Cinematical

Like my esteemed colleague Kevin Kelly, I too have had a little time to relax and reflect on my recent Comic-Con International experience. Although I don't have nearly the amount of photos he has, I do have a few thoughts as to what news, events, problems and other things hit home for me during the four and a half glorious days that made up Comic-Con International 2007.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been attending the Comic-Con for many years now. During that time I've watched it grow from an event held in a hotel attended by thousands of hard-core comic book fans eagerly trading comics and excitedly talking about their favorite comic book covers, characters, artists, writers and story arcs to a giant, unwieldy beast seemingly driven not by a love of sequential art but by the Hollywood PR machine.

The event used to be about comic books and the people who make them. Now, it seems to be about movies and TV shows and the people who make them. At least in years past, the majority of movie or TV shows on display at the Con had some loose association with comics. Not this year. For example, I like Russell Crowe and Christian Bale and 3:10 to Yuma looks like an interesting film, but I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with comics -- except that Bale plays Batman in Batman Begins and the upcoming Batman: The Dark Knight.That's not the only example of movies that don't exactly fit. How about a film like Superbad? Sure, it looks pretty darn funny and I bet the characters in the movie, being the somewhat nerdy guys they are, probably read comic books -- so I guess that's close enough, right? Sorry, no. There are many other examples of this but I won't bore you with them all. You can look them up or read about them here at Cinematical. Let's just say that to keep referring to this event as "Comic-Con" might, in the very near future, cease to be a very descriptive title. Actually, I think we're pretty much there already.



Don't worry, I'm not going to be one of those people who moans that "change is bad" and require all things to stay the same. Change is inevitable. But for an event such as this, change also comes at a price -- a real one with dollar signs in front of it. For the first time in its history, the Comic-Con sold out more than one day of its four days. Why is this significant? Well, from what I could gather during my poking around behind the scenes, this was not something taken lightly.

Turning away people who want to get into your event is not a very good idea. Numbers I heard were in the thousands at least, and perhaps more. Each one of those people -- many of whom came a great distance to get to the Con -- were not happy about being turned away.

Will they come back and try again next year? Maybe. And maybe not. Either way, if you're an event organizer you don't' want to be turning people away and giving them a reason never to come back. That's revenue you will never see again. Still, I'm sure the Con makes a lot of money but anyone who runs a business can't feel too good about losing out on a lot more business simply because they had to turn people away. So, why did they have to turn people away and why did the Con sell out? Simple. Not enough space.



There simply wasn't enough space to accommodate everyone safely. So, the Fire Marshall imposed a cap on the number of people that could attend the event and also that could attend individual panels. Once the rooms reached capacity, their doors were shut and that was it. Same went for getting into the Con at all. Once the entire Convention Center reached capacity, that was it. Nobody else was getting in.

The lack of space for all the people who wanted to attend the Con brings up several interesting things organizers are surely thinking about for next year. If they've reached the absolute capacity for the San Diego Convention Center is it time to move the event elsewhere? Maybe even to Los Angeles, which has far more convention floor space than San Diego? I never thought it would come to this, but now, I think it has. In the past, when people would tell me that the Con would be moving away from San Diego I told them it wasn't possible and it would never happen. Now, I'm not so sure.

There are a couple reasons why I feel differently now. First, if they don't move somewhere with larger capacity they can never again have more people at the Con then they had this year. From now on each day will sell out and that will be it. Consequently, I think fewer people will make the trip and that would probably result in lowered attendance over the next few years. If people know there's a good chance they won't be able to get in without registering in advance, they probably won't even try -- especially if they travel some distance to get there.

The second and more compelling reason is that for the first time (or at least the first time I was aware of it explicitly), the event was not known as the San Diego Comic Con. This year it was specifically referred to as Comic-Con International on the website, press kit and every other piece of information put out by Con organizers. Could this be the start of a re-branding of the Con and also be paving the way for a move when the contract with San Diego expires in two years? I think it might. In that case, we probably should get used to calling the event Comic-Con International in Los Angeles.

