Comic book conventions are full of dorks. I don’t know, maybe, depending on your definition of the term but I returned a few hours ago from C2E2( Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo)) and I vowed that not only am I going next year, I am going and I plan to dress up like freakin’ Batman. Or, at least that is what I said at the convention. Later I decided I would have an online vote at Mapanare.us to determine my costume (left to this site’s readers I figure I will wind up going as Wonder Woman or garbed only in tape like Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element). This expo was (and as this posts still IS) a blast.
I decided, fairly last minute, to head to this with my son and I had NO idea that I would interview anyone. But once I was there I had my camera, so why the HELL not. I also went to a couple of panels which I thought were worth talking about (although my photos from both are dubious). My videos, which will be posting soon, also have rather dubious sound for which I apologize. I came unprepared. I was never a Boy Scout. This will not, regrettably, be as extensive as the stuff on the peripheral Art Basel fairs. But there is, in my mind, a connection.
One of the interesting parts of this sojourn included a few discussions I had, on and off camera, about “comic art” as “high art.” Personally I refuse to accept any such distinction as they remind me of days of yore when priests read entrails and told us our future or chatted with the most high in guarded rooms where the common dare not tread. Some guy dressed up as Wolverine has every right to pontificate about art as a MFA teaching at the Art Institute--although they might actually agree as well, I don’t sell all academics short mind you. And after decades of being ripped off by fine artists I suppose the artists behind comics are getting more of their due.
But beyond the art it is just a nice event for people of all ages; panels include discussions on comics of course, but also television and film. Shows including The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries and True Blood were all represented. There are toys kids can actually play with and others you wouldn’t dare take out of the package lest Thor smite you.
I decided, fairly last minute, to head to this with my son and I had NO idea that I would interview anyone. But once I was there I had my camera, so why the HELL not. I also went to a couple of panels which I thought were worth talking about (although my photos from both are dubious). My videos, which will be posting soon, also have rather dubious sound for which I apologize. I came unprepared. I was never a Boy Scout. This will not, regrettably, be as extensive as the stuff on the peripheral Art Basel fairs. But there is, in my mind, a connection.
One of the interesting parts of this sojourn included a few discussions I had, on and off camera, about “comic art” as “high art.” Personally I refuse to accept any such distinction as they remind me of days of yore when priests read entrails and told us our future or chatted with the most high in guarded rooms where the common dare not tread. Some guy dressed up as Wolverine has every right to pontificate about art as a MFA teaching at the Art Institute--although they might actually agree as well, I don’t sell all academics short mind you. And after decades of being ripped off by fine artists I suppose the artists behind comics are getting more of their due.
But beyond the art it is just a nice event for people of all ages; panels include discussions on comics of course, but also television and film. Shows including The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries and True Blood were all represented. There are toys kids can actually play with and others you wouldn’t dare take out of the package lest Thor smite you.
A view from on high...or the food court
The people present, whether vendors, artists or just your average attendee were pretty uniformly pleasant. They even talked to strangers, regardless of if they were guys dressed in "Poison Ivy" costumes. Think about that for about three seconds. When was the last time you went to a concert, a sporting event or even an art show and were able to say that people were pleasa? I will even give you longer than three seconds. I know I do hit an inordinately high volume of indie rock establishments so maybe I am biased in thinking pleasantness unusual.
And please feel free to leave comments about dorkiness. I worked all day on my comebacks. It would be a terrible shame to waste them.
And please feel free to leave comments about dorkiness. I worked all day on my comebacks. It would be a terrible shame to waste them.
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