Kendall Whitehouse takes a look at the hubbub surrounding the San Diego event and considers how the show might expand in the future.

If Asbury Park Comic Con continues to grow, it may play a small role in helping to revive the area’s economy. After suffering from decades of decline — poignantly captured in songs by Bruce Springsteen – Asbury Park was struggling to gain its economic footing when super-storm Sandy dealt a devastating blow to the Jersey shore…. ‘Five months ago we had one of the worst storms ever, [yet] the shore survives,’ [Asbury Park Comic Con co-founder Robert] Bruce said. ‘The shore’s open. It’s time for people to come back.’

Unlike many of the larger comic cons, which are chiefly focused around mainstream comics and popular culture, the Locust Moon fest carries on the tradition of the former Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con in showcasing alternative/fringe/indie/art comics and zines.

Some of the most enjoyable moments at Comic Con are found not in the scheduled programming but, rather, in the unplanned moments.

As geek culture goes mainstream, mainstream vendors are striving to tap into the nerd zeitgeist.

Although the New York Times talked about a sense of “gloom” pervading the halls of Comic-Con this year, people I spoke with were optimistic – both in terms of the business outlook and the mood of the crowd.

The increasing seriousness with which popular culture is being taken is an important aspect of the evolution of an industry that is now reflecting on its history and facing challenges for its future. But seriousness is not gloom. And many fans find joy in the darkness.

Kendall Whitehouse is director of new media at the Wharton School. From the convention floor, he [said] the studios that are there are still packing Comic-Con’s 65-hundred seat theater with eager audiences.

Comic-Con’s increasing emphasis on movies and television reflects the trend in the entertainment industry at large. While comic books no longer dominate popular culture as they did in the 1940s and early 1950s, they are a major influence on Hollywood.

The version of the story Simon spun at New York Comic Con was long and rambling, often skipping around from point to point. But, even if his narrative did meander, his memory of the event – after close to a century – was clear and sharp. To the admiring audience, he must have seemed much like the character in his own story: aged – even a bit doddering – yet still an icon of an earlier era of heroism.

The full history of comic books was on display at the New York event, including a panel session with Captain America co-creator Joe Simon (just three days past his 98th birthday), a session on “Will Eisner’s The Spirit and Bob Kane’s The Batman,” and an announcement of a new comic book series from famed comic book impresario Stan Lee.

Perhaps the geeks shall inherit the earth after all. If so, Comic-Con is the beachhead for that transformation.

Beyond his own work, Robinson taught and inspired other creative artists. He was an early faculty member at the School of Visual Arts in New York. There he taught, among others, artist Steve Ditko who went on to co-create with Stan Lee the characters of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange.

When I spoke with Robinson at San Diego Comic Con last July, I asked whether he was still in touch with the famously reclusive Ditko. He indicated that he hadn’t seen him recently, but quickly added “I taught him, you know.” He was obviously pleased with the accomplishment.

Each July, more than 125,000 people descend on San Diego — many sporting a costume of their favorite comic book or movie character — to attend panel sessions, participate in social activities, and see and be seen at the San Diego Convention Center and around town. It’s impossible for any individual to capture the full experience of Comic-Con. Here are highlights of the event from my viewpoint: 345 photos taken over five days.

Underground movements continually evolve, exploring the edges of art to create something new and unusual. As fringe culture becomes mainstream, artists and fans seek out alternate creative avenues and give rise to a new avant-garde. At Comic-Con, in the smaller meeting rooms, away from the blockbuster panels in Hall H and the other the huge auditoriums, the next pop culture trends are likely to emerge.

The next time you attend a comic-con — whether San Francisco’s WonderCon, the huge San Diego Comic-Con, or the other similar regional conventions — take some time away from blockbuster panels in the huge auditoriums. You’ll see all of these films as soon as they’re released anyway. Rather than hang out in Hall H in the San Diego Convention Center all day, venture into the smaller meeting rooms on the fringes of the conference and seek out the small, independent productions to discover what gems may be hiding there.

In a world where people switch the TV channel the instant a commercial appears, here was a group of individuals lined up to participate in an advertising campaign – the details of which were deliberately obscure. Welcome to the future of marketing: advertising as entertainment

One of the ad campaigns at this year’s WonderCon was a transmedia event jointly promoting Marvel Studios’ upcoming film Thor and the Acura automobile. Acura is apparently the official automobile of S.H.I.E.L.D., the fictional spy agency in the Marvel universe. According to Variety, this is the first film partnership for the luxury car company, for which advertising agency RPA has crafted a multifaceted marketing campaign — one that came knocking on my hotel door the first morning of the conference.

Photos from WonderCon 2011 are available in my Flickr photostream — 241 photos covering all three days from the opening on Friday through the close on Sunday afternoon.

When he told this tale at New York Comic Con, Uslan looked out at the audience — many of whom were sporting comic book T-shirts or dressed in the costume of their favorite comic book characters — and emphasized that when he was their age, he was “sitting in the same chairs that you are sitting in right now.” He concluded: “If you’ve got the passion, if you’ve got the drive, if you’re willing to [tolerate] a high level of frustration, you can succeed. I was no different than any of you in this room — and if I could do it, there’s no reason you can’t do it.

The lesson of The Dark Knight is if you respect the integrity of the character and have a filmmaker who’s passionate about it, with a vision for it, who can execute it, then that’s what you do. Otherwise…all you will do is continue to violate the characters.

Sometimes you’re like, “Can you just make a frickin’ movie! Can it not be a franchise and a comic book and a bobblehead? Can the characters just matter?”

We are now in such a homogenized, globalized, monopolized entertainment system where studios are swallowing all independent producers and productions. And they’re swallowing each other. Eventually there will just be Gap films and McDonald’s films. And that will be it.