Swimming in the Popular Arts pool

Comic-Con International evaporated for another year on Sunday night from the bayside convention center in San Diego. This is no ordinary trade show - its a festival of 125,000 people gathering over four days to celebrate the epic stories they love from comics, movies, video games, and novels. The Con mission statment is:

Comic-Con International is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture.

The street banners hung all over town simplify this mission to the slogan "Celebrating the Popular Arts."

The arts world outside the scope of Comic-Con has much to learn about its growth from 300 isolated comic and science fiction fans seeking to create a community gathering in 1970 to bursting the seams of San Diego's convention facilities. For three years in a row it has sold out months in advance, and the local tourism industry is pushing hard for a convention center expansion so San Diego doesn't lose this homegrown extravaganza.

Beneath the media and product hype that dominates the exhibit floor are three factors that I believe still make Comic-Con a successful arts focused community event.

1 - Celebration of the artists, creators, and their legacy. Comic-Con has its own Hall of Fame, annual awards, and numerous panel discussions focus on the history of comics.

2 - Access to the artists and creators. Whether it is the opportunity to ask a quesiton at a panel (there are hundreds), getting an autograph, or even seeing someone amongst the crowd on the exhibit floor (I passed Ray Bradbury last year - an attendee since the beginning), the attendees and artists are excited to be interacting with each other.

Here is my son with writer Tom Taylor after getting his autograph and chatting about their mutual enthusiasm for Star Wars.

3 - Fans are full participants. They come in costume, they are featured in games during panels and at exhibit booths, they are officially respected and celebrated along with the artists.

The "fine arts" and "performing arts" don't make these three factors a part of their everyday operation. We don't bring back the legion of actors or musicians that have performed on our stages for an annual celebration, our artists are not regularly available for playful interactions (post-show talk backs are generally so serious), and we don't encourage our audiences to add their own creative energy to the experience.

When my son leaned to me during the San Diego Star Wars Society trivia game and said, "I've found where I belong," I understood how far the rest of the arts have to go before they are swimming in the big "popular" pool like comic book fans do every summer.