Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This week Bennett looks at the burgeoning worldwide comic con phenomenon.
I’ve already written about Up, Up & Away's second location in Blue Ash, Ohio (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Women on the March"), and about how incredibly spacious it is. Well, I stopped by last Thursday to pick up a copy of The Totally Awesome Hulk #1, which turned out to be their very last copy. I keep saying how oblivious I can be; well, I somehow managed to tour the entire store without noticing they had a working fireplace! And next to it, a snowy diorama of Springfield from The Simpsons.
And while we're on the subject of The Totally Awesome Hulk, it's understandable that this it was another almost instant sell-out for Marvel. I've been a fan of the work of Greg Pak and Frank Cho for a long time, and together they have crafted a great comic full of beautifully drawn figures, dynamic action and spectacular monster-on-monster fights. Put in your orders on the second printing now.
Although I, like all living things, am helpless in the face of the relentless onslaught that is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I have to confess that I haven't been paying all that much attention to its thunderous approach. Like, I swerved around the Entertainment Weekly online piece titled, "See a Star Wars: The Force Awakens sneak peek from Brazil's Comic Con" without a second thought. But I doubled backed to read it when the last three words of the title finally sank in: Brazil's Comic-Con.
I used to feel bad about the fact that I would most likely never make it to a comic con being on the other side of my own country, but these days I'm missing out on cons happening in India, Dubai, Russia, and now Brazil. It's a country I've always wanted to visit ever since I first saw the Bob Hope, Bing Crosby movie The Road to Rio, even if I don't speak a word of Portuguese.
Since 2014 Sao Paulo, one of the biggest cities in the world and economic capital of Brazil, has hosted CCXP--Comic Con Experience. Which is, in the words of Larry Fire's Fire Wire Pop Culture Blog, the "first show in Brazil covering all the main areas of pop culture; comics, TV, movies, games, cosplay, fantasy and sci-fi literature, collectibles, etc." 80,000 people were in attendance for the 4-day event held last week and it seems to have been quite a show, even if the focus seems to have mostly been not on comics but on comics-adjacent items. I understand that's how "comic cons" are these days, but it still doesn't explain why Terry Crews and Adam Sandler were there to beat the drum for their upcoming Netflix movie The Ridiculous 6. Or why Crews believed the best way to promote it was to appear onstage shirtless.
David Tennant and Krysten Ritter from Netflix's Jessica Jones got a lot of love from their fans. Ritter, in particular, seems to have enjoyed taking photos with her fans, something picked up by a piece in Britain's Daily Mail titled "She's fan-tastic! Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter mingles with starstruck supporters after settling into Brazil!" There's supposedly no such thing as bad publicity, but I can't imagine Ritter enjoyed being called a "saucy Brunette," "luscious-lipped lovely," "saucy starlet" and (incorrectly) referred to as "jolly January Jones."
And the next international location for an American-style comic con is Tokyo. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, a.k.a. Woz, has announced that the first Tokyo Comic Con will be held on Dec. 3-4, 2016. There are already those saying that it's going to be a bit of a hard sell, given that Japan has its own comic cons, and I can’t disagree. However it's indisputable that there are Japanese fans with an appetite for American-made entertainment, fans who would enjoy the whole American con experience of panel discussions, autograph sessions and getting their photos taken with celebrities. Especially if they can have it all without having to fly all the way to San Diego.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Column by Steve Bennett
Posted by Steve Bennett on December 9, 2015 @ 2:26 am CT
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