Week 27 - 7/9/22 - Fandoms and Fandon'ts, Part 1
09 July, 2022
Hello!
So, game plan for the next couple of weeks! San Diego Comic-Con is in 2 weeks (Yikes! So soon!) and generally, conventions and events are re-opened and getting back into the swing of things, with mixed success. This week's post and next week's post will be talking about the idea of Fandom, which gets into how we even get Comic-Con. This week's gonna be a little more contextual so next week we can talk a bit more about the ups and downs of the intersection between fandom spaces and existing as a creative professional.
Then the week of SDCC, the blog will go up early as a reminder of any SDCC related stuff I'm doing (hint hint) and like a quick guide to convention etiquette and things to watch out for.
Me and Fandom
Let's start here. I am a fan of many things and I recognize that I'm a professional figure in multiple fandoms. There are a lot of things that I like and am happy to talk about with my friends and that I choose to consume in various ways. I like Star Wars and Garfield and Genshin Impact and Spy x Family and Gravity Falls. For those things, I have merch--DVDs, video games, books, comics, art, toys, whatever. I'm a fan. But where I make the "fandom" distinction is I'm pretty insular with the way I relate to and enjoy these things. I talk about enjoying them with people when the conversation turns to these things or if I know the person I'm talking to also cares about them, but I don't really seek engagement with other people who like it, which is what a fandom is.
And this can really vary too. It's not like I haven't been to Star Wars Celebration (for work, but) or that I'm not currently drawing portraits of my favorite weirdos from the franchise for a little zine. It's also not like I've never followed an artist on Twitter because I liked their fan art of one or more of these things. And certainly, I'm regularly engaging with the Sonic and Transformers fandoms and fans because they're the people who like comics. I just find that I like to engage with most of my interests on a personal level more than a community one. So that's where I'm coming from--not trying to claim myself as an outsider making grand observations like I'm the Watcher or something, but also noting that I am often a more passive presence in these spaces.
From my experiences as a fan of things, as a person who attends/has attended a lot of fandom events, and as a person who works on some of the best properties with the best fanbases ever, I have some thoughts on the intersection between fandoms as a fan and pro and as someone who regularly deals with both sides too.
A Brief(ish) History of Fandom
The idea of people organizing meetups, events, and communication based on mutual interest and needs isn't something new. That's kinda the general organizing principle of society. But in the late 1800s/early 1900s, we had the rise of what we can describe as the predecessor to modern fandom. A commonly regarded first "event" is Sherlock Holmes fans gathering to mourn his "death" in the 1890s. Prior to that, obviously art in all it's forms--plays, writing, visual arts--had popularity and fans of the artists and their works or of concepts and genres, but it's not like when Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron were writing stories to scare each other, they were either gathering for the purpose of celebrating their mutual interests or specifically to respond to the works that they admired. But these Sherlock fans were there for Sherlock, a character they cared about, and would start sharing their ideas for alternate Sherlock stories (what we'd now call fan fiction).
Around that same time, we also have a lot of other technological advances. Telephones are becoming more accessible. Early film is starting. Transportation and architecture are changing so we have more people moving more regularly between shared spaces. And so within the next 30-40 years, we're seeing more broadly accessible communications systems tied with the rise of mass media and a new sort of celebrity culture pushed by movies having recognizable and recurring actors and the formation and proliferation of national sports leagues starting to elevate athletes to widespread recognizability. Plus, y'know, it's easier to get to the movies or a sporting event and have a communal experience.
Simultaneously, there's a real rise in genre fiction--particularly science fiction. It's not a leap to say a number of the people mourning Sherlock were likely the same people then reading H.G. Wells. You have pulps and fiction magazines pushing science fiction forward from Wells to Burroughs to Asimov in pretty quick succession and fantasy is on the rise too (though a lot of the big resurgence of that's more the 1950s with stuff like LotR and Narnia).
So by the 1930s, we're getting science fiction conventions. People gathering to see the authors and artists they like and share their love of the genre and write and develop and hang out together. Within the next 30-ish years, we're getting off-shoots including the first comic book convention and Renaissance Fairs starting to happen in the U.S. And technology continues advancing and we're watching television and TV is where genre fiction gets to live on-screen for a while and cares about sci-fi and fantasy and superheroes and is introducing whole new audiences to them. The big one is Star Trek, of course, where women start having viewing parties and doing a lot of the organizational and writing work for fan fiction collections and conventions. The Star Trek fandom saved the show from cancelation and coined the term Trekker. It's Beatlesmania, but for Star Trek.
