Check Your Phasers at the Door

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Except for the NRA Annual Meeting & Exhibits (the next edition of which is April 13–15 in St. Louis), most conventions probably don't have a very active "weapons check" desk.  Not so at — if you can believe it — Comic-Con International, held every year at the San Diego Convention Center.

You see, at fan conventions like Comic-Con, lots of fans like to dress up as their favorite super-hero or fictional characters, many of which pack various forms of heat (quivers of arrows, handheld cannons, ninja swords) as part of their costume. And Comic-Con doesn't want to discourage its attendees from participating in this way; in fact, every Saturday night at Comic-Con, there's a masquerade competition — and what self-respecting Wolverine would show up to such a contest without his adamantine claws?

The Power of Power Girl

In honor of San Diego Comic-Con International, which kicks off tonight, take a peek at an actual, industry-relevant comic book: Power Girl #26, in which our heroine knows she's made the big time when she's invited to attend the First Annual Power Girl Convention. There's an exhibit hall, eager attendees, issues of crowd flow -- the whole deal. What's somewhat unusual is that the guest of honor has super strength, heat vision, and the power of flight, but surely that's nothing a good RFP wouldn't have taken into account.

A Comic-Con Too Far?

Somehow I made it from July 22-25 without posting anything about San Diego Comic-Con, and given my well-documented proclivities in this area, I'm not at all sure how this happened. But, anyway, trying to play catch-up today, I'll note that it seems that it was as fabulously well-attended as ever, so much so that debate has been underway for a few years now as to whether Comic-Con is a victim of its own success. Here's an interesting quote from an article in Saturday's Washington Post:

"It's become much more akin to a film festival like Sundance or Cannes," says Jace Lacob, a journalist who has covered several Comic-Cons for his Web site, Televisionary, and who contributes to the Daily Beast. "And I think that Sundance analogy is a good one, because that also was a much more grass-roots event that suddenly became a very Hollywood and celebrity event."

It seems to me that your event has arrived when people think it's gone commercial, sold out, and/or jumped the shark. And that there are worse problems to have. But obviously I'm being glib. In all seriousness, have you ever had to deal with sort of double-edged feedback about one of your meetings? Have you ever been accused of growing an event too big and losing sight of your original mission -- and your core attendees?