Why are comic cons no longer about comics?
(The Guardian Books Blog)

More and more of these events pay less and less attention to the form they are supposed to be about. Thank goodness for the Leeds event that lives up to the nameOn the website of a recent comic con in Lancashire, the big draws were: a puppeteer who worked on Star Wars and The Dark Crystal; an actor who was in Space: 1999 and played the Stormtrooper in Star Wars who said: `These aren´t the droids we´re looking for`; a child actor who appeared in Game of Thrones. Oh, and Knight Rider´s car was there, as was The Simpsons school bus and Luke Skywalker´s Land Speeder. There was a gaming area. All of which, I hasten to add, sounds absolutely brilliant to a geek like me. And yet ... this was a comic con, right? What became of the comics?I find myself annoyed by the ever-growing number of comic cons that don´t seem to be about comics at all. The five comic creators named on the aforementioned con´s website were tucked away at the bottom: two from the Beano, one at Marvel, a Jack Kirby expert and the fifth who was more a fantasy illustrator than a comics artist. Again, all great - but isn´t it a bit disingenuous to continue to call these events comic cons? Related: Comic-Con International 2017 - in pictures Continue reading...