The Four Color Media Monitor

The LA Times' Hero Complex blog covers the San Diego ComiCon from last week, and it's disturbing to find out that if there's anything that's getting less space and attention there, it's comics themselves, which are being edged out by the encroaching movie biz:

With even comedies being given a forum, the genre that inspired the convention is relegated to the background.

This is the year they tried to take the comic out of Comic-Con.

The Comic-Con International in San Diego, which came to a close Sunday, has become a frenetic Super Bowl of pop culture, but the home team has mixed feelings when it looks at the scoreboard.

"I think Comic-Con is in danger of having Hollywood co-opt its soul," said Michael Uslan, who attended the first comic-book convention in summer 1964 in New York. "It's turning into something new, and you could really see it this year. There's some worry about that."

[...]

"There does seem to be some random booths here which don't have anything to do with comics," said Jaime King, the starlet who came south to promote the December comic-book film "The Spirit." "Slowly but surely the entertainment community is taking over to promote their projects here even though they have absolutely nothing to do with comics. What's next? A panel for 'Deal or No Deal'?"

[...]

There's actually a small segment of the huge San Diego Convention Center still reserved for people in the comic-book trade. Robert Beerbohm, who has been a merchant at every one of the Comic-Cons since its start in 1970, said he is worried about the future for the true believers.

"All the Hollywood directors say that they loved comics as a kid, but now they are being pushed off the floor. Where are the next generation of directors going to come from?" he wondered.

This certainly is startling, but maybe it shouldn't be too surprising, given how sales are in decline, and how negligent many publishers have become. It certainly does signal the slow and sad way comics are dying.

Labels: conventions