Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture: What the World's Wildest Trade Show Can Tell Us about the Future of Entertainment

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Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture: What the World's Wildest Trade Show Can Tell Us about the Future of Entertainment

by Rob Salkowitz (Goodreads Author)

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 53 ratings · 16 reviews

Action Excitement Transmedia Step inside Comic-Con to discover the cultural trends that will shape our world

"I've been in comics so long I sometimes think I invented 'em But I just read Rob Salkowitz's terrific new book and, y'know what? Even I learned new stuff If you're a comic book nut like me, miss it at your own risk "
--Stan Lee, Legendary Comic Creator and Publisher

"...more Action Excitement Transmedia Step inside Comic-Con to discover the cultural trends that will shape our world

"I've been in comics so long I sometimes think I invented 'em But I just read Rob Salkowitz's terrific new book and, y'know what? Even I learned new stuff If you're a comic book nut like me, miss it at your own risk "
--Stan Lee, Legendary Comic Creator and Publisher

"Salkowitz tells it pretty much like it is: the good, the bad, and the ugly of the commercialization of one of America's greatest art forms, as well as the indefatigable artistry of its creators. He is at once informative, insightful, sobering, and inspiring."
--Douglas Rush Koff, Pop Culture Analyst and author of "Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age"

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 recognized 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 ofthe 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(less)

Hardcover, 292 pages

Published May 25th 2012 by McGraw-Hill (first published May 17th 2012)

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Jan 02, 2013 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, comics, nerds

Bob Salkowitz is known for his business books and for being an expert in digital media. In this book he explores his "inner geek" and takes us inside Comic-Con, the annual gathering of over 100,000 comic book, sci-fi, movie, pop culture, and video game fans. This convention has become so popular that tickets sell out in minutes as far as a year ahead. Salkowitz gives us a peek inside the con, but also explores the future of comics in a digital world.

I found this book amazingly readable, informat...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Bill Cunningham added it

I have been reading this book off and on for the past couple of months. Several pages here and there every night until I finally finished the nearly 300 pages. It took a long time to read, not because the book was bad or filled with the sort of business management language that makes for a tough slogging through, but for all the right reasons. I had a tough time getting through Comic Con because every 3-4 pages crystalizes a business concept about the comic book industry that was so impactful th...more I have been reading this book off and on for the past couple of months. Several pages here and there every night until I finally finished the nearly 300 pages. It took a long time to read, not because the book was bad or filled with the sort of business management language that makes for a tough slogging through, but for all the right reasons. I had a tough time getting through Comic Con because every 3-4 pages crystalizes a business concept about the comic book industry that was so impactful that I had to take them time to absorb the full implications of Salkowitz’s observations before I could move on. If you read that last sentence and groaned,”Oh no, not another business book!” then I must reassure you with a gentlemanly slap to the head - this ain’t your Daddy’s business book.

Salkowitz ( can I call you Rob?) has taken the annual San Diego Comic Con as his metaphor for dissecting the comic book and pop culture industry as a whole. The metaphor is apt because as anyone who has attended Comic Con knows, there is a plethora of diverse interests underneath its umbrella. It is the lightning rod of the business attracting all sorts to ground. If we are to take a critical view of today’s comic book industry with an eye toward seeing it strong and healthy into the future, then we must acknowledge that in today’s comic book market there are indeed many interests each seeking attention of the masses in one way or another. By writing this book, and framing it so exactingly within the Comic Con metaphor, Rob has confirmed both my worst fears and greatest hopes for the future of comics and comics culture. In reading this book you’ll be able to instantly understand the concepts he puts forth, and begin to (as I have) understand the business forces the comic book industry must master if it is to survive.

