The Wednesday before this year's San Diego Comic Con, I'd stopped in my regular comic book shop to pick up the books of interest that week.  I got to talking to the owner of the store, and he said that this was the first year in the past twenty that he wasn't going to be able to make it to the convention. He wasn't particularly disappointed, however - in his eyes, Comic Con isn't really about comics anymore.

 

Comic-Con Logo


It's hard to disagree with him.  Comic Con has evolved into something resembling a pop culture supernova that has somehow been shoehorned into the San Diego Convention Center, a location that seems huge when you have to walk it and all too small when you're trying to make your way through the crowds.  And the lines.  Oh - the lines. They've become worse over the scant three years I've been there.  The big crowds tend to be for panels that aren't exactly comic book-related.  True, the Iron Man 2 panel was in Hall H, the 6000 seat room.  A comic book movie is perfectly relevant.  Batman: Arkham Asylum, the video game that had perhaps the most buzz at the convention, also holds a lot of interest for comic fans. But Twilight? A bit less so.  And that was the panel for which the line wrapped around itself, headed across the street, and disappeared beyond the bend.

The exhibit hall showed more evidence of the shift in focus. Sure, the comic book companies, particularly DC and Marvel, had booths that are as big as or bigger than any of the studios. But the dealers with boxes of back issues and discounted trade paperbacks for you to peruse? Those were all on one end of the floor where the jam-packed mobs were quite a bit less jam-packed. The displays were far less eye-catching than the other end of the hall, where the video game companies had their big, vibrant booths. It was here that Stan Lee made a rare appearance for signings - at the Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 booth, not the Marvel Comics booth.

Mr Stan "the man" Lee and Jody

 

But there were still plenty for comic book fans to enjoy. I personally attended parts of the Blackest Night panel for DC and the Dark Reign panel for Marvel, the two big company-wide events this year. The animation panels for both companies were fairly eventful, particularly DC's, which had the incomparable Kevin Conroy as a guest.  But I'm certainly more than just a comic geek.  The line I spent the most time in was for the Doctor Who panel with David Tennant. My roommates and I got up at 5AM for that one - it was well worth it for eleventh row seats.

David Tennant and friends


I'm neither a long-term attendee nor a purist, but even I've seen a shift in the feel of the convention during my brief period of attendance. Each year is bigger and busier than the one before. I have several friends who've expressed disinterest in attending next year. Have the crowds ruined Comic Con? Have video games and Hollywood ruined Comic Con?  Has Twilight ruined Comic Con as one sign proclaimed? Or does the convention represent the progression of pop culture, the more mainstream acceptance of what was previously a fringe hobby?  It's something to consider the next time you have to spend an hour or two in line for a panel.