The Show Must Go On!: Comic Cons in a COVID World

In a normal year, I’d be sitting down to pen an article about the delights and sights of a long weekend spent in Providence for Rhode Island Comic-Con. But we aren’t doing normal right now. This is, instead, time for remote contact and content.

Meaning, sampling the offerings at The Malted Barley, Trinity Brewpub, and other Dunks Center adjacent restaurants is not on the schedule. Sigh. I know it’s not Thirsty Thursday, and we’re not sitting down to talk beer. But I can’t entirely separate beer and RICC. Anyone who’s attended knows even the Con doesn’t do that. They collaborate with a local brewery to brew a RICC specific beer. But I’ll digress.

Comic-Cons like SDCC, NYCC, and Dragon Con have embraced the new normal and provided their fans with content to break up the COVID monotony. From YouTub channels to homegrown platforms, fans get to bring a little bit of comic-con into their living rooms.

There were LIVE release schedules for most interviews/digital panels. I will admit I let those go by. I didn’t have the oomph to schedule myself to catch everything at once. So I opted for after the fact perusal. For the Dragon Con panels, I plunked down the ten dollars for their channel. What are ten bucks compared to the ticket price, fees, hotel, gas/plane ticket associated with actually going there? For anyone interested, the price does include panels from years past, not just this year’s distanced/remote offerings.

We created quite a line up for ourselves, picking from a deep list of content. Nathan Fillion had a virtual panel for the San Diego Con with a bunch of drop-in guests. Alan Tudyk popped in from the parking lot of a grocery store. Gina Torres, Molly Quinn, Jon Huertas, and Seamus Dever also spent time on Zoom to talk with my favorite Browncoat and yours.

Kevin Smith gave us a thoroughly enjoyable monologue. Understatement really. It’s Kevin Smith. Of course, he was a treat to watch. His natural enthusiasm and humor are infectious. Which makes me wonder how hard it was for him to play Silent Bob.

Over in New York CC’s content list, Graham McTavish wiped the floor with Sam Heughan in a trivia deathmatch. Jim Butcher gave interviews on both the New York channel as well as San Diego’s. I’d highly recommend the New York CC interview since James Marsters (aka Spike from Buffy) was the moderator.

We went back in time on Dragon Con’s channel to watch Catherine Tate’s 2018 panel. Adam and I had seen her at last year’s Rhode Island Comic-Con. But her comedy sketch style panel works well. Tate is an odd celebrity at these events as she’s not a sci-fi/ fantasy fan. That said, she still keeps it enjoyable for her fans.

Does this completely fill the void left by these conventions? No. I’d like to say yes and give a win to the COVID replacement team. But I can’t.

There is just something about the real thing that a virtual cousin can’t replicate. Maybe it’s the jockeying and jostling through the crowds. Or the aching legs after a day’s worth of slow shuffling. The most likely answer to this question is the interaction or lack thereof. These panels aren’t the Q&A style we’re used to. Trying to set something like that up would be a logistics nightmare. The Zooms would last for days.

We are essentially voyeurs in a scripted conversation going on between the celebrities and a moderator. This makes it a bit more difficult for us, the viewers, to dial into the experience the same way we would in the event space.

And there are no vendor and artist booths to stroll by when everything’s a digital experience. Our Christmas shopping efforts will be extremely handicapped this year, seeing as we aren’t going to get our usual kick-off to the gift purchasing season. But, anyway, I’m not staying on point.

There are a dozen other videos we have earmarked to watch but haven’t gotten to yet. Between these three sources, and there are probably others I have missed, there is something for everyone to hunker down with and pull a little bit of CC into your living room. Let’s be honest, 2020 still has a way to go. And the winter will probably drag on unless we have something to spice up the schedule.