You’ll experience the whole of Comic Con - from Wednesday’s preview night to Sunday’s “plans for next year” - in a whole new light. You’ll begin to understand what Hollywood has done with (to?) Comic Con and how that affects comics as a whole... or doesn’t. You’ll see people you recognize, including yourself in this mass market / closed universe we call comics. You’ll see the role comics plays in the culture at large - even though it has marginalized itself to comic book shops. You’ll think about the dynamic between digital and print, and how it’s changing everything and nothing. You’ll also start formulating your own plans for the future (as I and other small publishers have) based on theories and observations in the book.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I think COMIC CON is an exceptional book, that is long overdue. If you’re an executive at a large comics publisher or even a niche publisher like myself, you’ll want to get this book and highlight some brilliant piece of business on every page. It is very rare that one can say that about a “business book.” Get it and figure out what’s your comic book future. (less)

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Aug 01, 2012 Ryan I rated it 3 of 5 stars

There's no better petri-dish to investigate all facets of popular culture -- and the business underworkings behind film, comics, tv and video games -- than Comic-Con. But that's also a giant problem because Comic-Con is four and a half days of nonstop, overwhelming pageantry and programming. It's impossible for one man to survey everything and emerge with a fully-formed investigation, but despite that, Salkowitz does a commendable job bringing a lot of the current uncertainty in popular media by...more There's no better petri-dish to investigate all facets of popular culture -- and the business underworkings behind film, comics, tv and video games -- than Comic-Con. But that's also a giant problem because Comic-Con is four and a half days of nonstop, overwhelming pageantry and programming. It's impossible for one man to survey everything and emerge with a fully-formed investigation, but despite that, Salkowitz does a commendable job bringing a lot of the current uncertainty in popular media by mostly focusing on the comics industry -- and linking the changes rippling through it, from digital distribution to the obsessive focus on creating 'transmedia'/IP.

The book is framed as a day-by-day breakdown travelogue of the panels and people Salkowitz encounters, and there's good nuggets contained within. But the meatiest part of the book is when he puts on his futurist hat and imagines the future of pop-culture through alternate futures of Comic-Con, looking it at a lens of how Comics will shift between "Centralized/Corporate" and "Bottom-up/Entreprenurial", as well as between high and low sales. He images four different futures, based on "current social, market and technology trends";

-Infinite Crisis: "comics lose their grip on the popular imagination", superheroes of 2000's become a disco-type fad.

-Endless Summer: "peak geek", where the large corps rule and popularity in their transmedia 'ip' reigns supreme

-Ghost World: mainstream gets bored with superheroes; DC and Marvel shut down publishing and art comics continue being great; creators are respected more than characters.

-The Expanding Multiverse: "vibrant economic growth and rapid development, driven at the edges by innovative young populations...by mobile devices." digital sales bring in the business; wider audiences, format and distrubution options abound.

I like the thesis a lot, but it seems like most of these futures can co-exist, and Salkowitz does admit (I think) that mixing and matching is inevitable. It's a good way to look at the way things can go down.

I liked this;

"Mainstream comics" have lashed themselves to the mast of the entertainment industry. Their future is now in the hands of studio executives and marketing teams, who see them, and the comics audience, as useful but ultimately disposable pieces in a much bigger game." - 114

Also, p.72/73 - cycles and Morrison.(less)

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May 31, 2012 Robert Greenberger rated it 3 of 5 stars

From ComicMix.com:

Comic book fandom was a natural outgrowth of science fiction fandom, splintering off in 1961 as the revival of superhero comics was clearly here to stay. In that year, sci-fi fan and future author Richard Lupoff published Xero, the first comics-only fanzine. Just a few years later, in 1965, the first comic convention occurred in New York City, birthplace of the first science fiction con back in 1939. The success of the zine and the con inspired others to produce their own tribu...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Jeremy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm an old fuddy duddy when it comes to new-fangled technologies and the ongoing digitizing of our world. I prefer physical copies of things, though I'm not above owning an iPod or reading a webcomic. I think ebooks are gross because I can pull a book off a shelf faster than I can download the thing, and who gives a damn if you can carry around dozens of books when you can only read a couple at a time?

I know that comics are read on tablets now, and will continue to be in the future. I can't ima...more I'm an old fuddy duddy when it comes to new-fangled technologies and the ongoing digitizing of our world. I prefer physical copies of things, though I'm not above owning an iPod or reading a webcomic. I think ebooks are gross because I can pull a book off a shelf faster than I can download the thing, and who gives a damn if you can carry around dozens of books when you can only read a couple at a time?