The snowballing continues. More comic conventions start (San Diego Comic-Con's in 1970, a year after Star Trek's original run ends). The comics direct market rises and shops start catering to specific types of work--comics, genre books, sports memorabilia, trading cards, etc. Conventions are happening internationally. Comics are spreading in interesting ways as U.S. stuff is being reprinted and expanded upon internationally, but also the U.S. just starting to release translated editions of international material. Cartoons are made to sell toys and spread out into comics and those toy-toon-comics create whole generations of lifelong fans. Video games are becoming more popular and available and people are starting to get computers in their homes connected to this internet where there are websites that act as forums and everybody on this internet seems to LOVE Bruce Campbell, king of the convention circuit, and he writes a book about being a b-movie star and it validates the niche. And now we're more connected than ever with the ability to communicate, write, create fan art and pictures and costumes and get the supplies for all of that, and can do all the things that we think of as modern fandom from the touch of a button that lives in our pockets. And at the same time, the stuff we like is more accessible and more varied than ever.
Thanks for the History Lesson, Poindexter. Why're You Telling Me This?
The point I want to make from this history is that in the 100ish years that we've had something akin to what we'd recognize today as fandom, it's gone from niche Sherlock fans to broad all-encompassing science-fiction fans to general people getting into niche stuff through mass media all the way back to hyper-niche. Like, in the 60s, when you liked Star Trek, even if you were coming from liking the tie-in novels or the comics rather than the show, you were in on one version of Star Trek. Yes, there was still nuance to your favorite parts and versions of that, but it's a far cry from a Trekkie today who may be invested in one of the 5 (?) currently running series (Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds?) or all of them or none of them and only like other parts of Trek and those're all valid and existing and interacting in one overall fandom, but as different intersections of the franchise venn diagram.
This, y'know, parallels other aspects of every day life--especially the generalization of cultural consciousness through mass media that's since segmented heavily and how that's been additionally heightened by increased isolation. The, uh, water cooler show kinda doesn't exist anymore because people are able to engage in more niche things and even former powerhouses like "Marvel Movies" were already subject to favorites and now are experiencing audience overload and fragmentation. But aside from the death of monoculture and it's advantages and disadvantages which is a worthy conversation, but maybe too big a transition away from this, what it means is that the communal aspect of fandom has changed to fit how we interact, but it has major advantages and disadvantages, particularly if you are interacting with a fandom in any way.
I'll expand more on this next time, but, for example, I've had people tell me that they've been a fan of Star Trek for decades and never knew there was a comic, despite Trek having had comics off-and-on fairly regularly since the 1960s. I've had people ask for apologies or changes to how a story is told (including ones from before my time on a series) because it didn't match their view of how things should go. I've found some great artists. I've made some good friends. I've seen horrendous harassment. I've seen victories in community support for changing contracts or unionizing.
Fandom can be overwhelming, so next week let's talk about navigating it.
Things I've been enjoying this week:
Blank Check (Podcast), Smallville (TV show), Sonic Origins (Video Game), Persona 5 Royal (Video Game), air-conditioning, feeling creatively inspired, the cats.
New Releases this week (7/6/2022):
Nothing from me! Pick up something else cool instead!
In stores this Wednesday, 7/13/2022:
Transformers: Best of the Beasts (Editor--I've actually been thrilled with all the Best Of titles I've been doing because I get to revisit so much good stuff, but this one's particularly special as there's some pretty rare stuff in it)
Kill Lock: The Artisan Wraith #5 (Editor)
Events!
San Diego Comic-Con 7/20-7/24 - I'm going to be at Comic-Con. I'm going to be on a panel, but at time of writing, the schedule for Sunday is not yet live! But Saturday is and Becca's moderating Supervillains, Aliens, and Gargoyles, Oh My! A Paranormal Smackdown for Kids! It's going to be really fun as kids books and comics authors talk with Becca about the best type of supernatural entity in all of fiction! I'm going to be there (which means I will not be at the IDW Publishing 2022 and Beyond panel which unfortunately starts halfway through Becca's panel). Obviously, you'll have a lot of choices for how to spend your time if you're attending and it seems like some pretty cool stuff's happening Saturday, but I expect this'll be the most fun option.
Upcoming cons - More shows to be announced soon!
Pic of the Week:
The Artists in Solidarity third annual auction for migrant families is coming up. It's a chance to help people while also getting some cool art. Becca going to have a piece available so when it goes live, definitely give it a look!
