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Comic-Con And the Business Of Pop Culture by Rob Salkowitz
The Blurb On The Back:
Welcome to Comic-Con: where the future of pop culture comes to life
Every summer, more than 130,000 comic fans, gamers, cosplay enthusiasts, and nerds of all stripes descend on San Diego to mingle with the top entertainment celebrities and creative industry professionals in an unprecedented celebration of popular culture in all its forms. From humble beginnings, Comic-Con has mutated into an electrifying, exhausting galaxy of movies, TV, video games, art, fashion, toys, merchandise, and buzz. It’s where the future of entertainment unspools in real time, and everyone wants to be there.
In Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, author Rob Salkowitz, a recognised expert in digital media and the global digital generation (and unabashed comics enthusiast), explores how the humble art form of comics ended up at the center of the 21st-century media universe. From Comic-Con’s massive exhibit hall and panels to its exclusive parties and business suites, Salkowitz peels back the layers to show how comics culture is influencing communications, entertainment, digital technology, marketing, education, and storytelling.
What can the world’s most approachable and adaptable art form tell us about the importance of individual talent and personal engagement in the era of the new global audience, the iPad, and the quarter-billion-dollar summer blockbuster? Here are some of the issues Salkowitz explores:
- How do you succeed in the transmedia maelstrom? Comics have hopscotched across the media landscape for decades. What can we learn from their successes and failures as we careen toward a converged digital future?
- Have comics cracked the digital code? Everyone is scrambling to deal with the business disruptions of digital distribution. Does the recent success of comics on tablets demonstrate a new model for other industries, or do dangers lie ahead?
- What’s next for “peak geek”? Will the ascendant nerd culture of the early 2010s keep its new audience engaged or burn out from overexposure?
Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture combines the insights business leaders need with the details fans crave about the future of the world’s most dynamic industry. Even if you can’t be in San Diego in July, this book brings the excitement into focus … no costumes required!
Comic-Con is probably the most famous fan convention in the world thanks to Hollywood making it the ‘go-to’ event for unveiling future productions. But it’s not just movies – video game and TV producers also come calling with their wares, hoping for a good crowd reception to generate wider word-of-mouth. For all the celebrities and publicity stunts though the heart of the convention has always been the humble comic book.
In this book, business analyst and comic book fan Rob Salkowtiz looks at the impact the humble comic has had on mainstream Hollywood culture and the lessons that other media markets can learn from the comic book industry and its increasing cross-media dominance.
The book is based around the programme for Comic-Con 2011 with Salkowitz setting down his points in 7 chapters – one chapter for each day of the convention (including the day when booking opens) together with an introduction. It’s an effective device that allows him to explain to those unfamiliar with fandom conventions what Comic-Con is and how it’s set up in an easy-to-understand way. His focus is obviously on the comics segment, but he does give a flavour of the other events going on (including the launch of Spielberg’s version of Tin-Tin and a brief description of the video game exhibits), which helps to tie in with his trans-media theme.
Salkowitz uses his reports on the comics panels that he attended to explain how the industry works and the many structural problems that exist within it. I found these to be the strongest sections in the book as Salkowitz conveys a lot of history and industry peculiarities in a way that’s highly accessible while also demonstrating his love of the medium.
However, the problem with focusing on the 2011 convention though is that it means many of the events and situations he describes have already been superseded by recent events, e.g. Amazon’s foray into licensed fanfic, the huge financial success of Marvel’s recent movies. I also found the analysis to be superficial – Salkowitz never goes out on a limb, merely offers up different what-ifs – and comes far too late in the book for it to carry any impact.
All in all, this would be a useful read for anyone unfamiliar with the comics industry but I don’t think it succeeds in Salkowitz’s aim of extrapolating what’s happening for the wider media industry.
