A Better Comic Con

Anti-Capitalist Free Culture can make Comic Con BETTER !

I was going to talk about my experience in doing local comic con panels and why I’m decided to stop . But because of how business can me toward people , I decided NOT to mention the very Comic Con which I did panels for. They were very friendly and my criticisms were not about them or their business itself . But it’s the same situation for all comic conventions and pop culture conventions that is powered by business instead of the celebration of pop culture in my opinion.

As an anarchist , I have criticisms toward capitalism. As an artist who’s influenced and a big fan of pop culture and many of the creative talent that made them known to their fans , I have no criticisms of them.

Basically this is going to be about sharing an idea of the “ Free Culture Fandom “ on the internet and tying it into the Comic Con / Free Culture model but offline and anti-capitalist.

And also noting my observations as a 3 year long local Comic Con goer , artist table and panelist.

For legal reasons I decided last minute NOT to mention a specific Comic Con AT ALL ! Even if I didn’t say anything harsh about the people who run it.

But business is a crazy world so just to play it safe , I replaced it with long descriptions to make it nice and legal and annoying to non-business people just to prove in a humorous way how ridiculous worrying about legal stuff can be . Again not to aim at anyone specific .

Just satirical humor as usual. lol

Anyway , onto the ruined article . 

Disclaimer 

The following blog is just taking about my panels from 2015 - 2017.

I appreciated the friendliness of the head people of  ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions  ) Comic con.

Any criticisms I have isn’t about  ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions ) Comic Con itself but Comic Conventions and Pop Culture Conventions vs Fandom and Free Culture as a whole.

Under United States Law this is freedom of speech and opinion and nothing more.

And by no means will this harm , libel , slander any business what so ever.

It’s nothing more but opinion about the love of pop culture vs capitalism and just tying into my experience in having fan panels.

This year will be the first year that I will NOT be hosting any Comic Con panels .

From 2015 - 2017 , I’ve hosted Comic Con panels at   ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions ) Comic Con.

The first one in 2015 I promoted the heck out of it with a hilarious self promoting video pointing out my Artist table at   ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions )Comic Con which featured two screens ( I don’t know if there’s anyone who went to  ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions ) Comic Con that seen the table in 2015 ) .

One had a 6 hour looping DVD with No audio on it ( because it’s a family show Comic Con lol ) of The Erica Crooks Show and a couple of my animated short films.

Probably the first film screening mostly “ An Almost Hour of Satire “ .

One artist who had a table was watching it all 3 days we were there and he finally went up to me and asked me just what in the world is that on the screen.

I laughed and written down the link to officialericcrooks.com . 

I could only afford the table and electricity . Forget about any freebies and professional business cards . I just made a bunch of confetti and written down officialericcrooks.com all over it . The other screen was a looping slide show of my comics , most from 2015 .

And during the summer I did have a table at  ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions )PrideFest 2015 and the very film screening “ An Almost Hour of Satire “ was the very next day in Providence  ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions ). I did get a bad sunburn on my face , it wasn’t a great turn out , however I did make a friend that summer. And by December , I meet my Twin Flame who I meet again spring of 2016 and that’s when the spiritual awakening stuff happened which scared the daylights out of me ! And probably my twin as well becoming The Twin Flame Runner.

So in 2015 , called “ Bringing Back The Good Stuff “ which basically I was talking about the history of Jim Henson’s struggle to get The Muppet Show on the air , why great shows on Nickelodeon get canceled , and how thanks to affordable technology inspired artists can go out there and make art inspired by their pop culture favorites . Me included.

I don’t know if I inspired people that day. 

I know someone took a picture of my panel , or filmed it . But it never got uploaded to the internet or at least not that I’m aware of.

So I did do a youtube blog video talking about it and the results.

2016 and 2017 were fandom panels . 

In 2016 , I did a fan Muppet Show panel because I felt Disney didn’t do a great job at celebrating the 40th anniversary ( Well ok , they did to the Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem concert. But where’s Seasons 4 and 5 ? ) .

Another puppeteer as what I was told wanted to join me on the panel.

I will not mention their name but it ended up being a panel all about HIM !

He said he worked for Henson and I didn’t hear him talk about Jim Henson at all like most performers did.

He was going to take over the panel , so we agreed that he can have half and the rest was for what I had planned . I really wanted it to be sort of a Jim Henson tribute panel but it could have been better. 

However I did chat with a Muppet fan who had a petition on a rerelease of Muppet Family Christmas on facebook so that was cool.

