Stick to the Subject!

Last fall, I nearly gave up the comics corner of the Internet. Every freakin' place I went, from message boards to news sites, people couldn't shut up uselessly trying to convince each other about the damn election. They quit talking about comics altogether and the comics Internet became a nasty place.

I'm not saying that politics have no place in comics. Right now, over at Comic World News, I've got a contest going for a free copy of Uncle Dubya's Jihad Jamboree. Even though I included a link there, this isn't an advertisement. I haven't read the book, so I don't even know if it's any good, but I support its creators' rights to make a comic about their political feelings. Back in the fall, comics sites quit talking about comics and that's what frustrated me.

I've given up reading more than one supposedly comics-oriented column when the writers decided it would be just as interesting to talk about their favorite movies or how they feel about reality TV. Cut it out. Stick to the subject. I wanna talk about comics. I want to know what you think about comics. I couldn't care less what you think of The Bachelor.

What reminds me of this is the petition that's out there right now asking Wizard and other convention organizers to segregate non-comics porn booths from the regular creative joes trying to hawk their comics in Artist Alley. Again, this isn't an ad. I'm about to tell you why I support the petition, but I'm not telling you that you should. I support it because it's another example of how something cool and comics related is becoming diluted by something else. Conventions'll stick Kenny Baker and Lou Ferrigno off in their own section of the show, but Chanel Ryan and Taylor Wane get to peddle their wares right next to Mike Oeming and Angel Medina. Don't miss my point. I wouldn't want Dr. Phil setting up shop next to Tim Vigil either. Or a political party. Or even Gil Gerard.

Heidi MacDonald wrote about the petition and missed the point, making it about pornography in general at conventions. Yeah, there's a lot of comics porn out there. No, I don't dig it. But at least it's comics. Heidi seems to dismiss the petition as not going far enough. Does she really believe conventions should start dictating which comics are and aren't appropriate to be sold at a show?

If it was up to me, I'd either get rid of all the non-comics stuff (including games and toys not directly related to a comic book) or stop calling them comics conventions. Comic-Con quit being a comics convention a long time ago. It's a popular culture convention. Unfortunately, the other major cons are heading in the same direction. I wish I could convince myself that maybe a Star Wars fan who doesn't read comics will show up to meet Peter Mayhew and discover Warren Ellis while he's there, but I can't.