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With an agenda that reads like a Communications Department course guide, this weekend’s Comic-Con International: San Diego is 4 days packed full of enough exhibits, forums, and films to delight a pop-culture enthusiast such as myself for weeks.  Unfortunately, I won’t be attending this year

For those that aren’t familiar, Comic-Con was founded in 1970 and could be described as ”an annual multigenre fan convention…originally showcasing comic books, science fiction/fantasy and film/television and related popular arts” but “the convention has expanded over the years to include a larger range of pop culture elements, such as horror, anime, manga, animation, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy.” (Thank you Wikipedia)

Tonight are the infamous Eisner Awards – basically the Oscars of the comic industry – and Star Wars Day.  You can check out Entertainment Weekly for the latest interviews, photos, and more. Personally, I’m impressed with the number of celebrities that are at Comic-Con.

If you go now, I promise there will be no snow

If you can’t make it to San Diego, there are plenty of amazing comic artists, animators, and fan-generated art right here in Ann Arbor.  Take for example, Gary Blackburn, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Art & Design.  At his website you can find examples of his work, including an computer animated short that took him an entire semester to create.

Meanwhile, you can always pretend you’re at Comic-Con by wandering around the aisles of Vault of Midnight.  Located on Main Street, Vault of Midnight has everything you could want in comic books, graphic novels, ‘zines, and don’t forget to wander downstairs for a peek at an extensive collection of board games. 

But I swear – my interest in Comic-Con doesn’t mean I’m a geek…just that I have a healthy interest in pop-culture…for the sake of the blog of course.

-B.C.Bodnar