Notes from Bent-Con 2012
'Tis the night before Bent-Con, and I'm all kinds of excited. Mostly because I'm not at all sure what to expect. Is it going to be shitballz madness, like my experience at the 2005 Comic-Con? It's only in its second year, so maybe it will be big-hearted, but sparsely attended? Will it have unsavory remnants of comic book shops of yore and West Hollywood gay bars, where I sometimes got a rash of shit for being female? Oh the possibilities, both tantalizing and endless... Bent-Con is so young, it could grow up to be anything, and I'm trying not to oversell myself on the whole experience, lest I come away disappointed.
I won't pretend to be a con-master (or -mistress, for that matter). I've only been to a handful of cons, but having seen the Season 5 of The Guild (covering the crew's attendance at Mega-Game-O-Rama Con) and getting most of the jokes and references, I feel like I'm qualified to be your Bent-Con tour guide.
Unfortunately, events conspired against me spending more than a couple hours at Bent-Con on only one day. I can tell you that although it is small, I saw a whole lot of potential there.
It was pretty much the opposite of my experience at other cons like Comic-Con and Anime Expo, where most of the excitement is on and around the exhibit hall floor. Most of the interest seemed to lie in the very well-curated and executed lectures/panel discussions. I was thrilled to see the Race and Class in Comics panel was standing room only, but was a little disappointed that most of the conversation seemed to stay focused on gender and sexuality in comics, rather than the race and class topics I was hoping for.
Just having gotten the slightest taste of Bent-Con, I look forward to next year. I have no doubt this event will keep growing.
Comments
Looks like this was tons of fun! Any recommendations for gay geekery in LA over Christmas break?
Hi, CoCo! I'm afraid I went into hibernation over the holiday season, but I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled for events that cater to a Southern California brand of gay geekery. I can tell you that coming up in February, on the 17th, in HelMel (a new neighborhood at the corner of Heliotrope and Melrose on the east part of LA (before downtown)), at the Ukranian Cultural Center, the L.A. Zine Fest will be going on where you can find a lot of independent comics, books, and (of course) zines! Check out http://www.lazinefest.com for more info and for a deeper taste for the fest.
