San Diego Comic-Con
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Comic-Con International: San Diego | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | Multi-genre |
Venue | San Diego Convention Center |
Location(s) | San Diego, California |
Country | United States |
Inaugurated | 1970 |
Attendance | 125,000+ in 2007 |
Organized by | Comic-Con International |
Filing status | Non-profit |
Website | http://www.comic-con.org/ |
Comic-Con International: San Diego, commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, is an annual multigenre fan convention founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans. It is traditionally a four-day event (Thursday through Sunday—though a four hour preview night on Wednesday is open to guests pre-registered for all four days) held during the summer in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Comic-Con is both the name of the annual event and the common name of the organization.
Comic-Con International also produces two other conventions, WonderCon and the Alternative Press Expo (APE), both held in San Francisco, California. Since 1974, Comic-Con has bestowed its annual Inkpot Award to guests and persons of interest in the industries of popular arts as well as to members of Comic-Con's Board of Directors and convention committee. It is also the home of the Will Eisner Awards.
Originally showcasing comic books, science fiction/fantasy and film/television (as was evident by the three circled figures appearing in Comic-Con's original logo), and related popular arts, the convention has expanded over the years to include a larger range of pop culture elements, such as horror, anime, manga, animation, toys, collectible card games, video games and webcomics. The convention is the largest of its kind in the world, filling to capacity the San Diego Convention Center with over 125,000 attendees in 2007. Although Comiket in Tokyo, Japan is four times larger in terms of attendance than Comic-Con, its focus is solely as a gather for the buying, selling, and trading of dōjinshi (self printed comic books and fanzines), somewhat akin to a huge swap meet, and is not a convention in the American sense.
History and organization
The first convention drew 300 people and was held at the U. S. Grant Hotel in 1970. Other locations in the convention's early years included the El Cortez Hotel, University of California, San Diego, and Golden Hall, before being moved to the San Diego Convention center in 1991.[1] The convention is organized by a panel of thirteen board members, sixteen to twenty full-time and part-time workers, and eighty volunteers that assist with different committees.[1] Comic Con International is a not-for-profit organization, and proceeds of the event go to funding Alternative Press Expo (APE) and WonderCon.[1] The convention is currently scheduled to remain in San Diego until 2012.[1]
Events
Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming feature films, portfolio review sessions with top comic book and video game companies, and such evening events as awards ceremonies and The Masquerade; a costume contest, and the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival which showcases shorts and feature length movies that do not have distribution or distribution deals.
Traditional events include an eclectic film program, screening rooms devoted to Japanese animation, gaming, and the Comic-Con International: Independent Film Festival, as well as cartoonist Scott Shaw!'s "Oddball Comics" slide show and animation expert Jerry Beck's program featuring TV's "worst cartoons ever", as well as over 350 hours of other programming on all aspects of comic books and pop culture.
Like most comic book conventions, Comic-Con features a large floorspace for exhibitors. These include media companies such as movie studios and TV networks, as well as comic-book dealers and collectibles merchants. Like most comics conventions, Comic-Con includes an autograph area, as well as the Artists' Alley where comics artists can sign autographs and sell or do free sketches. Despite the name, artists' alleys can include writers and even models.
Academicians and comic industry professionals annually hold the Comics Arts Conference at Comic-Con, presenting scholarly studies on comics as a medium. Educational forums such as the Comics Arts Conference help Comic-Con maintain its non-profit status.
Exclusive collectibles
In the 21st century, the convention has drawn toy and collectibles designers who sell "Comic Con Exclusive" products. Such companies have included Gentle Giant Studios, Hasbro, Mattel, and Sideshow Collectibles.[2] Most such exclusives are licensed properties of movie, comic book and animation characters.
In the media
Comic-Con has served as the setting for Mark Hamill's Comic Book: The Movie, and for the "I Love You, Too" episode of the HBO television series Entourage, the latter of which, while set at the event, was not filmed there. Comic-Con also served as an excuse for the fictional characters Seth Cohen and Ryan Atwood's trip to Tijuana, Mexico in the first season of TV series The O.C. The convention also featured prominently as a setting for the Numb3rs episode "Graphic". In Season 4 of Beauty and the Geek, an episode was featured where the contestants travelled to Comic-Con 07 and were given a challenge to create their own superheroes.
