And now, for something completely different.
Rock, metal, cinema, science-fiction, horror, comic books, t-shirts and toys are all connected in the collective unconscious. Pop culture, however compartmentalized, is a uniting, over-arching social force and the hordes of nerds and geeks flocking to events like Comic-Con are no different from the ones filling concert halls across the world.
The French Comic-Con operates on a much smaller scale as its San Diego counterpart, but it still attracts its fair share of celebrities. But for the fans of Sci-Fi, TV shows, slasher films, anime and comic books, they are only one small part of the draw. The feeling of belonging, the sense of community, those are the real reasons people aged 5 to 75 dress up as their favorite character and attend these events, sometimes spending thousands of dollars on merchandise.
This was the first French Comic-Con since 2019. Of course, the COVID pandemic put a wrench in everyone's plans for several years, but it transpired that the last edition was not as economically viable as expected, and the franchise was bought by another company... But enough with these boring details.
Whether it was in action figure form or cosplay, all major pop cultures IPs were represented: Star Wars (of course), Back To The Future, Nightmare on Elm Street, World of Warcraft, Indiana Jones, Stranger Things, Marvel Comics, D.C. Comics, Terminator, Transformers, Jurassic Park... A veritable nerdgasm.
There were also panels and (expensive) meet-and-greets with such celebrities as Robert England, Temuera Morrison, Anthony Daniels and more... Hopefully this year's installment made enough money that we can have an even bigger one next year.
