How can on sum up an experience like a modern Comic Book convention that swells to the size of a small city over a four day period? How can on describe the ebb and flow of surging crowds that are in such a hurry to go--where? The Comic Con International: San Diego is a cultural phenomenon that acts both as a barometer of popular culture and an influence of that culture. This weekend (July 24-27, 2008) I attended the 39th San Diego Comic-Con. I attended with several purposes. Most central is my involvement is the Christian Comic Arts Society. This time we extended our small press table for the 12th year. We were flanked on each side by representatives of other spiritual traditions, Diablo Publishing and Necroscope. Curious passersby surreptitiously snapped digital photos of this seemingly odd confluence of soulish persuasions. Our tracts and other freebies found ready acceptance and flew off the table. Also our book sales were much better than last year. Numerous Christian believers who stopped by were encouraged by what they saw. Even Superman who claimed to be a Baptist stopped by for a visit. It was his 70th anniversary. He didn't look a day over 40. We also had a CCAS sponsored "Spirituality in Comics" panel. We make efforts to diversity our panelists and our move in that different this year was Holly Golightly, the happy and bright red-haired wiccan, who has written Sabrina the Teen aged Witch. This panel perhaps covered familiar territory but it did provide food for thought for those unaccustomed to thinking in terms of the deeper nature of popular media. Saturday CCAS sponsored our first open forum get together of Christian fans and creators. We didn't know what to expect but there was a good turn out of mostly young people (and rightly so) where introductions were made with a brief summary of CCAS history followed by an unstructured time of visiting. This could very well become another CCAS convention tradition. The next morning we had our traditional Sunday chapel service. Robert Luedke, writer/artist of the Eye Witness graphic novel series, gave an excellent devotional that ended up challenging the audience to make comics, graphic novels, artwork, costume design, sculpture and other creative projects for next year's convention. Kevin Yong video tapped the session as well as the Spirituality in Comics panel the day before. This was followed by a panel lead by Leo Partible that discussed trends and happenings with the Christian comics field. On the panel were Luedke, Robert Flores, Sergio Cariello, Clint Johnson and Jerrell Conner. This was likewise a very good panel with the participants grappling with issues of how to do comics from the heart of a Christian believer. As with all conventions the four days slipped away into the files of memory and lots of good and not so good digital photos. Overall this was a very encouraging experience for everyone. (This is my short convention report--a longer one should follow in the not too distance future.)
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Cheers,
Pat