I know that comics are read on tablets now, and will continue to be in the future. I can't imagine digital copies replacing physical copies because my imagination is limited and I don't like to scare myself. Please not that I'm not a weekly buyer of comics, but I do love to dig around for old issues. I love old ads. I love the smell. I love the dirt on my hands.

This is all tangentially related to Salkowitz's book, which is really entertaining despite the constant appearance of the word "transmedia". Comic-Con seems like a big geeky clusterfuck of an event, one that might be best enjoyed with the help of professional guide or, failing that, lots of mind-altering/numbing substances. The Con doesn't seem like it's about comics, but that's because all I know about it is from mainstream media reports. Of course they're going to cover the throngs of Twilight fans waiting to see Robert Pattison's sparkling skin. The folks at Access Hollywood don't know who Sergio Aragones is.

Salkowitz argues that the printed and stapled versions of comics which provide much of the story fodder for today's blockbusters--despite selling fewer than a couple hundred thousand copies a month--are in trouble if the big publishers (Marvel and DC) continue to focus on pleasing aging fans instead of attractive new and diverse audiences. I consider myself an aging fan, but I'm not interested in much of what either company has to offer these days because I either read their stories when they published them the first time or (more likely) I'm in-the-know enough to find the originals. You can't keep rebooting and retelling origins until the end of time and expect new people to jump on board. Some kid with a Nintendo DS Batman game knows Batman is Bruce Wayne and doesn't give a damn that his parents are dead.

The only issue I have with Salkowitz's books is stressing the importance of "transmedia". Yes, today's media consumers expect a multi-layered experience through a variety of platforms, but I am firm believer in the quality of a good story. You can add as much rich text, behind the scenes information, and online games as you like, but if your story sucks then you're sunk. Tell a good story in a game, a comic, a TV show, or a movie and be done with it. Quit trying to gussy up everything already.
(less)

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Jun 19, 2012 Rosemary rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I received a free copy of this book because I'm a registered press attendee of Comic-Con.

I was really interested in reading this book because having attended Comic-Con for so long, the weekend is as much about business for me as it is for fun. Having the business of the convention laid out in book format really grabbed at my attention. Unfortunately, the delivery ends up being rather weak and not incredibly insightful.

In a few short weeks I'll be attending my 14th Comic-Con. This means that I'v...more I received a free copy of this book because I'm a registered press attendee of Comic-Con.

I was really interested in reading this book because having attended Comic-Con for so long, the weekend is as much about business for me as it is for fun. Having the business of the convention laid out in book format really grabbed at my attention. Unfortunately, the delivery ends up being rather weak and not incredibly insightful.

In a few short weeks I'll be attending my 14th Comic-Con. This means that I've been attending the convention for just about as long as the author, which allows me a certain frame of reference for the evolution the show has gone through in the past decade plus. So I can say that the author's observations about the convention are, for the most part accurate. (One thing I did take issue with was using Twilight as an example of getting girls and women interested in comics and related genres - oh, please. Plus applauding them for their show of devotion over other franchises. Gag me.) But I think the biggest problem with the book is that it becomes a collection of rather divergent tangents that go so wide you forget exactly what any of it has to do with Comic-Con.

The most relevant observations were the ones that had to do with the prevalence of self-publishing and digital publishing, and the different strategies companies take. I really think the best treasures of the convention are usually hiding in the various small press, alt press, and web comics sections of the exhibitor floor. It is certainly where the most innovation in creativity and marketing lies.

Anyone who has not been to Comic-Con isn't going to gain much knowledge or appreciation for everything that goes on there. I think the author would have benefitted by stepping outside of his usual routine by talking to people he wasn't already friends with about why they come to Comic-Con and what they get out of the time spent there.

