Back from San Diego
Returned on Sunday from the usual five days of mayhem at Comic-Con. Rather than bore everyone with a detailed account, suffice it to say that we spent time with friends old and new, heard lots of interesting speakers, met gobs of cool and creative folks, bought lots of stuff and partied into the wee hours each and every night. Topics worthy of further discussion at some later point include the idea of the “new mainstream” – popular genre fiction (crime, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, humor) done in illustrated form, treated as books rather than comics – and the riddle of Michael Chabon, who gave a rousing keynote address at the Eisner Awards urging creators to produce books more accessible to children, while he himself is using his gigantic, Pulitzer Prize-sized platform to put out a super-hero book (“The Escapist,” based on the character from his novel, The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay) that is a fannish and esoteric as the geekiest titles on the stands. Incidentally, I heard an informal attendance estimate of 100,000, which would be simply staggering. The hall didn’t feel that full, but who knows.
I’ve returned to the professional equivalent of a house on fire, so I need to attend to my paid work for the next day or so. I found time to watch the first night of that other convention – the one in Boston – last night. I thought it was an effective lineup, making solid and constructive points. I especially liked how they wove the idea of Kerry as a “serious man for serious times” into several of the speeches. If they can drive this point home, they can perhaps neutralize some of the woodenness that comes with being “serious.” Clinton (Bill, that is) was marvelous as always, although he seemed to be hurrying along at the expense of milking every line for maximum effect. At least he finished on time.
Sometime this week, I hope to get to the theme of libertarianism, which has been expounded in clear terms in the comment thread following the “Better Medicine” article from 7/14. It will have to wait, however, until I dance for my paymasters.
8:21:01 AM 
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