Pulp Culture

IF YOU STILL THINK the San Diego International Comic-Con is about comic books, you haven’t been within 5 miles of the San Diego Convention Center during the annual show’s summer run. Every July, the streets of downtown turn into a giant freak show—or more appropriately, geek show—as thousands of science-fiction, fantasy, horror and anime fans stream in and out of the three-day show, many of them in costume. The lure isn’t so much tattered pulp treasures like the first comic books to feature Superman, the Flash or Captain America as it is the growing Hollywood presence at Comic- Con, which this year is expected to surpass 2005’s record attendance of 104,000.

With the recent success of comics-based movies like Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and The X-Men, virtually every studio in Hollywood is swooping down on Comic-Con with elaborate booths and a parade of A-list stars. Last year, famed director Bryan Singer flew in from Australia to show a three-minute clip of Superman Returns to 8,500 manic fans, while TV auteur Joss Whedon and the cast of Firefly drove down from Los Angeles for a special fan panel. Other recent Comic-Con guests include Ben Affleck, Angelina Jolie, Francis Ford Coppola and Quentin Tarantino.

“Comic-Con started in 1970 as a comic-book show with 300 people, but we’ve always had a movie aspect,” says marketing chief David Glanzer. “In fact, in year two of our event, Frank Capra was a guest, and in 1976 George Lucas came to talk about his new movie, Star Wars.”

Reasons for the growing studio interest are twofold: More movies either are based on comic-book heroes or deal with fantasy, sci-fi and horror. Last year, Lionsgate—the first studio to premiere a movie at the show—used Comic-Con to stage the world premiere of the brutal slasher flick The Devil’s Rejects.

“Studios got a good idea of the fan base [at Comic-Con],” Glanzer says. “They realize fans talk among themselves. George Lucas saw this 30 years ago—he utilized viral marketing before there even was such a term.

“Now, with the advent of the Internet, a lot of people are realizing what was once considered a fringe group is, in fact, a very targeted demographic: 14- to 34-year-olds who tend to see movies on opening weekend and are into what’s cool and hip—in gaming, movies and toys.”

Steve Feldstein, senior vice president of marketing communications at 20th Century Fox’s home entertainment division, agrees. “It’s a terrific way to get in front of a core group of influencers and fans,” he says. “A lot of these guys are evangelists for the various comic-book characters and films, and they tell their friends, who tell other people, and so on.”

The celebrity presence at Comic-Con isn’t limited to bigscreen filmmakers and idols. Confirmed guests include legendary sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury, Japanese manga creator Kazuo Koike, best-selling author Brad Meltzer (whose new Justice League book, Identity Crisis, comes out this month) and television screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5 (and a former columnist for San Diego State University’s The Daily Aztec).

The 37th annual San Diego Comic-Con International runs July 20-23 at the San Diego Convention Center, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. Admission is $60 for adults and $30 for juniors and seniors. More information: comic-con.org.

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