Entertainment Weekly, Zap2It, G4 and all the major entertainment news sources have jumped on the Comic-Con bandwagon in recent years — even the gossip-themed “Chelsea Lately” mentioned Comic-Con in a recent episode. Because there are a lot of producers, writers and actors at the annual San Diego convention, the theory goes that it’s a great source for new information on what’s cool in TV, movies, games and, of course, comic books.
But the elephant in the room is that it’s all one big commercial. I’ve never been to Comic-Con, although I’ve heard plenty about how cool it is (and I also heard — from both Entertainment Weekly and G4 — that it’s rather smelly). But it seems quite commercial to me, and the media is as much to blame for this as the companies touting their wares. Most of the entertainment outlets just go with the “one big circus” vibe of the event, spending at least half their time talking about how great Comic-Con is.
Entertainment Weekly has the best coverage; they have the most genuinely interested reporters in the business, all of whom have a good sense of perspective. At the weaker end of the spectrum is G4, a TV channel I really want to like, but don’t.
The first-ever-televised “Star Wars” panel on Saturday is a prime example of G4 missing an opportunity. Three-fourths of the presentation was taken up with emcees Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn (on loan from G4’s “Attack of the Show”) goofing around. The only reason we got anything of substance out of it was because “Clone Wars” producer Dave Filoni basically went off on his own tangent and gave a nice talk about Season 2 (coming this fall) and the Season 1 DVD (coming oh so far away in November) while Munn was trying to fit him with a silly mullet wig.
I get a sense that G4 reporter Blair Butler (a genuine comic geek, judging by her profile on the G4 site) wouldn’t mind asking more in-depth questions about her favorite comics, but she’s been asked to keep it light. But Pereira and Munn are the centerpieces of G4’s coverage, and they are just a couple of goofballs; I can’t call them bad entertainment journalists because I don’t think they are intending to be journalists. It’s so odd to me that someone recognized the audience for geekcentric fare and launched a TV network focused on that, and a few years later, it covers comic book culture as deeply as MTV covers music.
G4 was interviewing members of the “Lost” cast and I sensed that Nestor Carbonell would’ve happily chatted about Richard Alpert, his mysterious character who never ages. Instead, he was barely acknowledged by the interviewers, who were busy presenting Michael Emerson (Ben) with a bobblehead doll of himself.
And the idea that Comic-Con is a breaking-news hotbed is a myth. All of those upcoming movies and TV shows they’re talking about — I already knew about them. And I’m no Hollywood insider; I just surf the Web and read EW cover to cover (skipping the “Grey’s Anatomy” articles).
One of the “hot stories” this year was that Gary Oldman let it slip that there’s gonna be another “Batman” movie. No kidding. The fact that the last one made $1,001,921,825 might’ve been your first hint. If the president of DC Comics stepped up to a podium and announced that there absolutely will be no more “Batman” movies because he feels the whole story has been told already, THAT would be a story. Otherwise, just let me know the week before “Nolan’s Third Batman” opens, then I’ll decide if I should be excited or not.
I wasn’t around for the now-legendary “Star Wars” presentation at the 1976 Comic-Con, but I know it couldn’t have consisted of reporters and actors standing around talking about how cool it is to be at Comic-Con. For one, the media weren’t there (except maybe Starlog). For another, “Star Wars” wasn’t “Star Wars” yet. It was just a few folks working on a new space movie and a few folks who thought it seemed neat.
I like to think that conversations between the two camps were about WHY “Star Wars” might be cool, not HOW “Star Wars” might be cool.
Comments
Yep. Life has become one giant commercial. Posted By Deneen Gilmour | 7/28/09 9:43 AM