Saturday, July 24, 2004

I'm reporting in from the alternate universe known as the San Diego Con, which continues to expand at an alarming rate--next year I figure they'll have to convert the rooftop of the convention center into show space. The nominal subject of the event is comics, but more than ever, it feels like it's about anything and everything with some vague connection to pop culture, and toys dominate the dealer room--when I arrived yesterday, I walked for what felt like a month before I encountered an actual comic book. And more than ever, the event seemed rife with people dressed as everything from Star Wars stormtroopers to tin robots--but almost nobody came dressed as a comics or animation character. (One exception, a guy dressed as Alvin the Chipmunk--Andrew Leal tells me that he tracked the fellow down and learned that his name is Alvin and he's come in costume for fourteen years.)

The good news is that even if only 5% or so of the show floor is of interest, that's an awful lot of stuff. And even if only 5% of the panels are appealing, that's enough sessions to fill your day. Today, I met Ruth Clampett, was one of a few people smart enough to attend Jerry Beck's interesting interview of Harvey Comics editor Sid Jacobson (see photo), attended an entertaining preview of Brad Bird's The Invisibles, went to a session on animation strikes that formed its own impromptu panel made up of audience members when the speaker failed to materialize (he eventually did), saw a hilarious old TV bit in which Chuck McCann played Superman, and went to a panel on breaking into comics simply because one of the folks providing advice on that topic was Will Eisner, who got his lucky break in 1935. If I hadn't gone to those events, I could have chosen an entirely different and equally interesting lineup.

The Con's only a little over half over--still to come are tributes to June Foray and Ray Bradbury and Jerry's Worst Cartoons Ever, among other events of note. And even if I'm not particularly interested in most of the booths in the dealer room, I managed to fill a large bag with purchases today. So forget any gripes I may have made above--I'm glad I'm here.



posted by Harry 2:42 AM