Comic Con 2004
By Amelia G Photography by Forrest Black & Amelia G
Aug 6, 2004

I first got into comics when Frank Miller’s Dark Knight rendition of Batman was shocking and thrilling fans and revitalizing the whole industry. There was a huge crusade at the time to get the word out that comics were simply a medium to tell a story and they were not funny pages for children.

So it was really weird to me to see that Sunday at this year’s big West Coast comics convention had a kids day. It seemed like a lot of people brought their children and I’m not talking about sixteen-year-olds. Maybe I am being old-fashioned about this, but it seems kind of wrong to me to walk a first grader by all sorts of booths featuring violent and sexy artwork but stress a lot about whether these children might get a hold of anything inappropriate. I kind of think that bringing a child to something like that is inappropriate period. The only thing more inappropriate is the cruelty of teaching them to dress up like a Klingon. Dressing like a Klingon and getting into aggressive sex and nonexistent languages is a choice an individual should make for him or herself when old enough to truly understand the choice being made. I’m thinking at least teen age.

That being said, Comic Con was quite a spectacle this year. Last year, much was made of the estimate that nearly 80,000 people attended. I didn’t hear any estimates for this year, although it seemed a bit less crowded. But it still kicked out the jams for San Diego. Forrest Black and I attempted on Saturday to eat at Dick’s Last Resort, which came highly recommended, but were told they weren’t seating anyone else. We were a little miffed at being turned away. We didn’t think we were dressed worse than the average comic book fan. Only, when we went back on Sunday, we found out that this gigantic restaurant actually ran out of food around 3pm the day before and had to restock. Dick’s is a Gaslamp fixture which prides itself on serving sloppy buckets of bar food like glazed pork ribs and drunken peel-n’-eat shrimp. My mouth is watering just remembering how delicious and messy the food was. But the whole theme there is sassy service, cheap good beer, and bountiful food. The notion that such a place could run out of food is mind-boggling. Oddly, San Diego always seems surprised to find itself overrun with sullen thirty-year-olds in Lenore T-shirts and nasal-voiced thirty-year-olds carrying Lord of the Rings backpacks. San Diego has these little bicycle taxis which are kind of fun and a great relief after a long day on the convention exhibit floor, but the taxi, uhm, drivers always seem totally shocked to see so many people around. Ditto for the collegiate drunks who would normally inhabit the Gaslamp district of San Diego on a weekend night.

The convention has got to be fabulous for San Diego’s economy, yet some restaurants close for it. I’m wondering if comic book folks are bad tippers or what. At any rate, the Comic Con is kind of a comic book Mecca. It is almost a yearly pilgrimage for people into the medium. For a while, it seemed like half the execs in Hollywood made the trip each summer. This year, the Hollywood presence was much less noticeable, however. I think this can perhaps be credited to the fact that Stan Lee is not too thrilled with how small his cut of the Spiderman movie franchise has been and the fact that some of the most recent comic book-inspired movies have not exactly done well.

It seemed like the Gothic and fetish world presence at Comic Con was bigger this year. The Brotherhood’s X-Sanguin III event was a smashing success and VIP tickets sold out way in advance of the event. The Brotherhood’s concept is kind of making haunted house-level themed parties for adults. The vampire’s ball style of X-Sanguin III was a lot of fun and a lot of people really put some effort into their costumes. The Brotherhood do what they do in order to make really kick-ass lavish events and spare no effort. The invites they sent me and Forrest Black and Scar came in jewel boxes with a parchment scroll and a temporary tattoo which had to be applied somewhere on one’s anatomy in order to obtain entry. The VIP wristbands were black and customized so they went with everyone’s outfits. And the whole shebang came with a vial of what may or may not be blood. I haven’t tasted it yet, so I can’t be sure.

They did also supply a mini-banquet of munchies at the actual event. I usually don’t really eat at clubs, though, because I am paranoid that my breath will be disgusting when I am yelling in someone’s ear. Fortunately, it was actually really comfortable in the upstairs area to have a conversation at reasonable volume. There were also tons of fun giveaways from sponsor Bacardi. Including some light up Bacardi bat necklaces that were just essential gear for everyone who laid eyes on them.

