Comic Con Tripper Journal: Day 3 and 4

So, here is my Day 3 and 4 at Comicon, which was more crowded than ever since it was during the weekend. So, I had to sift through to go to the panels with a long walking distance. 

Day 3

I went to the Shonen Jump Alpha panel, and one panelist said digital manga will change the whole style of manga. Like iPad, you don’t need to flip a page but just scroll/swipe, so the future is still unforeseen and yet exciting to see what’s going happen next. Yes, the original manga from the 12th century, choujuugiga (鳥獣戯画) was in a scroll form, and digital manga would be a digital scroll. That was very valuable info to me.

Then, I went to the Fight to Defend Manga panel. It was about an American otaku arrested at the Canadian border, accused of possessing child porn. I will write about this in detail in a different article.

Then, I went to the Promoting Yourself panel, and the panelist explained there were five ways to promote your work.

1. Know your product
2. BS your way thru
3. Maintain a fine line between confident and cocky
4. Networking
5. Get over yourself.

These pretty much sum up everything.

Then, I went to the Music and Comics panel, and they introduced the Beatles comic, Baby’s in Black. It’s about a couple, Astrid and Stuart, that the Beatles were friends with. Being a big fan of the Beatles, I thought I would like to read it.

Then, I went to the African Diaspora panel, and they were listing the Top 10 black hero comics ever. It was interesting to learn Kenyan comics too like Anthony Mwangi. So, the top 10 were

1. Spawn
2. Blade
3. Green Lantern
4. Storm
5. Falcon
6. Black Panther
7. Luke Cage
8. Moses Magnum
9. Black Lightening
10. Lobo

The only comics I knew was Blade, since it was made into a film. It was funny when a panelist said, “Don’t talk about Mike Tyson. Only talk about heroes from comics.” That was pretty funny.

Then, the Christian Themes in Comics panel, and thank God they weren’t radical fundamentalists. They said even if the comic artists were not Christians, if the comics contain Christ’s message of love, then that is God’s work, and God used these artists to create that work. That was a nice interpretation. At least, that was inclusive. I liked that idea.

Then, the Occupy Comics panel, and they were talking about politics, basically how to communicate political ideas through comics. Well, to me, I don’t really like comics or 2D to be used as a political tool. Yes, like gendomike said, it can become propaganda. I mean, “Triumph of the Will,” that movie itself was really awesome, a masterpiece, but too bad that was made for Hitler. But bringing Hitler into discussion is Godwin’s law, so I retreat. Anyway, to me, politics is totally 3D, but I want to forget 3D life, so I watch anime to escape from the reality. That’s why moe is so awesome, because it totally frees me from the harsh reality! But freedom of speech, the 1st Amendment, so comics as propaganda is also protected.

Day 4

The last day, I went to the Women of Marvel panel. They were mostly editors and writers, and talked about how women have been contributing to today’s comic production and what can they do to be more influential. I think some of them talked about how America still hasn’t had a female president, which would break the gender glass ceiling symbolically and politically for any career women. Oh yes, I totally want to see that happen too.

Then, I went to the Politics, Economics, and Ideology panel. And a panelist gave a presentation about Red Son a comic that speculates, “what if Superman had grown up in the Soviet Union?” That was a very interesting alternative universe.

—

Thus, I ended my trip in San Diego. One thing to note, the cosplay girls were goddamn cute, and some of them were dauntingly sexy. Sexiness induces you to have skinship, but skinship results in a restraining order. Proximity is so close, but skinship is so far away, it reminds me of Sartre who said you can never reach the Other. But once again, I realized how voluptuous American girls are despite different races. Even Asian-American girls are voluptuous, compared to skinny anorexic stick figure Japanese girls. Of course I love Japanese girls, they are really cute, but not so many are that voluptuous, that’s why anime creates a lot of voluptuous 2D girls to fill in the lack of the Japanese society. What you can’t have in reality is conceptualized in anime, like the recently abolished Bloomers. So yes, American girls are voluptuous, but I hear Brazilian girls are even more voluptuous, and what’s more, these girls take the initiative in dating! That would be  salvation for such a love-shy boy like me. As an incel, I’ve gotten rejected by taking the initiative countless times, so now it’s about time that girls should take turns and take the risk of being rejected. And Brazilian girls do, yay! How awesome! That’s why I want to move to Brazil, but Brazilian girls love macho-men, muscular nikushoku (carnivorous) men, so even there I won’t get a chance since I’m a skinny soshoku (meek) boy. Plus, I ain’t got no dinero to move. Midget income, sign of unproductivity/unreproductivity, but “small is beautiful,” right? Simple life is good, right? Blessed are the meek. Ah, 3D girls, I can’t reach. In turn I hear Swedish girls love soshoku boys. Well, I want to go there, but no dinero, so the only thing I cling to is anime for now…

It was a great first time experience. At the same time, my exhaustion level maxed out, but with a good kind of tiredness that comes from something you accomplished. I wish I was knowledgeable in the American comic book culture, but yeah, I learned a lot by going to these panels. I hereby thank my Anime Diet fellows for giving me the opportunity to graduate comiconally.