SDCC Week: How Comic-Cons Became Big Business

SDCC Week: How Comic-Cons Became Big Business

It took a village to make it cool to be a nerd.

A couple of decades ago, comics attempted to rebrand themselves as “sequential art.” It may be hard to believe today, but at the time, the medium found itself struggling to have purpose. This was long before the arrival of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the debut of massively popular comics-to-TV show adaptations like The Walking Dead, beloved D&D podcasts like Critical Role, mainstream proliferation of manga, or the rise of nerd-celebrity Twitch. While we’d hesitate to call ourselves “cool”, there’s no question that nerds today enjoy a level of social and societal acceptance which that would have seemed impossible 30 years ago.

Life imitates 40-year-old Far Side comics.

The thing about all these success stories is that, just like a sequence of comic panels, they add up to something larger than the sum of their parts. The momentum that led to our present-day normalization of sci-fi and fantasy enthusiast culture began rolling more than a century ago! But it was really the advent of high-speed internet that changed how the world sees events like San Diego Comic-Con. Just as the first Star Trek conventions were inspired by fans who felt the urge to come together and celebrate the show after its cancellation, the modern comic/game event became what it is today when nerds got together online to stick up for something else: each other.

It’s hard to overstate just how much people of all ages—and especially adults—used to be shamed and mocked for liking videogames, fantasy novels, and space movies. Just look at the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. These days, he stands as one of the last vestiges of an antiquated geek stereotype; but when the character first appeared, he was actually a step up from nerd depictions we typically saw in movies like Revenge of the Nerds, living punchlines like Screech on Saved By the Bell, and countless other “beta male” types that only existed to make the main characters look better by comparison.

A picture you can hear.

And that’s to say nothing of how “female nerds” were depicted in the media back then. Women who liked sci-fi and fantasy barely existed in movies and TV shows throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. When they did appear, they mainly existed for the audience to fantasize about, not relate to, which further alienated women and girls from the culture. Representation for male nerds was bad, but at least it existed. For women, the message was, “If you gals like nerdy stuff, you’re literally invisible”. 

Being stomped down or made immaterial in mainstream media made left lots of people feeling like they needed to hide. There were no gaming conventions back then, yet comic conventions had begun to transform into events focused more on commerce than on celebrating nerd culture. But then the internet happened, and those downtrodden geeks suddenly realized that there were more of them out there than they realized. They started talking to each other and realized that sometimes, they could actually be funny, smart, good looking, or kind. Some of them weren’t even boys! Fans of fiction began to piece together the revelation that TV and movies had been lying all along. Nerds and geeks weren’t destined to be stuck as unlikable side characters after all: They could be stars, too.

A famous heartthrob plays video games with actor Tom Holland.

This new confidence and desire to socialize was born online, but it quickly transferred to live events. It also led to geek culture enthusiasts spreading their excitement and joy for their preferred pastime all over the place, in spaces both virtual and live. The fun was contagious, and before you knew it, people that once made fun of nerds wanted to hang out with them. Maybe even… emulate them? Joy is contagious, and fear of missing out is a huge motivator. Watching gorgeous  cosplayers gush about the joy of rolling a natural 20 got even the most ardent nerd-hater to consider heading to PAX, SDCC, or another live event. And of course, big media followed from there, using those events to host big announcements, debut trailers, celebrity panels, and other headline-grabbers.

In the end, you could say that the real revenge of the nerds was the friends we made along the way.