There are two Comic-Cons. One is the Cosplay, the merchandise, the celebrity panels and movie and television teasers. This is the one you can see from the outside; the costumes meticulously thought out and executed, the fan girls and fan boys camped outside of Hall H overnight, under blankets with Styrofoam take-out containers on their laps, counting down hours until they (with no guarantee) can get a glimpse into the next chapter of their movie franchise, show, or books. This Comic-Con is also the one of black Cadillac Escalades with tinted windows driving A-listers around from panel, to signing, to parties. It’s really a universe unto itself, and why other cities bargain and clamor to get Comic-Con International in their city. Although some heavy-hitting franchises were absent this year, the profitability from the obsessed thousands and the energy of fans anxious to sink their fangs into something new hasn’t diminished. Comic-Con International 2015 showed no outward signs of relinquishing its place atop of the throne of pop culture gatherings. More than ever, the cult-like celebration of the created and the creators took over the downtown landscape and sent excited ripples throughout the city.
Then there is the other side of Comic-Con, the conference of the creators. It happens on the second floor above the exhibit halls, and though it has no audible or visible pop, it overflows with potential. There is no glitz in the gray, classroom-set meeting rooms with Power Point-ready big screens and a panel of bespectacled people, just…talking. But the unassuming looking people in the sessions are the artistic magicians who make the buzz downstairs happen. Budding, hopeful artists, writers, podcasters, graphic artists, cartoonists, graphic novelists, and more fill the meeting room seats and absorb what the panelists say whether digitally, hand-written, or with wide eyed stares. The speakers conducting the sessions — more than 750 panels and sessions were held over four days, Preview Night included — were up on their respective stages because they have “made it.” With success in their creative fields, each year they touch the masses with their experience and amassed knowledge. As far as platforms go, Comic-Con International can be counted on to deliver what’s next while keeping close to its innovative origins. The badges are invitations to exclusive information.
The buzz in the sessions wasn’t tangible or material like it was in the frenzied halls below, but the stories, series, and movies of tomorrow were being born, refined, discussed and maybe even pitched, above. Ideally, imagination takes its first steps into reality.
This is where the two Comic-Cons intersect seamlessly, flowing into each other. Everything presented in Hall H panels or on display in the booths started somewhere, a random idea or a transcendent collaboration. It’s the creative process as much as the finished products that draw people to booths and gets discussed on the panels. Writers and producers explained how the work came to be, and celebrities answer questions from the audience about the characters they play. The fan bases, or “fandoms”, smitten and fiercely loyal, hang on every word, hungry for more.
Fandoms are going to fan. Geek out, post, hashtag, pay tribute, and of course, spend. Nowhere else like at Comic-Con. It simply makes people happy.
Although it’s commonplace to see fan girls and fan boys of all ages with multiple symbols of book, movie or television series tattooed on their arms, or a line 3 layers deep at the FedEx location inside the convention center with people sending home poster tubes and boxes full of purchased items, it’s not as crazy as it seems. Parents dressed up as superheroes, Teletubbies, cartoon characters carried babies. There were tweens and teenagers dressed up as their favorite YA character—the millennial version of the “I Heart…” t-shirts that are so last century. That’s how Comic-Con rolls. The coveted Comic-Con bags (ranging in size from grocery bag to small refrigerator) are bartered for, based upon the character they display, then stuffed with swag and merchandise. Fandoms are an identity, proudly worn.
Ed Sanburg, owner of Comics-N-Stuff in El Cajon has made his living off of fandoms. Comics and Stuff has been attending Comic-Con International since the late 1970s. Sanburg has eight locations across San Diego County and another one opening up soon in Grossmont Center. There is a lot of craze about graphic novels and comics now because of the movies they have inspired, but comics have been Ed’s life work, and they have a deep meaning for him, beyond a blockbuster. There is history. Ed got into comics as a child when he went to the swap meet with his father. He bought comic books, read them, and sold them when he was done (his personal favorite is Spiderman). “Comics are being more accepted by the general public. Before it was geeky or nerdy, now you have closet guys coming out because it’s cool,” Sanburg said. Fandoms and franchises have exploded, he said, but from the current favorite “Pop” dolls to Pokémon, he said, “I’ve seen it all come and go.”
Fan loyalty certainly evolves, the hottest thing in all probability will be shelved for another, gone from top billing to sentimental favorite. At next years Comic-Con, The Hunger Games franchise will have ended.
