On Saturday I attended the first-ever Salt Lake City Comic Con (SLCC) held at the Salt Palace Convention Center. The convention developed out of GEEX, a video game convention that has traditionally been held in the South Towne Exposition Center. While standing in line, multiple protesters passed by me with signs and shouts claiming something to the effect of, “All who are entering must repent for their worship of false idols.”
The protesters were of little note, as they were a relatively passive group. Yet their message resonated, for Comic Con is nothing if not the worship of idols. The gathering at the Salt Palace was a monument of passion to all of the stories and characters who have become gods in their own right through time. For this reason, among others, Comic Con absolutely must have a second year.
First and foremost, SLCC sold over 50,000 tickets. That is a massive amount of people boosting the downtown Salt Lake economy over three days. While the majority of the attendees were Utahns, inspiring locals to be tourists in their own state has never been a bad thing.
Salt Lake Comic Con also promoted diversity, drawing in fans of all ages and from all places to convene at the Salt Palace. While the avid fans are the most visible attendees, there were plenty of those with a casual interest attending. It is encouraging to see this level of community overcoming the various levels of “fandom.”
Nerd culture has only recently become popular and it can be difficult to believe the type of acceptance comic books have gained in the general populace. Comic Con is a testament to so many different passions, and acts as a paradigm for what the community should be striving for on a social level.
This is not to say there was not room for improvement. The event seemed ill-prepared to handle the crowds it drew. The panels were crowded and took extensive planning to ensure passage through the long lines. The stars were separated from those who were not willing to pay for expensive photo shoots. Regardless, it was an excellent first step for such a massive event.
Yes, SLCC served as the home of abundant idol worship, but these are not false idols. The impulse is to generalize about the attendees of Comic Con, but they are all there for their own form of worship. It is impossible to understand a person’s relationship to the objects of their fandom without getting to know the person themselves. Salt Lake Comic Con provided a platform to understand the passions of strangers.
For me, Salt Lake Comic Con was a spiritual experience. There are certainly improvements to be made organizationally as the events did not seem able to sustain the crowds that had amassed. Still, it would be difficult to call the convention anything other than a success. Fill up a building with artists, actors, fans, writers, nerds and geeks and they will make their own fun.
With the chaos that was its first go-around, the second annual Salt Lake Comic Convention has plenty of lofty expectations to rise to. That comes with the territory. Like comics or not, people need a place to worship their idols.