Who's Who in the CBU 2008

Name: Regie Rigby

Regie is a strange, almost ethereal creature. Who can plumb the hidden mysteries of his dark and murky past - a past which contains a terrible secret. A secret that taught him that with great power comes great responsibility, that criminals are a cowardly superstitious lot and just who exactly knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

By day, he assumes the appearance of a mild mannered teacher, bringing the joy of literature and the English Language to classes of enthralled and enthusiastic students. But by night?

By night he goes home and writes lesson plans. Sorry. That's as interesting as he gets. Really.

The rumours about rooftop struggles with underworld uberfiends, the gossip about the hidden cave filled with hi-tec equipment and the suggestion that his car might be fitted with turbo lasers are all nonsense.

When he's not teaching he reads comics. Sometimes he combines the two activities. When he's not doing that he's either playing computer games or asleep.

Conventional Wisdom

By Regie rigby

So, the first really late column of 2008. I made it to February, which is not bad by recent standards. I’m still working on sharpening this whole thing up, but for now, please accept my apologies.

Did you get stuck in to the San Diego Comicon scrum? That annual dash to get a hotel room within a day’s journey of the Comicon hall has already been and gone, regardless of the fact that the event itself isn’t actually happening until July. I’d like to pretend that I was late this week because I spent so long at my laptop trying to secure the all important room within walking distance of the venue for the Anglophone World’s biggest comics event.

But me? No, sadly I won’t be there. So long as I have the current day job, I’ll never be there because the con tends to fall during the last couple of weeks of the school term. Unless they move it back a couple of weeks (and strangely the organisers seem unwilling to do that just to accommodate me) I ain’t ever going to make it.

This is a shame, because I really really want to go. And make no mistake – I am insanely jealous of anyone that is going, or has ever been. Every year I read other people’s accounts of life at the “nerd prom”. And every year I think “Yes, I think a Stormtrooper Elvis is ridiculous too, but I’d love to see one in the flesh…”

San Diego is the Hajj of comics I think. I’ve not met many serious comics fans who didn’t have a visit to the Comicon on the “things I must do in my lifetime” list. I have no idea how it got to be as big as it is, but there’s no denying that it is as big as it is. As a result, all the big names are there if they’re anywhere. Which means the fans flock in droves and the whole thing just gets bigger and bigger.

And however unattainable it is for me,* that is truly a good thing.

You see, I’m a great believer in place. The more I think about it, the more I realise that every movement with any longevity has a place that is special. Religions have places like Mecca, Jerusalem, Canterbury and The Ganges. Sports have their arenas, stadiums and tracks, be they Lord’s Cricket Ground, Wembly Stadium or Twickenham Rugby Ground.** Musicians have Carnegie Hall, Glyndebourne and so on.

In comics we have San Diego. It seems to me that for better or worse San Diego is the con that all other Anglophone Comics events really want to be. In truth my convention experience is limited – thus far I’ve only sampled the delights of the UK convention scene, and even within that I know only the UKCAC, Bristol and Birmingham events. But at each one of those I’ve been conscious of the fact that many attendees have been comparing the experience to the Comicon.

So, what is it about the “Nerd Prom” that keeps on packing ‘em in?

Well, I suppose part of it is the reputation of the event – if it’s the place everyone who’s anyone has to be at, the everyone who is anyone will damn well make the effort to get there. Not being there is sort of an admission that you’re not a player. As a result, people do make extraordinary efforts to be a part of it.

I suspect that there isn’t a lot of rational thinking behind this, but such imperatives rarely are truly rational. This is something to do with Comics Culture – events like San Diego can’t really be created, they must simply grow. San Diego has most certainly done that. It really is the place to be. Because it’s the place that everyone will be.

Even if we’re never likely to be there in person.

You see, San Diego has grown so big that the Comicon’s presence has transcended the limitations of mere geography. These days it spills out all over the ‘net, with bloggers, newshounds and columnists relaying full details of the event in glorious living colour to anyone with a modem. But that’s not all. Comicon is bigger than that. Any idiot can get coverage on the web – that is sort of the point of the web after all. San Diego has something more. It has word of mouth.

I read about it in letters pages and fanzines long before I had internet access***. When I started hanging around in places where other comics readers could be found - comics stores and the old U.K.C.A.C.s (my first of those was in 1994 – not really all that long ago in the grand scheme of things) there were always people who seemed to have that little bit of extra cred because they’d been to San Diego and come back with tales of meeting figures like Will Eisner or Stan Lee.

And yes, some of these people were smug and annoying and made me want to commit random acts of violence. But that doesn’t matter, because however much some of them crowed, patronised and made me want to punch fist sized holes in walls and vertebrae, such travellers’ tales are part of the mortar that holds communities together.

We take global communities for granted in these wired up, internet ready times. But Conventions, Expos, Festivals and the like are an opportunity for people toi meet in the flesh, face to face, eyeball to eyeball. A chance to stand on the same floor and breathe the same air as the people who are for the most part just names or pictures. That matters. It’s important. And for English speaking comics readers, San Diego is the biggest of them all. If you’re going, I look forward to hearing all about it. If you’ve been, why not tell us all about it now?

And if San Diego is too far away from you, or at the wrong time, can I encourage you to try and get to a con that is accessible?**** In the UK we have Bristol, Birmingham, Hi Ex in Inverness, and a whole bunch of small events around the place. I guess there are many other such events across the worlds, and of course as far as I can tell America is literally littered with the things.

I’ve never been to one I haven’t enjoyed, and I haven’t yet been to one that would have been spoiled by having more people at it. So, if you haven’t done it already, go and google for your nearest con. You won’t regret it…


*And it is unattainable – even if I could spare the time, I couldn’t afford to make the trip. It’d cost me in excess of £1,000 for the four days. They just don’t pay teachers that kind of money. There’d have to be work in it, and in honesty, I don’t think I’m that good. Not yet, anyway.


**Note to non Brits. Yes, I know, I’m being very Anglocentric here. But with the exception of running, they really are the only sports that count.


***Note to the irritatingly young. Yes – there was a time when you couldn’t get access to the internet, because there was a time when most people didn’t have a computer in their house. Honest. No – I don’t know how the hell we managed either…


****And if there isn’t one, why not start one?