New York Comic Con is in full swing, with enormous crowds packing the Javits Center on Thursday. Some of those fans are diehard hobbyists who have been into comics, gaming and collecting for decades, but many more are relatively new to comics culture, experiencing the characters primarily through movies and TV.
The mainstreaming of geekdom has broadened the audience far beyond the traditional base of mostly male, 20- and 30-somethings. If a cursory scan of the crowd at NYCC isn't confirm that, there's data to back it up. But diversification of the fan base has taken parts of the industry by surprise, and content creators are sometimes slow to catch up to new expectations that their products and their talent base reflect the new faces of their customers. This has led to both some positive impacts, including conspicuous efforts to be more inclusive, but it's also had downsides, including a series of tense confrontations with aggrieved fans over issues ranging from insensitive representation of minority characters to under-representation of women and creators of color on staff, to serious charges of systematic sexual harassment within the industry.
NYCC is taking place against the backdrop of these conversations and is responding in a variety of ways.
Respect for cosplayers and all attendees. Fans entering the exhibit hall are greeted with constant reminders that "Cosplay is not Consent," a new catchphrase within the fan convention business reminding attendees that folks in costume are to be treated with respect, not photographed and certainly not touched without permission, and not bullied or belittled for their body size, gender presentation or other characteristics. Unfortunately there have been enough cases of improper activity in this area that conventions, especially large ones like NYCC, need to be as explicit as possible in their code of conduct policies.
Diversity in the programming. Because so much of the geek industry is white and male, especially on the publishing and gaming development side, it was not unusual for expert panels to be composed primarily or exclusively of white men. The resulting conversations would often have a clubby and exclusive feel, and issues of importance to women or minorities would be diminished or "mansplained" away. A rundown of the panels at NYCC indicates that this dynamic is starting to shift, either by circumstances or deliberate effort. Whether that results in a higher quality of panel discussion remains to be seen, but programs I have attended all benefited from the broader points of view reflected on the podium.
Diversity as the programming. A quick scan of the hundreds of events listed in the NYCC program guide shows that as many as two dozen are specifically geared around diversity. These include conversations about the broadening fan community, opportunities for non-white, LGBTQ and female creators to enter the industry, new content being developed for these audiences, fan meetups and other events. Though conventions have been trending away from the condescending tokenism of "Women in Comics" and "Creators of Color" panels for some time now, the sheer volume of these events in the program of a show like NYCC is striking. Fans seem to be responding well to this expansion of focus. A panel I attended on Thursday morning called "We Need More Diverse Comics" was standing-room only, a surprisingly strong turnout for that sort of panel so early on the first day.
Many fans are still unsatisfied with the pace of change within the industry and fandom, and it seems vanishingly unlikely that we will get through this weekend in New York without some unfortunate story of disrespect or worse. The reality is, it may take more than a few years to change the culture of a business that existed in a demographic bubble for decades. The conspicuous efforts of a major fan event like New York Comic Con to both reflect and lead this transition is a development worth noting.
