Comic-Con 50 Begins — A Suggested Guide Of Interesting Panels At The Con

Speaker 1: 00:00 It is preview night at comic con tonight. KPBS arts reporter Beth Armando Amando talks with comicon spokesperson David Glanzer about what to expect and how the show has evolved over 50 conventions. Speaker 2: 00:12 David, this is the 50th comic cons. So how does that feel? Speaker 3: 00:17 It feels really great. I feel old but really fantastic. I don't think that we ever thought we would be at this milestone, but we're happy we're here. Speaker 2: 00:27 And is there going to be anything different or has anything changed this year from previous years that people need to be aware of? Speaker 3: 00:32 There'll be some really cool retrospective panels on the past 50 years. We've invited some past, uh, stakeholders, uh, officers, committee heads and I think we'll do a lot of reminiscing about, you know, the way things used to be. Some of it seems like it was just yesterday, but some of it seems like it was eons ago when I first, uh, struggled for volunteering. I think we had 6,000 people and you know, it's a lot more than 6,000 now. Speaker 2: 01:00 One thing that is new this year is there is the comic Con Museum, which is not officially open, but how is that going to come into play this year? Uh, during comic con, Speaker 3: 01:11 the things that we're doing this year, which is something we've, we've long wanted to do and we have the, the ability to do that now is to have what we call community programming. So this year the comicon museum will have its first ever really gala fundraiser on Wednesday night, a first night of a comicon and there'll be at the museum. But what we'll be able to do was to have programming throughout the weekend at the museum. And you don't need a comic con badge for that. The same is true for Barrio house. We have a, um, a facility in Barrio Logan. And the same will be true that there'll be a programming that's open to the public. And if you go to our website, you can look at the programming schedule there. But that's something new and very exciting. We're hoping to get more community involvement. Even if you don't have a comic con badge, hopefully you'll be able to partake in some of the programming. Speaker 2: 02:00 And has this been a response to the fact that you've had to cap attendance at the Convention Center and is this your way of trying to let more of San Diego get to experience the comical? Speaker 3: 02:10 It really is. We had to cap our attendance years ago and that's not just attendees but exhibitors as well. So you'll see those will be called interactive activations outside. It's oftentimes exhibitors who want more space and we just don't have in the building or new exhibitors who want to exhibit at the show and just can't. There is no retail outside, but at least we have some space where we can accommodate them having programming offsite. We already do programming at the San Diego Downtown Library, a couple of other off site locations. This extensive footprint a little bit wider. We're trying to make the best of a really challenging situation. It's kind of a a bandaid, but so far we're, we're holding it together Speaker 2: 02:50 on social media. I've seen some discussion about the fact that some major studios are not there. And in some of the comments I notice people had certain ideas about how these panels are run, that studios pay for the time or that you pay for celebrities to be there. So can you clear up exactly how these panels are actually run and put together? Speaker 3: 03:11 Of course. I think there's a, there is a misconception that a a, we either pay for celebrity appearances or that a studio pays for a time slot. Both of those are or are not true. We have good relationships with, with, with the studios and networks and if a studio doesn't come, often times it's because whatever projects they want to promote either aren't fully developed, they don't feel strong enough to present it to our fans who are really very good about above viral marketing, about, you know, engaging in social media. I think a smart studio knows that if they want to engage our fans instead of just bringing a placeholder, they bring something that is at least somewhat developed so that it can generate interest. But there are I think a some conventions that pay celebrity parents. Is that not something we do on sometimes studios comments, sometimes they don't. It's really less of a, of a indicator of um, their desire and more of a, I think savvy understanding of the fan community and making sure that what they want to bring is something that the fans will, will enjoy and, and be able to, you know, get excited about. Speaker 2: 04:22 And also there seems to be more comic cons and Disney having their, a event where it's not like we're comicon was kind of like your one shot to reach that kind of a fan base. It seems like there are more places to debut things throughout the year. Speaker 3: 04:39 Right. Uh, you know, there's, there's really one comic con it's, it's, it's our show. There are other, uh, pop culture conventions and I think it is a very different landscape than it was, you know, even 10 years ago or 15 years ago or 20 years ago when we started in 1970, one of the things that we've always done is tried to put on the type of event we want to, to uh, enjoy ourselves cause we're all fans. There are opportunities to engage with the fan public at, at other, uh, pop culture events. But you know, if you look at our guests list, if you look at our programming, we're, we're an educational organization. Um, you can have fun at comic con, but you're probably going to learn something. To me that's very important to us. Our reason for existing isn't to generate income. It really is to promote comics and related popular art forms. Speaker 3: 05:27 I think people forget that when we started, you know, our main focus was comic books, films and science fiction and fantasy literature, three areas of entertainment that we thought of as art. A lot of people didn't. They thought of it as just disposable entertainment. I think that's why there's a lot of comic books that don't exist. People read them and threw them away years ago. They didn't think anything was intrinsically artistic about it to keep it. It was just entertainment. We're very proud of our heritage. We're very proud of history of really, you know, saying look popular art may be popular but it's still art and that's one of the big focuses of comic con. So I think when you go through the program book and look at the different programs, you know, drink comicon, you'll see we're a little bit different than other conventions because we really do focus. Speaker 2: 06:13 I saw that and this being the 50th comic con, looking back at how the convention has changed in terms of the makeup of the floor, I mean now there is video gaming on the floor. There's even virtual reality and all sorts of things. Does that really kind of parallel what's going on? Also in the comics world, because it used to be DC comics and marvel comics, now it's DC entertainment and marvel entertainment. I'm, they've changed too. So do you feel that comic con and and the comic industry have both kind of changed along parallel lines? Speaker 3: 06:45 That's a great question. And I think the, the, the simple answer is yes. I think one of the things that's kept us vibrant, one of the things that's kept us as popular as we are is that we do change. Um, and it's really a reflection of art. You know, like I said, we're fans ourselves and try to put on the type of event we want to attend. Well, we have new people who come in all the time and say, Oh, you know, what about this and we should have a panel on this. And, and that's great because that stuff, it's speaking to a new younger audience. Like I said, I'm being introduced, you know, more and more to video games. I mean, I played video games when I was younger, but it's nothing like what we have today. So yes, I think there is an evolution, if you will. I don't think we'll ever lose the essence of what comicon is, which is a love of forms of art that people may not realize her art. But while the, the horizon is certainly, you know, vast in terms of what the future holds and what is art. I'm excited I won't be around for another hundred years, but it'll be interesting to see of comic con last another 50 years. Uh, what the, the big things will be that Speaker 1: 07:52 comicon runs on tonight through Sunday. And you can look for more comic con coverage@kpbs.org.