Even snooty NYT film Critic Manohla Dargis liked Comic-Con:

I thought a lot about that high school girl while I wandered around Comic-Con, which, despite the crushing crowds (more than 120,000 attendees) and the hard-sell commercialism, I found unexpectedly moving. Like many early adopters who get in on a movement or trend before the rest of us and taunt us for being so pathetically behind the curve, some longtime Comic-Con attendees complain that the convention isn’t what it used to be. It’s too Hollywood, too family friendly, too mobbed, all of which may be true, I suppose. I wouldn’t know. This was my first Comic-Con, and I had a blast. There is, I found, something soul satisfying about attending a panel titled “Gumby!”

1 COMMENT

  1. Wow. What a wonderful Valentine! This gets sent to my family, just so they understand my passion a little bit better.
    and next year, i’m taking my nephew. gotta let my geek flag fly!

  2. Please, please, please tell me you didn’t mean it when you called her snooty! She’s one of the most wonderful film critics out there and certainly the one of the bunch that is the furthest from fitting the definition of snooty that comes to mind… That she is able to see Comic-Con for what it is comes as no surprise to her readers!

  3. Nice piece, but I’ll admit that I winced a little bit when she wrote that comics are “something anyone can create.” No, Ms. Dargis, they’re not– anymore than someone “write a book” with pencil and paper. In fact, they’re aren’t many people in the world who can do what we do in this business.

    BTW, nice seeing you briefly this weekend, Heidi!

  4. That really is a beautiful piece, and to Cully’s comment, I’d argue that any CAN do it, or more accurately, TRY to do it, it’s just that most don’t have a special or unique talent for it. I took the comment in the spirit of a punk rock, DIY-ethos. Anyone with pen & paper, a guitar, camera, etc. can create (but of course, that doesn’t mean they should…).

  5. I took it that way, as well, TC. I’m gonna play Bill Clinton here, though, and say that it depends on what you think the word “can” means. I can’t play guitar. I can TRY, but at this moment, I CAN’T. So, I’d argue back that not everybody CAN do comics. Like you said, one can TRY, but Ms. Dargis might have been a little more clear.

    Regardless, I’d bet that if you said to her or any of her colleagues at the NY TIMES that anybody with a Blogspot account can be considered a journalist, they’d wince like I did.