Friday, August 15, 2008

A Serious Note

John, the guy who buys Bully his cookies and comics, has posted a sobering and thoughtful article on the current state of affairs at Comic-con in reference to sexual harassment and other boorish things that comics fans have been getting away with far too long, please go over and take a look, though I can probably guarantee, it'll get you down.

Have you read it? No? Go now!

Back? OK, here's my reaction (previously posted in The Conditional Axe's comments):

The sad thing about this, until CCI is given a monetary reason to confront this problem, they probably will not, deluding themselves into thinking they do not have responsibility over the acts of "some bad apples". Sometime, most likely soon, one of three possible things will happen:

1. Marvel and/or DC will step up and say, "Deal with this, or we stay home." Actually, this would be better if the movie studios said this, but it's still doubtful any of them will stand up.

2. Someone will file a civil suit against CCI (plus the convention hall and the City of San Diego) for enabling the harassment. While the plaintiff will probably lose the suit, it will cost their insurers quite a bit in defense costs, plus it will be a PR nightmare. If you think the City has a problem with the image of comic book fans/losers descending upon their city, imagine them confronting the thought of comic book fans/losers/rapists coming to town.

3. Some moron does something horrible and the police get involved. This could lead to CCI being criminally liable. That's when things would get really bad for everyone involved. Sadly, this could be our most likely outcome.

Any way you cut it,it's bad, and it's part of the reason that I'm afraid to start bringing my kids to Cons. I don't necessarily want the image of daddy beating the snot out of some moron in a furry suit just because the guy thought that grabbing boobs was his god-given right stuck in their heads.

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