In the end, I was getting quite tired of the whole thing and ended up skimming the last chapter quite quickly. And I never really figured out exactly how the author was qualified to write this book. Not that I found him unqualified, but more background on his experience and expertise could have better framed the information and observations he was presenting.(less)

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Jul 24, 2012 Denise Dorman rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've exhibited at SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con) for the past 12 years and I still managed to learn a LOT from futurist Rob Salkowitz's book about the various origins of creators, events, etc. I wish this book would be published and updated yearly as that is how quickly this information evolves. It was fascinating to read and well written. I especially liked how Rob broke out the sections into the various days of the Con. If you're interested in the business side of entertainment or comics, this is...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Du rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

As a fan of comics and a past avid reader/collector I saw this book and really thought it would be great. It was good. It had a fun overview of where comics have evolved from the 70s to today. This especially is true through the lens of San Diego Comic Con. As someone who has attended NY Comic Con and various local conventions, I found the San Diego experience to be fascinating.

The discussion about digital comics and the off shoots (movies etc) of comics was great, and really held the book up a...more

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Mar 13, 2013 John Orman rated it 3 of 5 stars

What happens in San Diego at the biggest and best Comic-Con apparently does not stay in San Diego, as that chaotic celebration spreads out to affect most of the entertainment industry in some way.
Having just attended the crowded and exciting Portland Comic Convention, which is less than 10% the size of the San Diego Comic-Con, I was interested in what happens when the big boys play to crowds of 150,000 crazed fans.

The popularity of the comics-loving gang in The Big Bang Theory TV show, and the d...more

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Mar 14, 2013 B.G.M. Hall rated it 4 of 5 stars

Interesting mix of geek fandom at the event that's become nerdvana and a tale of the business side of the comic book/film/transmedia world. Covers both the new movie franchise-oriented side of the con and also the more traditional, hand-drawn comic writers/artists, who have been pushed to the back.
Salkowitz takes an interesting approach to the end of the book by suggesting 4 possible futures for Comic-Con, showing how it might further evolve.

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Aug 09, 2012 Daniel Dubay rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is not a book for a casual comic con fan, however if you are a reader of comic books then I consider this a must read. The main point of this book is the evolution of comic books and where they are heading in a digital world. As a communications major, I personally enjoyed the book and read it in one sitting.

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Apr 23, 2013 Kevin Bermingham rated it 5 of 5 stars

An eye-opening exploration of business in the current pop and tech culture and the business-model for tomorrow's pop and tech cultures. And an enjoyable read to boot.

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Mar 22, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Interesting to see the connections between the gaming/comics/toys and the evolution of the comic-con. Also gives a bit of history of the demise of bookstores.

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Jul 22, 2012 Dan Polley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: business

A great look at Comic-Con, which I'd love to attend sometime.

If I had one nitpick, it's this: The title includes "pop culture," but I found the book to focus much more on the comics part of the show. That's fine; I love comics. But I expected just a bit more depth in approaching the pop culture portion of it.

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Oct 21, 2012 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Among other things, a very interesting , knowledgeable and insightful look at the state of the comic book business and where it might be headed and why.

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Feb 07, 2013 Ember rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was pretty entertaining and I felt it gave me a better understanding of the comics world and all Comic Con entails. I also learned about "steampunk" and shared my knowledge at work. :)

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May 14, 2013 Christine marked it as to-read

May 06, 2013 Wahyu Aditya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 29, 2013 Kathleen Zynx marked it as to-read

Apr 17, 2013 Christopher Obert rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2013

Apr 12, 2013 Breann is currently reading it

Apr 11, 2013 Georgia Ball rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

May 18, 2013 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 04, 2013 Templehurst rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, non-fiction, library

Apr 03, 2013 Steven Raj marked it as to-read

May 01, 2013 Wendi Blewett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

Mar 22, 2013 Jazzy marked it as to-read

Mar 22, 2013 Bev Mcquain marked it as to-read

Mar 22, 2013 Frederick rated it 2 of 5 stars

Mar 19, 2013 Kris is currently reading it

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About Rob Salkowitz

ROB SALKOWITZ is a business analyst and futurist specializing in the disruptive effects of digital technology and the digital generation on work, business and culture. His latest book, Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture (McGraw-Hill, 2012), looks at the future of entertainment through the lens of the San Diego Comic-Con. His earlier books explore global entrepreneurship, the changing demogr...more

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Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap

Young World Rising: How Youth, Technology and Entrepreneurship Are Changing the World from the Bottom Up

Listening to the Future: Why It's Everybody's Business

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