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 Comic-con International for 2023

No Hollywood, no problem?

Once more into the breech

Having not exhibited at Comic-Con International since...you know...I felt like I had just been dropped into someone elses' life. The version of me that figured out how to do that and handle all the tasks, planning and logistics that go with it, as well as dealing with thousands of people a day, that guy must have been a maniac. I had forgotten how all encompassing, complicated, stressful and glorious being part of that show is.

Almost coming from an outside looking in perspective this year I can tell ya "holy crap, you wouldn't believe it. You would not believe the time, effort, and expense that is flat out risked to do this convention. All of that and if you show up and no one gives a damn about your work...all lost and all for nothing." If the ball hadn't already been rolling by a previous version of me... I, myself, now, personally...I don't know. Hell of risk.

With a 4 year gap between this and the last time, and the writers strike keeping Hollywood out of the mix, I didn't know wtf would be waiting for me. Could be the little big horn. I went because...I have friends there, that I have not seen in four years, and I miss them very much. With that in mind...what the hell, once more into the breech.

As it turns out, a lot of people missed Arsenic Lullaby, and were real happy to see it back. I would have lost that bet. I was prepared to be starting from scratch with no one knowing who I was or giving a crap. A -year one- type situation, is what I would have bet on. To everyone who came by and said they were glad to have us back and missed us and were stoked to see Arsenic Lullaby didn't come to an end...I don't even know what to say. It meant a hell of a lot to hear that. I was blown away actually.

As far as my personal trials and tribulations between now and the last time I exhibited, I'll get into that next time...probably.

For now, let's consider the big takeaway of CCI2023.

No Hollywood celebs or movie studios at the show this year due to the writers strike, meant no big lines and events and goings on at the infamous Hall H. This left the 160,000 attendees with nothing specifically to do but wander around and see cool stuff. With the books I put out, you can't ask for more than that. We were busy AF, basically from open on wens to five minutes after it closed. For much of the time, I simply could not keep up, so thanks to anyone who had to wait a bit while I finished signing or sketching for someone else. So, no Hollywood was...good?

Less is more?

The difference was obvious, and you've probably seen this opinion from others already...it was more fun.

With no Hall H for anyone to rush to at any given time, the vibe and mood of the entire crowd was 100% different. People were less testy, less stressed, more curious and enjoying themselves. It was a 5 day convention with160,000ish people just looking around for cool stuff, in a giant convention center full of cool stuff.

Everyone was having more fun without Hollywood there. Which may be unfair to Hollywood, AND missing the big picture of what, fundamentally makes a con fun or not fun.

Logistics and timing

If you step back and look at it, the problem Hollywood brings with it's stars doing signings and panels and showing sneak previews, is one of timing and logistics.

Comic-con International could have near 100,000 people in it at any given time...BUT the convention center it is a 3rd of a mile long and three blocks wide. That's 2 maybe 3 football stadiums worth of space. That is actually plenty of room, even for 100,000 people, to wander and see what's what, with a natural flow. But now let's have say...500 to a thousand of those people have to be somewhere specifically, in line for some event, in half an hour. There's no natural flow anymore, there are now 500 to a thousand people who need to be somewhere, myopically going in that direction in the pace they need to, against a ebb and flow of the rest of a crowd that doesn't need to be anywhere and aren't in a hurry and/or aren't going the the same direction.

You have no doubt been in a large crowd and understand that it only takes one person going against the grain to jam up an isle with hundreds of people in it. Now consider several hundred or even a thousand, scattered to the winds of the building, all needing to be somewhere in 20 minutes going against the grain. And that could be 5-6 times a day. That amounts to every single person at that show being pushed, shoved, held up, bumped into or just in general getting annoyed at one point or another.

And for the people who were trying to get somewhere like Hall H...even something fun, that you want to do, can become a chor if there is a crowd and a time limit attached to it. They not only had the displeasure of navigating a crowd, they also had to sit in line for hours, for a 30 minute panel. Also not something that puts people in a great mood.

No Hollywood and no Hall H left people with no specific agenda other than have fun.

The baby and the bathwater?

For those who have said that is was better without Hollywood and they can can stay gone, that might be a "be careful of what you wish for" situation. Yes, this years con was sold out without Hollywood...however...this show had sold out months and months before the writers strike was announced.

