{"id":68831,"date":"2020-09-08T16:23:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T20:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=68831"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:37:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:37:20","slug":"comic-con-home-virtual","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/comic-con-home-virtual\/","title":{"rendered":"Comic-Con@Home: Virtual comics event declared a failure by industry critics, but fans loved it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Comic-Con@Home: Virtual comics event declared a failure by industry critics, but fans loved it\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

With the vast majority of North America\u2019s thousand-plus fan conventions<\/a> cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual conventions (called cons) have been a bright spot for fans in an otherwise bleak year. Although organizers have experimented with different ways to run an online convention<\/a>, none had as high expectations as the San Diego Comic-Con\u2019s Comic-Con@Home<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The virtual event, held July 22\u201326, featured content distributed across several platforms, including video panels, a virtual exhibition hall and a cosplay masquerade on Tumblr<\/a>. From the beginning<\/a>, it promised not only to fill the Comic-Con-shaped hole in regular attendees\u2019 summers but also to make a Comic-Con experience accessible to fans who ordinarily can\u2019t attend or are turned off by the scramble for badges and hotel rooms or by endless lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comic-Con@Home inevitably drew comparisons to the in-real-life<\/a> event, but some critics promptly branded it<\/a> a failure<\/a> \u2014 perhaps most prominently in Variety<\/em>, the entertainment industry trade magazine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But calling Comic-Con@Home a flop for not having enough exclusive movie reveals<\/a> or failing to produce enough social media buzz<\/a> assumes too much. Not all participants share the same goals as the largest industry players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Comic-Con has always had a relationship to Hollywood, to many fans, gaining virtual access to panels that might have been otherwise capped by space constraints and the sense of community matter more than a simplistic analysis about metrics or interactivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Team @HeroWithinInc<\/a> assembled at Hall H for a reunion. I miss this crazy booth monkeys- and they miss you! We are already plotting, scheming and dreaming of next year\u2019s Comic-Con!#SDCC<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/OQm60jAMpf<\/a><\/p>

\u2014 Tony B Kim (@Crazy4ComicCon) July 26, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n