Oddly enough, I was thinking about my old college housemate Colin while I was at the convention. He was the person who first got me really into comics. Who introduced me to Dark Knight and Ronin. I found Badger and Nexus and Watchmen on my own. But I hadn’t seen him in ages and he just walked up to me at the X-Sanguin III bar and asked what I was doing in a place like this. It took me a moment to turn around and see that he was someone I actually wanted to have speaking to me. Doh! My only complaint about X-Sanguin III is that they should have had more AC in the general admission area. When people make a lot of effort with their makeup, they do not want it to melt off within moments of arrival.

The portion of the Comic Con exhibit floor which featured more mature audiences sorts of products such as Adult EComics, Sword & Stone, and Heavy Metal was about a million degrees. I am a little sensitive to heat, but when girls in metal bikinis are fanning themselves, it is too darn warm. The convention added a whole extra exhibit hall this year, so it would seem like they could afford AC for all sections. Blue Bloods Yolanda and Diana Knight were featured eye candy at the Sword & Stone booth. In fact, my friend Colin observed that it was almost like there was a mini booth babes convention as a sub of the larger show. My favorite booth babes were definitely the Jedi Krishnas at the Lucas booth. Supposedly they are remaking THX or something, but, I like my interpretation of the white-linen-clad baldies better. Especially after watching their PR chick flirting with these long-suffering newly-shaved models who were clearly out of their element.

Some other exhibitors of note included Slave Labor Graphics, Asylum Press, Shrine Clothing, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Sideshow Collectibles told Blue Blood that some of their LOTR toys were actually created from the molds made to test lighting for the actual movies. Plus a trip to the Froud booth proved that Toby Froud actually exists and really is as darn fine-looking as the drawings of him.

Colin also pointed out that it seemed like there were a fairly high percentage of just pretty mainstream folks at the show. It struck him that it was a largely general audience with a sort of mini booth babe convention and of course a dork convention thrown in. From my perspective, I’m happy to share my fandom tastes with tons of dorks. I know I’m only a few showers away from being a tremendous dork. But it somewhat troubles me when the things that I am into are less likely to indicate commonality with other aficionados. On the other hand, I love seeing the things I enjoy become successful. I like to see creative people rewarded and I like when the things I enjoy can afford to continue to exist.

Comic Con also featured some interesting business programming which I would definitely recommend to anyone thinking about producing comics. If you are thinking about this industry for a career, I believe Comic Con’s programming is second-to-none. Their fan-oriented programming was a bit weak and the organizers seemed not to have any idea which fan panels would be popular and which no one was interested in. This left tons of people shut out from some events and other panelists speaking to echoing empty rooms.

Last year, I found some pretty interesting stuff on the freebie table. They had posters and T-shirts and flyers for events and publications and sites I was excited to learn about. This year, it seemed like they had flyers from like five companies just repeated over and over and perhaps a flagging economy was to blame for the lack of cool swag. The 2004 Comic Con moved the art show to a new location, but it was still surprisingly weak. However, the Comic Con Artists Alley featured tons of creators and many booths had long lines when various superstars were signing. I think the art show just tends to feature people who are less serious. The professionals, even the part time ones, are just a lot more likely to get at least a table or a small press booth. It just makes sense.

The primary purpose of Comic Con is to create a temporary comic book store better than anything you could even fantasize. If there is a hard-to-find collectible doll, a first edition, an autograph, or anything you desire along those lines, you will find it at Comic Con. If you do not like the idea of paying $60 to gain entry to a store, it may not be for you. If you have some cash to spare and the desire to be able to browse items you would normally have to buy online sight unseen, well, nothing compares to this extravaganza. I bought a copy of Gavin Baddely’s Gothic Chic book from the nice folks at Last Gasp. I’d never seen the book in person before and thus did not know that it included a really cool 1999 interview with me about Blue Blood. I also did not know there was a new Bob the Angry Flower book out, but I spotted creator Stephen Notley with a daisy on his head and knew right away who he had to be.

So I came home with some hard-to-find new items I wanted and a stomach full of drunken peel-n’-eat shrimp. I’ll probably do it all again. I got to stay in a hotel which used to be a brothel. Apparently the mayor of San Diego got busted there with some ladies of questionable character some time in the eighteen hundreds. Clearly a city with some history and a future.

Links of interest:
Blue Blood Comic Con 2004 Photo Gallery
Blue Blood X-Sanguin III Photo Gallery
Comic Con in San Diego Photo Gallery
Comic Con
X-Sanguin
Dick’s Last Resort
Sword & Stone
Bob the Angry Flower
Goth Chic
Last Gasp