Went to a comic con in Columbus and noticed nobody was reading the actual comics

I was at a small convention in Columbus last month, the one at the convention center downtown. Bought a ticket, walked around for 3 hours. What got me was this: at least half the people in line for signings or buying prints were holding up their phones to take photos of the artwork or the cosplayers, but I looked around and saw maybe 2 or 3 people actually holding a floppy or a trade paperback. Everyone wanted the experience, the photo op, the signed poster. Nobody seemed to care about sitting down and reading a 22 page story. Has anyone else noticed this shift at shows? Or is it just my city?

3 comments

3 Comments

skyler_kim1mo ago

...and my buddy told me pretty much the same thing after he went to a show in Indy last year. He's been collecting since the 90s, and he said he felt like a dinosaur walking around with a short box under his arm. He overheard two kids talking about how they'd never actually read a comic, they just followed the artists on Instagram. He tried to show one of them a back issue he found, and the kid just took a picture of the cover and walked off. I think the hobby has split into two different worlds now, the readers and the people who just want to be part of the culture without the actual reading part. It's a real shame because there's nothing like losing yourself in a good story for twenty minutes.

michael5191mo ago

Wait that kid took a picture of the cover and just walked off? That's insane. Almost makes me mad just hearing about it. Like you're holding a piece of history in your hands and they just snap a photo like it's a museum exhibit. No curiosity at all about what's inside. Blows my mind.

noahbaker1mo ago

Yeah but you gotta remember, those old issues were ten cents and now they're hundreds of dollars... maybe the kid just wanted something to look at later without getting yelled at for opening a pricey book.