The Verdict:
In this book, business analyst and comic book fan Rob Salkowtiz looks at the impact the humble comic has had on mainstream Hollywood culture and the lessons that other media markets can learn from the comic book industry and its increasing cross-media dominance. The strongest sections are those where Salkowitz uses his reports of a number of comic panels to explain how the wider industry works but the actual analysis was less convincing for me, with Salkowitz hedging his bets too much while subsequent events has already made some possibilities obsolete. Ultimately, it’s a useful read for anyone unfamiliar with the industry but I don’t think the author succeeds with all his aims.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
Every summer, more than 130,000 comic fans, gamers, cosplay enthusiasts, and nerds of all stripes descend on San Diego to mingle with the top entertainment celebrities and creative industry professionals in an unprecedented celebration of popular culture in all its forms. From humble beginnings, Comic-Con has mutated into an electrifying, exhausting galaxy of movies, TV, video games, art, fashion, toys, merchandise, and buzz. It’s where the future of entertainment unspools in real time, and everyone wants to be there.
In Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, author Rob Salkowitz, a recognised expert in digital media and the global digital generation (and unabashed comics enthusiast), explores how the humble art form of comics ended up at the center of the 21st-century media universe. From Comic-Con’s massive exhibit hall and panels to its exclusive parties and business suites, Salkowitz peels back the layers to show how comics culture is influencing communications, entertainment, digital technology, marketing, education, and storytelling.
What can the world’s most approachable and adaptable art form tell us about the importance of individual talent and personal engagement in the era of the new global audience, the iPad, and the quarter-billion-dollar summer blockbuster? Here are some of the issues Salkowitz explores:
- How do you succeed in the transmedia maelstrom? Comics have hopscotched across the media landscape for decades. What can we learn from their successes and failures as we careen toward a converged digital future?
- Have comics cracked the digital code? Everyone is scrambling to deal with the business disruptions of digital distribution. Does the recent success of comics on tablets demonstrate a new model for other industries, or do dangers lie ahead?
- What’s next for “peak geek”? Will the ascendant nerd culture of the early 2010s keep its new audience engaged or burn out from overexposure?
Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture combines the insights business leaders need with the details fans crave about the future of the world’s most dynamic industry. Even if you can’t be in San Diego in July, this book brings the excitement into focus … no costumes required!
Comic-Con is probably the most famous fan convention in the world thanks to Hollywood making it the ‘go-to’ event for unveiling future productions. But it’s not just movies – video game and TV producers also come calling with their wares, hoping for a good crowd reception to generate wider word-of-mouth. For all the celebrities and publicity stunts though the heart of the convention has always been the humble comic book.
In this book, business analyst and comic book fan Rob Salkowtiz looks at the impact the humble comic has had on mainstream Hollywood culture and the lessons that other media markets can learn from the comic book industry and its increasing cross-media dominance.
The book is based around the programme for Comic-Con 2011 with Salkowitz setting down his points in 7 chapters – one chapter for each day of the convention (including the day when booking opens) together with an introduction. It’s an effective device that allows him to explain to those unfamiliar with fandom conventions what Comic-Con is and how it’s set up in an easy-to-understand way. His focus is obviously on the comics segment, but he does give a flavour of the other events going on (including the launch of Spielberg’s version of Tin-Tin and a brief description of the video game exhibits), which helps to tie in with his trans-media theme.
Salkowitz uses his reports on the comics panels that he attended to explain how the industry works and the many structural problems that exist within it. I found these to be the strongest sections in the book as Salkowitz conveys a lot of history and industry peculiarities in a way that’s highly accessible while also demonstrating his love of the medium.
However, the problem with focusing on the 2011 convention though is that it means many of the events and situations he describes have already been superseded by recent events, e.g. Amazon’s foray into licensed fanfic, the huge financial success of Marvel’s recent movies. I also found the analysis to be superficial – Salkowitz never goes out on a limb, merely offers up different what-ifs – and comes far too late in the book for it to carry any impact.
All in all, this would be a useful read for anyone unfamiliar with the comics industry but I don’t think it succeeds in Salkowitz’s aim of extrapolating what’s happening for the wider media industry.
The Verdict:
In this book, business analyst and comic book fan Rob Salkowtiz looks at the impact the humble comic has had on mainstream Hollywood culture and the lessons that other media markets can learn from the comic book industry and its increasing cross-media dominance. The strongest sections are those where Salkowitz uses his reports of a number of comic panels to explain how the wider industry works but the actual analysis was less convincing for me, with Salkowitz hedging his bets too much while subsequent events has already made some possibilities obsolete. Ultimately, it’s a useful read for anyone unfamiliar with the industry but I don’t think the author succeeds with all his aims.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.