So, game plan for the next couple of weeks! San Diego Comic-Con is in 2 weeks (Yikes! So soon!) and generally, conventions and events are re-opened and getting back into the swing of things, with mixed success. This week's post and next week's post will be talking about the idea of Fandom, which gets into how we even get Comic-Con. This week's gonna be a little more contextual so next week we can talk a bit more about the ups and downs of the intersection between fandom spaces and existing as a creative professional.
Then the week of SDCC, the blog will go up early as a reminder of any SDCC related stuff I'm doing (hint hint) and like a quick guide to convention etiquette and things to watch out for.
Me and Fandom
Let's start here. I am a fan of many things and I recognize that I'm a professional figure in multiple fandoms. There are a lot of things that I like and am happy to talk about with my friends and that I choose to consume in various ways. I like Star Wars and Garfield and Genshin Impact and Spy x Family and Gravity Falls. For those things, I have merch--DVDs, video games, books, comics, art, toys, whatever. I'm a fan. But where I make the "fandom" distinction is I'm pretty insular with the way I relate to and enjoy these things. I talk about enjoying them with people when the conversation turns to these things or if I know the person I'm talking to also cares about them, but I don't really seek engagement with other people who like it, which is what a fandom is.
And this can really vary too. It's not like I haven't been to Star Wars Celebration (for work, but) or that I'm not currently drawing portraits of my favorite weirdos from the franchise for a little zine. It's also not like I've never followed an artist on Twitter because I liked their fan art of one or more of these things. And certainly, I'm regularly engaging with the Sonic and Transformers fandoms and fans because they're the people who like comics. I just find that I like to engage with most of my interests on a personal level more than a community one. So that's where I'm coming from--not trying to claim myself as an outsider making grand observations like I'm the Watcher or something, but also noting that I am often a more passive presence in these spaces.
From my experiences as a fan of things, as a person who attends/has attended a lot of fandom events, and as a person who works on some of the best properties with the best fanbases ever, I have some thoughts on the intersection between fandoms as a fan and pro and as someone who regularly deals with both sides too.
A Brief(ish) History of Fandom
The idea of people organizing meetups, events, and communication based on mutual interest and needs isn't something new. That's kinda the general organizing principle of society. But in the late 1800s/early 1900s, we had the rise of what we can describe as the predecessor to modern fandom. A commonly regarded first "event" is Sherlock Holmes fans gathering to mourn his "death" in the 1890s. Prior to that, obviously art in all it's forms--plays, writing, visual arts--had popularity and fans of the artists and their works or of concepts and genres, but it's not like when Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron were writing stories to scare each other, they were either gathering for the purpose of celebrating their mutual interests or specifically to respond to the works that they admired. But these Sherlock fans were there for Sherlock, a character they cared about, and would start sharing their ideas for alternate Sherlock stories (what we'd now call fan fiction).
Around that same time, we also have a lot of other technological advances. Telephones are becoming more accessible. Early film is starting. Transportation and architecture are changing so we have more people moving more regularly between shared spaces. And so within the next 30-40 years, we're seeing more broadly accessible communications systems tied with the rise of mass media and a new sort of celebrity culture pushed by movies having recognizable and recurring actors and the formation and proliferation of national sports leagues starting to elevate athletes to widespread recognizability. Plus, y'know, it's easier to get to the movies or a sporting event and have a communal experience.
Simultaneously, there's a real rise in genre fiction--particularly science fiction. It's not a leap to say a number of the people mourning Sherlock were likely the same people then reading H.G. Wells. You have pulps and fiction magazines pushing science fiction forward from Wells to Burroughs to Asimov in pretty quick succession and fantasy is on the rise too (though a lot of the big resurgence of that's more the 1950s with stuff like LotR and Narnia).
So by the 1930s, we're getting science fiction conventions. People gathering to see the authors and artists they like and share their love of the genre and write and develop and hang out together. Within the next 30-ish years, we're getting off-shoots including the first comic book convention and Renaissance Fairs starting to happen in the U.S. And technology continues advancing and we're watching television and TV is where genre fiction gets to live on-screen for a while and cares about sci-fi and fantasy and superheroes and is introducing whole new audiences to them. The big one is Star Trek, of course, where women start having viewing parties and doing a lot of the organizational and writing work for fan fiction collections and conventions. The Star Trek fandom saved the show from cancelation and coined the term Trekker. It's Beatlesmania, but for Star Trek.