Quotes
Mark Evanier on the first Comic-Con venue:
I never stayed in the old U.S. Grant [hotel] but it was the scene of the first San Diego Con, which I attended way back in 1970, back when we thought it was mobbed to have 500 comic fans in the same place at the same time. The hotel was undergoing a massive renovation then as well, but was merely upgrading from Extremely Shabby to merely Somewhat Shabby. The place I still miss is the El Cortez Hotel, where the con was held for several years in the seventies. I'd say the place was a dump but that would be demeaning to dumps. Still, it was a fun dump, run by a management that didn't seem to care all that much what we did to it.[3]
Evanier on an early spillover venue:
In the seventies, when we all started going to San Diego Comic Book Conventions, back when they called them that, [the Hotel San Diego] was a frequent venue for con events. Some years, before it outgrew any available hotel ballroom, the Inkpot Awards presentation was held there. There were many memorable parties and gatherings, such as in 1982 when a group of Jack Kirby's friends staged a memorable surprise birthday party for him in one of its halls. Perhaps some year, you were either so hard up for money or so desperate for an available room (or both) that you even booked into its sadly deteriorating accommodations. It was one of the cheaper places to sleep and con-goers took advantage of that up until June of 2001 when the building was declared structurally unsafe and was closed down".[4]
Issues
Capacity attendance at Comic-Con in 2006 and 2007 has caused crowding issues. Concerns have been that the event is possibly too massive for the San Diego Convention Center, Comic-Con's home through at least 2012.[5] In 2006, Comic-Con for the first time was sold out on Saturday and potential attendees were denied entry. In response, for 2007, Comic-Con introduced a new three-day membership that did not include Saturday. Nevertheless, the 2007 show went on to sell out Saturday, as well as Friday and Sunday for the first time. Additionally, both the four-day and three-day memberships sold out for the first time. For 2008, the three-day memberships were abandoned and the convention decided to sell memberships only in advance, with no on-site registration. [6]
In 2008, all memberships were sold out before the convention for the first time ever. This sellout has given rise to the new phenomenon of Comic-Con memberships being scalped for exorbitant prices on websites such as eBay.[7]
In April 2008, David Glanzer, Comic-Con's director of marketing and public relations, commented on the organization's desire to remain in San Diego:
We've been approached by other cities, [but] I don't think anybody wants to leave San Diego. I certainly don't. It's a perfect fit for us. It's expensive, whether it be paying for the street signs that tell you what streets are closed, or for any police or the hall or any of the myriad things, it's expensive. But it's a great city. There's been some talk of expansion of the center, which we would certainly welcome. Hopefully if everything lines up, we will be here for many more years.[1]
Criticism
In the 2000s, the prevalence of video games and major-studio movies has drawn criticism from those who believe that Comic-Con is losing its focus on comic books and instead has become a showcase for large entertainment corporations. Some comic-book retailers have said that the large corporate presence had driven booth prices up significantly.[8]
Locations and dates
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Malloy, Elizabeth (2008-04-18). "Charting Comic-Con's Hulk-like growth". The Daily Transcript. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
- ^ "TNI's 2007 San Diego Comic Con Exclusives Checklist", Toy News International 2007
- ^ Evanier, Mark. "News from Me" (column of April 7, 2006)
- ^ Evanier, Mark. "News from Me" (column of April 8, 2006)
- ^ Forbes (July 30, 2007): "What began as a comic-book event has grown to include toys, video games, anime and movies. The event practically no longer fits in the San Diego Convention Center, its home through 2012".
- ^ Comic-COn 2008 registration
- ^ McLean, Tom (2008-06-25), "Buyers beware scalped Comic-Con tickets", Variety.com, retrieved 2008-07-20
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(help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080726/news_1c26rowe.html Rowe, Peter. "Comics feeling a bit put out"]. The San Diego Union-Tribune, July 26, 2008
- ^ Comic-Con Chronicles 2006 (internet video). IFC News. 2006.
- ^ "Comic-Con: Where 'nerd has become normal'" USA Today (July 29, 1007), by Scott Bowles
- ^ T'Bonz (pseudonymous writer). "Wheaton on Star Trek XI" TrekToday.com, July 8, 2008
- ^ Much of the information for conventions before 1999 is from the 1999 30th anniversary program book.
References
- San Diego Comic Convention Souvenir Book 1994 (offline)
- The "Secret Origin" of San Diego's Comic-Con International