July 29, 2006

  • The San Diego Comic-Con has passed just this past week, and it's presence is still around. I've heard people from co-workers, TV specials, as well as news reports still talking about the event. There is one thing that I've always been fascinated with, and it's in how some people perceive the Comic-Con from an outside perspective.

    The general perception is that it's simply (very simply) a Comic book convention, filled with 80% guys and nerds all over the place. Over a decade ago, I would pretty much agree with that, but within the past ten years the world of pop culture has invaded the event in full force, and it's brought in more "regular people" as opposed to just geeks.

    On the flip side, I also have heard complaints from some who doesn't like the fact that Movies, TV, Video Games, Anime, etc... has proliferated at Comic-Con. They feel that Comic-Con "sold out," and lost part of it's charm as a large yet exclusive convention for the special interest groups. Me personally, I DO like the fact that pop culture has gotten so popular at the event, because besides the fact that it now has brought a balanced respectable number of men and women attending, we've got celebrities and the mass media recognizing how there are a lot of special things that the Comic-Con offers to just about anybody.

    A lot of people from celebrities to the attendees themselves are seeing the Comic-Con as the best convention they've ever been to. I'll give you three examples.
    1) Film maker Kevin Smith, recognizes how big an event Comic-Con is. He has mentioned this in public appearances (live or TV) throughout the year whenever it's brought up.
    2) I met a female cosplayer who attended Comic-Con for the first time. She told me that she's been to other conventions (like AnimExpo) and immediately recognized how cool Comic-Con is because "there's so much more things to see and do."
    3) G4 TV's host Olivia Munn of "Attack of the Show," attended both the Electronic Entertainment Expo and Comic-Con for the very first time this year. She was asked which one she perferred between the two, and guess which one she chose. That's right, Comic-Con! It must have been a great shock to the gamers out there who worship E3.

    Slowly but surely, the idea that the Comic-Con just equates to nerds, will eventually fade away.