, Insightful)
So its TV-Con now, with a highlight being yet more discussion of a short lived, long dead show that still manages to be at least as interesting as anything that has been made since.
All in all, about 80 television programs are represented at Comic-Con.
It's becoming Media-Con and people are letting it. Which is why I have no interest in attending. I'd rather go to a show closer to home which Hollywood isn't trying to take over. It's called Comic -Con and should seriously consider getting back to the business of Comics.
Re:Tee-vee (Score:5, Insightful)
It's becoming Media-Con and people are letting it. Which is why I have no interest in attending. I'd rather go to a show closer to home which Hollywood isn't trying to take over. It's called Comic -Con and should seriously consider getting back to the business of Comics.
A comic book is just a medium for telling a particular story. The notion of a "comic strip" was originally telling a story with a sequence of pictures. Television and film is arguably just an evolution along that path. In other words, focusing on stories regardless of the medium they're told in is going back to the original business of comics.
Personally, I have a hard time seeing Comic-Con as anything but a win for everyone involved. Fans love it for the interactivity, writers, artists and actors love it for the chance to get fans excited about their work, and I'm sure it makes plenty of money for the ownership. I suspect very few people in those groups want the event to go back to focusing solely on comic books.
Re:Tee-vee (Score:4, Insightful)
Missed the mark. Comic-Con, the Comic-Con, is non-profit, run by unpaid volunteers. Last I heard, the biggest convention in the world run by amateurs.
No, the reason they've sold out utterly and completely to Hollywood is that the people who make those decsions, the organizers, get "all access" badges. That means they can go anywhere and everywhere, inlcuding the green room, to rub elbows with Angelina Jolie (that was the year the sell-out really started) and Hugh Jackman. So far as I can tell, the organizers would perform human sacrifices under the Sails if it kept the A-list Hollywood types coming every year.
Re:Tee-vee (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally, I have a hard time seeing Comic-Con as anything but a win for everyone involved. Fans love it for the interactivity, writers, artists and actors love it for the chance to get fans excited about their work, and I'm sure it makes plenty of money for the ownership. I suspect very few people in those groups want the event to go back to focusing solely on comic books.
I suspect that MTV, the cast of Jersey Shore and their millions of "fans" (i.e. people that get a sick thrill out of watching trashy idiots humiliate themselves) wouldn't want MTV to go back to showing music videos. However, the fact that MTV has abandoned its original premise in order to chase cheaper content and easier ratings is not a "win" for music videos. It is a "win" for an alternative form of entertainment and its fans, perhaps. It is certainly a win for MTV, which likely get better ratings for content that clears a much lower bar, and which can be churned out ad nauseam.
However, reality tv is not music tv, regardless of the venue. MTVs ratings don't change this fact. Nor are television and film the same as comic books. You are into the meta "its all just stories" angle and don't care about the distinction? Fine. But that doesn't change the fact that there are distinctions that matter to others.
Its not like there is no venue for TV and film to showcase their projects and talent. Let Comic-Con be about comics.