For the next four days, as Comic-Con unfolds at the convention center, San Diego will be the center of the pop-culture universe. An event with very modest origins – the first version in 1970, held at the U.S. Grant hotel downtown, drew 300 comic-book fans – now attracts annual crowds of more than 125,000, who are courted assiduously by the cream of Hollywood's actors, writers and directors.
Why did an event that still celebrates comic books and remains the largest gathering of science fiction and fantasy fans in the world turn into such a phenomenon? Because in recent years, Comic-Con has also emerged as the best possible venue to create buzz about upcoming TV shows and films – many of which have no connections to comic books.
Sure, the event maintains its image as a vast gathering of socially challenged fan boys who love the excuse to dress up as their favorite fictional characters; among organizers' helpful hints to attendees is “please don't smell bad.” Nevertheless, far more than Cannes or any film festival, Comic-Con helps define the nation's (and the world's) entertainment agenda. “The so-called geeks who come here?” says “300” director Zack Snyder, “They're the new tastemakers of pop culture.”
So welcome to San Diego, cultural arbiters. Spend freely and enjoy yourself, within reason. And please shoot for a 100 percent success rate in the stuff you generate a buzz about. In 2006, you were right about “300,” the heavily stylized movie about the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. But you also liked “Snakes on a Plane” – and the less said about that bomb, the better.