Third, now that Hollywood has become such a big part of the Con with studios pumping more and more money into bigger and more impressive booths, wouldn't it make more sense for it to just move to LA where all the studios are? Sure, there will be many angry comic book fans in San Diego and elsewhere who will despise the move and think the organizers are selling out to Hollywood. If it does move, I'll try not to react emotionally to the decision. But in the end, I think Con organizers will most likely do what's best for business and go where the money and capacity is: Los Angeles.

As a long-time attendee I don't relish the thought of my favorite event ever leaving San Diego. It's a part of the history of the city and my history too. If I had my ultimate way and controlled everything I would not move the Con anywhere. Sadly, it's not up to me but instead is in the hands of some very capable, intelligent and thoughtful people who will do what they think is best for the Con and the fans. That, I think, will eventually be a move to Los Angeles.

Ok, now that I've belabored the point and gone on way too long, here's a brief list of some of the news and events that I found most interesting at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego:

• I'm way more excited about seeing 30 Days of Night now than I was before. The trailer and scenes I saw looked awesome. Yes, I even like Josh Hartnett.



• I'm also very excited to see Iron Man now that I got to experience some of that as well. Have no doubt, Robert Downey, Jr. is Tony Stark. From the moment he appears on screen, he owns it. Plus, seeing Iron Man fly and kick ass to Black Sabbath made it all the more cool.



• Call me a fool (I'm going to regret saying that I'm sure) but I think Resident Evil: Extinction looks great. Mix Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, explosions, automatic weapons and Zombies together and you've got a winning combination in my book. And did I mention the movie's got Ali Larter in it? Me like.



• Sadly, as much as I liked Dog Soldiers and The Descent I'm not so thrilled about director Neil Marshall's next film Doomsday . I can only judge from the footage I saw but it just looks like a blatant rip-off of some much better movies -- Escape from New York and The Warriors in particular. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so. Are there no original ideas left anymore?

• Also, Rob Zombie's version of Halloween looks weak to me too. I think I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist at all and just watch John Carpenter's version again instead. Sorry to disappoint you rabid Zombie fans but just because he makes cool music (and I think he does) doesn't mean he can make good movies. And yes, I didn't really care for his previous films either.



• Like Kevin, I was thrilled to hear that Karen Allen is back in Indy 4 where she should be. But I'll say it again: where's Sallah? I'm in your corner John Ryes-Davies and I don't think I'm the only one. Come on Mr. Spielberg, thrown the guy a bone. "Asps, very dangerous. You go first." Classic.

• I have mixed feelings about the Incredible Hulk re-boot. I like Ed Norton as an actor but I tend to think he's a bit full of himself. Not sure of the wisdom of having him write the script for the film with so many other actual screenwriters out there looking for work but hey, I'm not Marvel Studios head-honcho Kevin Feige, so what do I know? I hope they remember that The Hulk likes to smash stuff and not sit around discussing his feelings.

• I'm sure there's more but even after a week or so to think I still can't quite remember it all. Well, the rest probably wasn't that interesting anyway. If you remember or want to ask about specific things, feel free to drop a question in the comments and I'll try to answer.



Other than that, the Con was, as always, a bit of a marathon where you try to see as much as possible and attempt to digest some of it and make sense of even less of it. Still, it's pretty fun too, so I can't complain too much. What will the future hold for the Con and where will we be liveblogging, interviewing, photographing and pushing our way into events next year? Two more years in San Diego and then after that, Los Angeles. Even if it does ruin the event for some people it will probably bring in even more people to the event too so that's a good thing.

Hopefully, the extra space will also allow for more comics and creators -- the people who were there in the beginning who helped the event grow to the size it is today. Even if it does expand and move to a bigger venue, the organizers shouldn't forget the people who put the event on the map in the first place: comic book fans and creators. Without them, there wouldn't be a Con at all and with all the changes to come, it would be a shame to ever forget that.

See you next year.