Did "Twilight " ruin Comic Con? That is the question many people have been asking themselves this week. Now I just want to get out of the way that I have nothing against "Twilight" in particular. Yeah it's not a great book, and a couple of the later installments even challenge the idea if it's entertaining at all. The final book "Breaking Dawn" I found to be a revelation because it didn't suck. I think some of my girlfriends like the books too much, esspecially since there are books made for teenage girls that are actually good (read "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series).
At the same time I like how girls have a geeky franchise to call their own. They have their own "Star Wars" if you will. But don't ruin it for the rest of us. Here is a comic that addresses some of the concerns:
"Tron" jokes aside this is actually the main problem with "Twilight" at Comic Con: the fan girls who parked their butts in Hall H and wouldn't get up. Comic Con has a policy that says they won't force anyone to leave panel rooms. This is there because, hey, sometimes you want to see the next panel. I've done it. Normally a Viz Media panel is the first panel at the convention for me, but it's not unusual for me to stick around for the manga company that's up next. Therefor I stay in the seat. The problem is the "Twilight" panel didn't start until 1:45, and so there were a couple of other big panels that took place during that time. The Tron panel, the Hayao Miyzaki panel, the...well, let's say Disney pretty much had the whole morning to themselves.
Some of those panels (particularly the Miyazaki one) were highly anticipated. But most of the people who saw those panels most likely had no interest in them. The fangirls got in line for the very first panel, sat down, and pretty much never left the room. Imagine being a Miyazaki fan who was waiting in line, only to discover the line didn't move because only five people from it got in. To make matters worse, what happens if you found out it was because "Twilight" fans who had no interest in seeing Miyazaki simply took many of the true fans spots because they wanted to see their panel later on. It's one of those rare situations where Comic Con should have found a place for the "Twilight" fans to wait until the panel they wanted to see started.
With that said though "Twilight" is not the sole reason Comic Con was ruined. It was a big factor, but there are changes that we've needed to see come for years. I'd get into the reasons as to why but I want to stay on topic here. Therefor I'll write about these changes that need to come in my next editorial.
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