When I Hear about a "Comic-Con"
By Mathew Bredfeldt
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To paraphrase the great stand-up comic Lewis Black, "When you hear about a comic convention you have an expectation, and that is for it to have mostly comic book guests with a smattering of media guests." When I went to the Dallas Comic-Con web (DCC) site last month, they had only announced maybe 3-4 comic book guests and eight media guests. That, at best, is a 2:1 ratio of media to comic book guests. While I will grant you that the comic book guests are some big names in the comic book world (Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti) the others (Arthur Suydam and Doug Sneyd) are just kind of meh. Four of those eight media guests are major players from one Star Trek franchise (William Shatner, Gates McFadden, LaVar Burton and Brent Spiner) and are guaranteed to be a draw. I don't know if some contestants from the SyFy reality competition show "Face Off" are going to be a draw to the show, but two of them are going to be at the DCC in May. What exactly makes the "Dallas Comic-Con" a comic con and not just another "Sci-Fi Expo" or "Fan Days?" The company that runs these shows always has at least some comic book people at them and some media guests at them, but the ratio of comic book guests to media guests is always severely out of whack. It strikes me that the C2 Ventures Inc. people who run these shows are just trying to turn them into big events with media stars that shove the little brother comic books into the corner to play with his blocks all by himself. Now I can see why my local comic shop will advertise for the show, but will not have a table at it. To me media guests are all well and good, but when you are billing yourself as a "Comic-Con" then you should, you know, have actual comic book people there and not a majority of media guests. I know San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) has gotten to the point where media guests outnumber comic book guests over the past decade or so, but Dallas is not San Diego and second the overwhelming number of media guests at SDCC has basically killed the show in the eyes of many comic fans who remember when it was about the comic books and not the movies, television shows and con exclusive toys that you can get at the show. I keep telling myself this, but so far it has not happened; but maybe, in a few years, The San Diego Comic-Con will go back to being about the comic books and less about the media guests. It is because of a lack of focus on comic books that I am going to a different comic book convention in April. This one bills itself as more of a comic book 'show' than a convention and about the only major names they are having there are the writer and artist for "Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth." There will be a dealer's room and an area for artists to hang out and show their wares, and maybe you could get a sketch from a local artist. The best part, you don't have to mortgage your mom's house just to buy a ticket to go in. Five dollars gets you in all day to the show versus five to six times as much for a one day pass to the "Comic-Con". I know that in a few years when my nephew is old enough to start to read and make decisions on what he likes; I can take him to this smaller show, if it is still around, and not worry about losing him or him getting scared because of the mass of people in the dealer's room. It is a more intimate show where there is an actual Artist's Alley where you can meet these independent artists and writers on the main show floor and they have not been pushed to the third floor where they hardly get any traffic because nobody is going up there. I'd hate for the Dallas Comic-Con to turn into a mostly media guest driven show when it is supposed to be about the comic books. Dallas is still a good comic book town, granted not on the level of a New York City or Los Angeles, but I think the over 30,000 person attendance at last year's Dallas Comic-Con should be a good sign that D/FW is a city that can support a major comics convention.
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