The snowballing continues. More comic conventions start (San Diego Comic-Con's in 1970, a year after Star Trek's original run ends). The comics direct market rises and shops start catering to specific types of work--comics, genre books, sports memorabilia, trading cards, etc. Conventions are happening internationally. Comics are spreading in interesting ways as U.S. stuff is being reprinted and expanded upon internationally, but also the U.S. just starting to release translated editions of international material. Cartoons are made to sell toys and spread out into comics and those toy-toon-comics create whole generations of lifelong fans. Video games are becoming more popular and available and people are starting to get computers in their homes connected to this internet where there are websites that act as forums and everybody on this internet seems to LOVE Bruce Campbell, king of the convention circuit, and he writes a book about being a b-movie star and it validates the niche. And now we're more connected than ever with the ability to communicate, write, create fan art and pictures and costumes and get the supplies for all of that, and can do all the things that we think of as modern fandom from the touch of a button that lives in our pockets. And at the same time, the stuff we like is more accessible and more varied than ever.
Thanks for the History Lesson, Poindexter. Why're You Telling Me This?
The point I want to make from this history is that in the 100ish years that we've had something akin to what we'd recognize today as fandom, it's gone from niche Sherlock fans to broad all-encompassing science-fiction fans to general people getting into niche stuff through mass media all the way back to hyper-niche. Like, in the 60s, when you liked Star Trek, even if you were coming from liking the tie-in novels or the comics rather than the show, you were in on one version of Star Trek. Yes, there was still nuance to your favorite parts and versions of that, but it's a far cry from a Trekkie today who may be invested in one of the 5 (?) currently running series (Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds?) or all of them or none of them and only like other parts of Trek and those're all valid and existing and interacting in one overall fandom, but as different intersections of the franchise venn diagram.
This, y'know, parallels other aspects of every day life--especially the generalization of cultural consciousness through mass media that's since segmented heavily and how that's been additionally heightened by increased isolation. The, uh, water cooler show kinda doesn't exist anymore because people are able to engage in more niche things and even former powerhouses like "Marvel Movies" were already subject to favorites and now are experiencing audience overload and fragmentation. But aside from the death of monoculture and it's advantages and disadvantages which is a worthy conversation, but maybe too big a transition away from this, what it means is that the communal aspect of fandom has changed to fit how we interact, but it has major advantages and disadvantages, particularly if you are interacting with a fandom in any way.
I'll expand more on this next time, but, for example, I've had people tell me that they've been a fan of Star Trek for decades and never knew there was a comic, despite Trek having had comics off-and-on fairly regularly since the 1960s. I've had people ask for apologies or changes to how a story is told (including ones from before my time on a series) because it didn't match their view of how things should go. I've found some great artists. I've made some good friends. I've seen horrendous harassment. I've seen victories in community support for changing contracts or unionizing.
Fandom can be overwhelming, so next week let's talk about navigating it.
Things I've been enjoying this week:
Blank Check (Podcast), Smallville (TV show), Sonic Origins (Video Game), Persona 5 Royal (Video Game), air-conditioning, feeling creatively inspired, the cats.
New Releases this week (7/6/2022):
Nothing from me! Pick up something else cool instead!
In stores this Wednesday, 7/13/2022:
Transformers: Best of the Beasts (Editor--I've actually been thrilled with all the Best Of titles I've been doing because I get to revisit so much good stuff, but this one's particularly special as there's some pretty rare stuff in it)
Kill Lock: The Artisan Wraith #5 (Editor)
Events!
San Diego Comic-Con 7/20-7/24 - I'm going to be at Comic-Con. I'm going to be on a panel, but at time of writing, the schedule for Sunday is not yet live! But Saturday is and Becca's moderating Supervillains, Aliens, and Gargoyles, Oh My! A Paranormal Smackdown for Kids! It's going to be really fun as kids books and comics authors talk with Becca about the best type of supernatural entity in all of fiction! I'm going to be there (which means I will not be at the IDW Publishing 2022 and Beyond panel which unfortunately starts halfway through Becca's panel). Obviously, you'll have a lot of choices for how to spend your time if you're attending and it seems like some pretty cool stuff's happening Saturday, but I expect this'll be the most fun option.
Upcoming cons - More shows to be announced soon!
Pic of the Week:
The Artists in Solidarity third annual auction for migrant families is coming up. It's a chance to help people while also getting some cool art. Becca going to have a piece available so when it goes live, definitely give it a look!
