SDCC '11: The Aftermath, Pt. 1

Alright, let's just get this out of the way: This blog has not yet found its voice. I know this. I'm working on it.

It frustrates me, frequently. As I was handing out business cards at Comic-Con I found myself hesitant, regretting having put the URL on the cards, because of this lack.

Never fear, we'll find our way. This will not be another 40 years in the desert.

Now, for the bits to which the title of this post referred.

I have only two words that can accurately summarize this year's San Diego Comic-Con International, and those words are: Holy Shit!

The retelling of Con will come in chunks. There was a lot worth reporting, and you can't do justice to this sort of madness by blurting it out in one breath.

We'll start with the fact that the whole fucking thing is a massive fire hazard. 126,000 people in attendance, and I'd say less that 1/4 of that number knows their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes down to crowd dynamics & crisis management. The fire marshal almost shut down the Fox booth, because a massive crush of people couldn't pull their shit together & behave like reasonable human-beings when the Fox people trotted out yet another celebrity (seriously, Fox people, you need to find a better system, and request a booth in a location more suited to your shenanigans). Artists' Alley has been condensed down to less than 1/3 of the space it used to occupy, though it would appear that the number of artists in the space has not changed. This condensation means that the artists are cramped into unreasonably tiny spaces, with their only mode of egress from behind their tables being to move down the row, behind everyone else between their table & the next available aisle.

This is both uncomfortable & unsafe.

I've become concerned that the organizers of the convention have become a bit too attached to the success of the show. This is understandable, but the flaw is in overlooking that exponential growth is not an interminably supportable system. Sooner or later a thing will collapse under its own weight.

Don't take me wrong; I'm not one of those who is upset that "Con isn't what it used to be." Things change. This is the way of the world. This is how things work. Hell, this is why things work. Physical evolution; emotional evolution; social evolution. These are the keys to progress. This is, in fact, entirely my point: The show is changing, but there doesn't appear to be any attempt at balance & temperance.

It's like a localized version of the Dot Com boom, and without temperance & balance it will continue to zoom toward the same fate.

More soon.