{"id":1537,"date":"2015-06-16T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T16:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=1537"},"modified":"2023-12-19T09:52:18","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T17:52:18","slug":"devourer-of-words-029-comic-con-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/devourer-of-words-029-comic-con-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Devourer of Words 029: Comic-Con Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MARC BERNARDIN’S DEVOURER OF WORDS<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devourer of Words 029: Comic-Con Memories<\/h1>\n\n\n
Marc Bernardin<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Toucan<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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My first Comic-Con was a blur. It was 2003 and I was working for Entertainment Weekly<\/em> as an editor. I was trying to convince the Powers That Be that we should start a regular comics reviews section. My big ammunition was the $400 million that the first Spider-Man<\/em> movie grossed in the U.S.: clearly, there were people who loved superheroes, it might be worth devoting a few pages a month to exposing our readers to where those superheroes came from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The convincing worked. \u201cWhat\u2019s the first step?\u201d the managing editor asked me. \u201cI need to go to the Comic-Con in San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because this was publishing in the early 2000s, when people were actually making money, they said yes. So I went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were only around 70,000 CCI attendees in 2003\u2014almost half the 2014 number. And, as you can imagine, half the people made it twice as easy to navigate. Let me put it in a way that will annoy the heck out of anyone who\u2019s only ever been to the modern incarnation of Comic-Con: In 2003, you could go from a panel on the far side of the Convention Center at 11:45 AM, walk over to Ballroom 20, and grab a seat for the 12:00 PM panel without breaking a sweat. There were no lines. No camping. No midnight pizzas from filmmakers looking to curry favor. With just a little bit of planning, you could do everything<\/em> you wanted to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from some old coworkers from Starlog<\/em> magazine who were editors at DC, I didn\u2019t know anyone in comics. Luckily, one of those editors\u2014the great and wise Maureen McTigue\u2014took me by the hand and introduced me to everyone she knew. And she knew everyone<\/em>: publishers, publicists, writers, artists, editors, colorists, letterers. Aisle after aisle, I met the people who made comics, who read comics, who loved comics more than anyone I\u2019d ever met. She told me about the ceremonial after-party at the Hyatt, where everyone from interns to Image founders went to let off steam and, for the price of a shot and a beer, they\u2019d let slip the kind of secrets that would curl your toes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d read comics since I was 10 and I thought I loved them. But until I met the people who made them, I didn\u2019t really know comics. When I think back on my relationship with comics\u2014from reader to journalist to creator\u2014my 2003 Comic-Con was the quantum leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything sprung from that trip. It changed my life. For the better, I\u2019d like to think\u2014though my wife has never been thrilled by the sheer number of comics I drag around with me wherever I go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comics has been a distraction when I wanted one, an outlet when I needed one, and a life preserver when I least expected it to be. And every Comic-Con\u2014no matter how crowded, no matter how exhausting\u2014I always find something that reminds me why I keep comics in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because, well, comics. Duh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marc Bernardin\u2019s Devourer of Words will return on the third Tuesday of August here on<\/em> Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Marc Bernardin<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n