A couple weeks ago, A-List of celebrities went down to Comic-Con and raised the popularity of “nerdom”. The news stations covering the debacle cited popular movies and television shows such as “Big Bang Theory” or the recent “Transformers” and “Terminator” movies and the upcoming “Green Lantern” as reasons why “nerdom” was becoming such a big element in the entertainment industry. Yet when watching these A-Listers at the Comic-Con or reading their interviews, I got the succinct impression they were all brown-nosing the fans who paid to get in.
High profile stars taking command of comic book heroes means fuck all to the geeks or nerds who spend thousands of dollars to goto Comic-Con each year. In fact, the highest profile of star the average Comic-Con attendee wants to see is Dolph Lungren or Kevin Sorba. Mainly these greased ball, pale, socially awkward nerds care more about meeting the creators of their favorite stories than the idiots starring in them on the big screen. Stan Lee and Frank Miller have faces born for radio, but millions of collectors have their autographs on things as stupid as cereal boxes.
It was the equivilant of a group of high school jocks deciding the school’s “Magic the Gathering” club was the new “hip” place to hang out.
But I guess the thing that really pissed me off the most about the whole thing, is how horrible the zelous marketing creatives and money-grubbing producers have made the big-studio versions of comics. Did anybody see X-Men Origins: Wolverine? It fucking sucked balls. Or Daredevil? Or the recent “Terminator Salvation”, which was the “Jar Jar Binks” of movies. Maybe if the industry knew what made a great comic, or why the nerds migrated to Comic-Con each year, I would respect them wanting to butt in. But they haven’t gotten it right since the first Spider Man.
So, as for buying into the new popularity of Comic Con, Fuck it.
