Spurlock unleashes his inner geek
San Diego Comic-Con International began in 1970 as a one-day convention where comic book fans would gather at the base of the US Grant Hotel and buy and trade magazines. A little over 100 people attended. That, according to original founders Mike Towry and Richard Alf, was considered a successful turnout. Could they have foreseen that it would become an annual pop culture phenomenon that in recent years has never had fewer than 100,000 attendees? Although they are still given areas to display, it’s not so much about comics anymore; Major media companies, especially television networks and movie studios, compete for space to promote their latest productions, with major Hollywood celebrities and filmmakers serving as hosts for gigantic press panels.
I’ve never been to Comic-Con and frankly have no desire to attend. One of the reasons I appreciated Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, Morgan Spurlock’s most recent documentary, is that it allows people like me to watch the convention from a safe distance, without angst about not getting into sold-out events, without waiting in obscenely long lines, without jostling through densely packed crowds, no chance of being deafened by cheering crowds, no risk of fighting with irate fanboys over a misunderstanding. Obviously, we don’t show every nook and cranny of the San Diego Convention Center, but we do get wonderful snapshots of the major events, the most prominent being the celebrity press panels in a 6,500-seat venue known as Hall H.
A fan’s hope, a joint venture between Spurlock and executive producers Stan Lee, Joss Whedon and Harry Knowles, is an entertaining mix of convention footage, subject interviews and fan testimonials. While some of the latter are hosted by anonymous attendees, most are hosted by celebrities, who feel a personal connection to Comic-Con and its community. Whedon, Knowles, and Lee all make statements, but so do Frank Miller, Seth Green, Seth Rogen, Thomas Jane, Eli Roth, Olivia Wilde, and most amusingly, Kevin Smith. Notably absent is Spurlock himself. In fact, this is the first of his documentaries in which he neither appears nor narrates. This raises the question of why he is so drawn to Comic-Con. Whether or not he agrees with his previous documentaries, his appearances in them made it clear that he had a vested interest in their subjects.
Shot during the 2010 convention, the film documents the lives of six fans, all with nicknames, all of whom hail from different parts of the United States and have deeply personal reasons for attending. We have Skip Harvey and Eric Henson. The former tends to a sci-fi themed bar, while the latter currently serves in the US Air Force. Both are talented illustrators who dream of getting hired by a major comic book publisher. Armed with briefcases, they wait in long lines for trained representatives to critique their work. We have James Darling and his girlfriend Se Young Kang, who immediately hit it off after first meeting at Comic-Con a few years earlier. James now wants to propose to Se Young in a big way, that is, during a panel hosted by Kevin Smith. Despite all of her planning and coordination, the one thing James didn’t count on was Se Young refusing to leave her side for even a few minutes. This will be difficult to achieve.
The two most compelling subjects are Holly Conrad and Chuck Rozanski. The first is a young costume/creature designer and seamstress; she, along with a group of friends, participates in the Comic-Con masquerade ball dressed as characters from the video game mass effect. Naturally, all of the costumes were meticulously handcrafted by herself. One of her friends dresses up as an alien creature, which requires the use of a motorized latex head. The end result could easily rival a theme park animatronic. The latter is the owner of a Mile High Comics store in Denver, one that is struggling to make a profit. He brings with him his most prized possession: a first issue in mint condition. red raven, one of the rarest comics ever published. He understandably laments the fact that Comic-Con has strayed further and further from its original purpose over the years.
That doesn’t seem to have stopped it from happening, and it certainly hasn’t stopped anyone from attending. In fact, the 2010 convention currently holds the record for the largest attendance, over 130,000. I grant you that it is a rather bland fact, although I suspect that if we had been given such statistics, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope it could have been an even more illuminating documentary. Looking for a simple explanation for the convention’s appeal, I consulted friends and fellow film critics Mike and Joel Massie, who have attended Comic-Con annually since 2006. Not surprisingly, they see it only from a movie buff’s perspective. “It’s really about seeing celebrities,” Mike told me, “seeing advanced footage and seeing exclusive details on movies that are sometimes years in advance.” I, for one, am much more comfortable living with anticipation.