That’s a bittersweet fact for the fans and the stars. The highly anticipated Mockingjay Part II, the last installment of The Hunger Games franchise, is due out this November. On Thursday, day one of Comic-Con, Conan O’Brien moderated The Hunger Games panel. He couldn’t help but be entertaining himself, and directed his humor at the star power to his left. “When you went back for the cat in Mockingjay Part I, I was really mad at you,” he said to Willow Shields about her character, Primrose Everdeen. Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutchinson and Liam Hemsworth, the stars of The Hunger Games movie franchise are best friends off screen, and their built-through-four-movies bond was undeniable as they sat together at the panel. Asked what he would miss most about the movies, Hutchinson replied, “You’re looking at it.” Lawrence said that she hopes Katniss had rubbed off on her, Katniss is brave and she is “an actress,” but the audience wasn’t so accommodating to Lawrence’s efforts at self-effacement. The audience members lucky enough to ask Lawrence or the others a question had clearly been waiting for years, and the sometimes tongue-tied Lawrence got some help from Hutchinson, Hemsworth and Shields in expressing what she was trying to say. The amusing interaction highlighted the relationship between them all, and the crowd loved it.
“The power of the future is in our hands,” was the summary of a long explanation Lawrence gave about the significance of The Hunger Games story.
“They take an entire world and condense it into this one continent [Panem] and all of these issues are very real. She [Katniss Everdeen] was one girl, and she took it into her hands and she knew she could die. The power of the future is with you and in your hands,” Lawrence said.
Wrapping up the panel, Conan said “That’s all the time we have for questions,” leaving a lone, disappointed audience member at the microphone on the floor. But this audience member was dressed up, no detail ignored, as Katniss Everdeen. Lawrence, very Katniss-like, spoke up on her behalf when she exclaimed, “Wait, she’s in a full-blown Katniss outfit!” If you guessed that the Katniss look-alike got to ask her question and hear it answered, you’d be right.
Because maybe certain roles are residual, something Lawrence alluded to when she said she thinks Katniss would always be with her. She also said that she grew with the character, and came to understand things about Katniss by the end that she did not in the beginning. After two never before seen teasers that made the expanse of Hall H shake and rattle, Director Francis Lawrence, seemingly very careful not to give much away, told the audience “If you liked the way the book ended, you’re going to love the way the movie ends.” He can’t wait for you to see it.
It wasn’t just The Hunger Games cast that were comfortable letting their true personalities shine through as they goofed around (a stuffed hamster with the ventriloquist-like voice of a panelist served as moderator for a few hilarious moments during the Supernatural panel) and happily talked about their work with the thousands of people in Hall H. Stars of each panel, in their individual styles, acknowledged how their artistic portfolios have undeniably permeated their selves and chartered the course of their careers, if not lives. They also expressed gratitude to the fan base, the legion of enamored, crazed fans who binge watch Netflix episodes and screamed “I LOVE YOU!” from all corners of the hall.
In the presence of such legends as Harrison Ford or Kathy Bates, there was an observed reverence. When Tim Stack of Entertainment weekly introduced the panel for American Horror Story and Scream Queens, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett brought to the stage the epic factor — Curtis, as the Halloween character Laurie Strode, is the original scream queen. A spokesperson for Activia yogurt, Curtis was approached by Glee/Nip & Tuck/American Horror Story co-creator Ryan Murphy about a role on the new Fox series “Scream Queens.” When asked how it is that she’s never been at Comic-Con, Curtis said, “Because I’ve been selling yogurt that makes you [expletive] for six years.” With that quip, Curtis set the tone right away as a tough act to follow. For “Scream Queens” it was Curtis or bust, Murphy said. He was not going to pursue the show unless Curtis signed on to play college Dean, Cathy Munsch. “If you’re going to hire Jamie Lee Curtis, you want to see her kicking [expletive] and fighting back. It’s an homage, it’s my gift back to her. I’ve been so lucky, look at the caliber of actors on this stage,” Murphy said. Curtis herself will pay a “wordless homage” to character Laurie Strode in episode two of “Scream Queens.” “Scream Queens” premieres September 22nd and will feature Emma Roberts, Keke Palmer, Abigail Breslin, Lea Michele, Billie Lourd (daughter of Carrie Fisher), and Skyler Samuels who had encouraging words for the crowd and the aspiring thespians who were a common faction among all audience questioners. Samuels said persistence to get on a Murphy show is what paid off for her. “Stick with it! Believe me, it will happen,” Samuels said, as Palmer echoed behind her “God is good.”
The excitement that transferred from fandom to celebrity, from celebrity to fandom was infectious. Such viral enthusiasm is the currency on which Comic-Con International runs. Bill Murray, a first-time Comic-Con guest, captured it best during his panel in response to audience questions on the industry. “We are all slaves ourselves. We’re slaves to our own weaknesses. If you can free yourself, that’s the best you can do,” not a sound from the audience was heard at this point. The one and only Bill Murray had Hall H spellbound in a moment of succinct seriousness. “It feels good being in this room,” Murray said, and the audience sighed in gratification. “I like when people get excited about something. A lot of people don’t get excited about much, at all.”
There is Comic-Con International and all of its nuts in a nutshell. Thank you, Bill Murray, for clearing that up.
