These Kids Today With Their Comics & Their Interwebs...

One of the things about the broad comic discussions that circulate around these days is that it's fairly self-referential. If you go through and read all the comic news sites and blogs and message boards and such, you tend to get a lot of the same dialogues. There are obviously some people who come up with comic news and others who have a different/unique spin on a topic but, as Tom Spurgeon once put it, "most comics blogging reads like it was done in the same room from people talking back and forth amongst themselves..."

So here's something different. A take on Comic-Con International you haven't seen before. What does a kid think of it? Not some six-year-old who's thrilled that he met the "real" Spider-Man but someone old enough consciously and deliberately think about what he experienced. But still young enough that he hasn't completely gotten in to the 'usual' comic fan mindset. I'm talking about Michael Hamersky's youngest son, Vinnie, who hasn't quite gotten to 13 yet.

Vinnie's written a thoughtful piece on Comic-Con from his own perspective. He's still clearly gotten a youthful optimism and idealism that many of us lose as we grow into adults (and have Life just keep trying its darnest to beat you into submission so that you can't not become more cynical as you get older!) but he's also got a good head on his shoulders and brings up some good, practical points about parking, the fulfillment program, crowd control and the like. He had things he liked -- like the Quickdraw panel and Batman: Under the Red Hood -- and things he didn't -- what he calls "Old Fart Programs."

My point is that the piece is well thought-out and well-written, and provides a perspective/voice that we don't hear enough of in comicdom. Go give it a read.

Related Items fandom