And I meet Muppet Show guest star Alice Cooper to wish him a happy 40th early. :)

2017 - I had a Harley Quinn fan appreciation panel and only 3 or 4 people showed up , and none of the Harley Quinn cosplayers were there. So I was the only one dressed up as Harley.

I find it ironic that she has the same colors as the anarchist flag . lol

Makes sense of she’s an anarchist. Just with cartoon violent props and gags. lol

This year I decided to quit any involvement in comic con panels due to various political reasons. 

Sure it’s tempting to want to meet many of my favorite voice actors and ask them any questions I want within a minute and a half if I’m lucky , and of course if they are cool about me being too broke to buy an autograph. lol

But that’s the thing. Capitalism. 

And I don’t blame the handful of guests there who are actually good and would be nice to meet and get an autograph.

But let truth be told , those damn volunteers and people who work at comic cons can seem very pushy and business like. Again capitalism.

Nothing I’m saying is going to hurt Comic Con entertainment business one bit , because it’s true and we live in a hierarchical society.

But what I’ve quickly noticed within those 3 years was the insanity of security guards and volunteers and mobs of people.

If you really think about it , on a MBTI Myers Briggs level , 

the people who actually do care about pop culture would most likely be

intuitives and maybe isfps .

Other then that , it’s usually a place for young people to go celebrate halloween early.

As I told someone at  ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions ) Comic Con 2017 , wouldn’t it be nice if money was gone.

What would be great in an anarchist society is ANYONE can dress in cosplay anywhere , anytime they wanted.

And also with the internet , it’s a digital cyberspace virtual Comic Con all in it’s self.

It’s called “ Free Culture “ celebrated with fandom.

How cool would a free culture comic con be .

There’s comic book stores and collectible toy venues anywhere . The problem is there could be one at a mall , and it’s treated LIKE A FREAKIN’ TOY STORE !

If you got the money , who cares. Give it to your dog to tear apart. That’s what I observe.

So I ask comic con people , which one do they care about more.

I ask certain artists , which one do they care about more ?

If capitalism was done and dusted , which one do they care about more ?

The celebration of pop culture , the art , and saying thank you to the artists that brought something happy and positive into our childhood even if we walk off not buying any of their expensive autographs because we are broke ,

Or CAPITALISM ? 

Perhaps it’s like what I heard 10 years ago from some crappy local movie studio guy I tried to get a college internship from “ It’s not about art , it’s all about earning money ! “

Well , I disagree .

I see a bunch better comic con . 

One with NO COPYRIGHT LAWS ! One where people can

MAKE FRIENDS with OTHER FANS and watch their favorites on a digital projector.

Ones where people can trade their collectibles with one another without greed.

Perhaps artists can remember why they are artists in the first place.

Maybe something similar to Lloyd Kaufman’s Tromadance . Everyone is treated equal and it’s free.

By the way , my short film “ When Aliens Get Bored and Take Drugs “ was actually shown at Tromadance 2016 !

Also officialericcrooks.com is on the troma.com/links page next to ANGRY VIDEO GAME NERD AVGN ! 

Anyway here’s a legal disclaimer for all of this.

I have nothing harsh to say about   ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions ) Comic Con /  ( in general comic conventions / pop culture conventions ) Comic Con .

Through out the 3 years , they were actually quite nice.

Plus it is pretty sweet that if you got a panel , you get a VIP 3 days ABSOLUTELY FREE ! And if you got friends , let them help you out with your panel and they get the same deal too.

It’s no secret.

In conclusion , 

The criticisms I have is Comic Cons and Pop Culture Comic Con as a WHOLE !

Pushy volunteers , over crowding , security guards wanting to see your VIP or whatever you got all the time , etc

But when it comes to capitalism and when you wake up to anarchism , you can see that a new world is possible.

Perhaps all of this is most important to the minority of personality type.

Perhaps this all matters to pop culture fandom itself.

No need to sue , just my opinion.

What I had to say , isn’t anything new.

Besides , I heard that fan panels and fan community was disappearing anyway and when you take out that humanitarian , baby I’m gone !

And again I don’t have anything harsh to say about artists I appreciate their creative talent for.
They are all there simply because they aren’t getting any jobs and they need money to pay their bills in California or New York.

That’s the dark reality of it. But if you deeply care about Pop Culture fandom and these artists as a whole , perhaps what I said inspired you in some way.

But in the meantime , I’m all for free culture fandom . Like art vs business , it’s free culture vs copyright fascist capitalism.

_ Erica