There is a strange political situation going on with the Comic-Con. Specifically, other events around the country are being dissuaded from using the name Comic-Con. This is how we get Phoenix Fest. It used to be Comic-Con, but it is no longer (or never was) associated with Comic-Con international. This has led to a name change. What led to the general deflation of the event, however, is perfectly understandable. People were people and in this age of security, things got weird.
A few years ago a man showed up heavily armed with the intention of causing harm to police officers. Here in the heart of downtown Phoenix, AZ–the wild wild west–that did not go well. He was detained without incident, but the incident itself created so much tension that the event started to wither. Not outright, of course, but security became more stringent. No weapons–no large edged weapon sales. Vendors stopped coming. Whether or not related, we lost the film fest. The panels got worse and worse.
The con has been reduced to a homage to itself. It feels less like the con I want than it does the con I’m forced to accept. This leads me to think that maybe acceptance is not the way. Maybe instead I ought to be finding something new and something better to do with the family at the end of the semester.