Would they have sold out if people knew ahead of time that Hollywood was not going to have a presence? Maybe, maybe not. and how much needed revenue is added to the coffers by the studios renting space and gear, and displays? By paying premiums for premium spaces? I don't know, I'd imagine a lot. How much extra exposure the Con gets by them being there may be incalculable. And how much of that is a bludgeon that can be used by CCI when negotiating with the city and convention center itself? I'd imaging it doesn't hurt. And many exhibitors of all kinds were willing to pay for their spaces thinking that Hollywood would be their promoting the IP of the toys, books, ect that they are selling at their respective booths.

Aside from that...and everyone seems to forget this...behind the giant Rube Goldberg-ian carnival that is CCI, are people. People who work hard running that show, people worked hard growing that show. They grew it from a medium sides con, for its time, to a force of nature in the culture itself. One that not only can not be ignored but one that must be taken into account by any studio, publisher, company that has their stake in the creative industry. I am sure, no matter how exhausting it is, they are very very proud of that, and they should be.

Growing a comic book convention into an event that is essentially the size of a small town and revered all across the globe is a monumental accomplishment.

We can all go “F*ck it, let hollywood stay gone, it'd be a better show without them even if it is half the size”, but we don't have the same emotional stake in this AND we don't have the long term picture in mind that they do.

If this show could survive at it's usual size, energy and...gravitational pull, with comic books themselves being the energy source I suppose is up to the comic book industry. The publishers, pros, youtubers, bloggers, stores, ect. How well did we do at making this years attendees fell like it was worth it to go to this show. Arsenic Lullaby pulled it's weight in that department. I can at least tell you that much. We may have to find out how well we all did, whether we like it or not.

A snake eating it's tail? 

What seems like several lifetimes ago, when I started doing this show, it was fraction of it's size. Not just in attendance but in actual physical size. It wasn't big enough to take up the whole convention center, and as I recall there would be more than just CCI going on at that convention center during that weekend. If you can even imagine that.

This show and the seemingly all encompassing aspect of Hollywood that is based on comic book IP grew somewhat symbiotically. Iron Man came out and was promoted at that show and went over big and got big press and more movies were made and went to that show and the cross promotion helped all involved grow, rinse repeat, rinse repeat, until it became the cultural juggernaught that it is.

Now though, inevitably, Hollywood seems to have milked the Comic book IP cow dry, or perhaps taken it for granted. Call it over-saturation, diminishing quality or just the law of diminishing returns, the interest in these shows and movie has been dropping.

The MCU withering, as it seems to be doing, could sour Hollywood on comics in general. That's a paradigm shift that everyone in the comic book industry had best have a plan for. Beginning with CCI and everyone who exhibits there, and all the mid and smaller sized cons that bolster their numbers with people looking to meet Hollywood stars.

Ten/twenty years ago you'd never see and A or even many B list celebrities at a comic-con. You'd get the deputy from the Dukes of Hazard and they kid from Lassie. This is because up until then, from the perspective of someone with a hit movie or show, being at a comic-con was for has been's. It wasn't cool. Then it became cool. What about next year? the year after? They make money at cons, sure...but they make more money being in movies. If they think that being at a comic-con will damage their image and bring down their perceived worth as an actor on a big money project...forget them showing up at CCI or any other con for that matter.

Hollywood may double down and try to bring their comic book IP back to it's pinnacle of success or...it may move onto the next thing. Any sci-fi or animated property would be well served to have a presence at CCI, but if they start churning out buddy cop movies, or movies fueled by action stars, or some other trope...that's not a natural pairing with CCI.

Then what? Then we had best hope we all pulled our weight in the past decade, getting fans of movies to become fans of the comic book medium, or CCI may once again be sharing that convention center with a orthodontist convention. And THAT would spell disaster for the entire comic book industry. CCI has been not only the crown jewel of the comic book industry but, in a sense, it's flagship of outreach to the non comic book world. Every year it is talked about/hyped positively and focused on by studio, promoter, and every news agency large and small. That is a hell of a shot in the arm for an industry. That goes away...how long before the average person could be heard saying "oh, they still make comic books?"

Then too, it could be that “human joy is precious”

This was this first CCI in full “back to business as usual” mode since 2019. And maybe... everyone was having more fun because, they forgot how much fun it was. Because, it had been so long since they had been there. Because having missed it, the little things that used to be a bother were completely glossed over because of all the little things and big things that make the show great. Maybe it wasn't actually more fun. Maybe it was the same fun it always has been but this time everyone appreciated to a degree that they hadn't previously. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all of that.

Anyways, that's why's and wherefores of the show without Hollywood there.

Later.