Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope

The documentary follows seven people going to San Diego Comic-Con. A costume designer is preparing for the masquerade. Two young artists want to show their portfolios to studios. A comics dealer will have to close his shop if he does not sell the rare issue he is carrying. A man plans to propose to his girlfriend there. Morgan Spurlock directs. Stan Lee, Joss Whedon and Harry Knowles are among the producers. The film chooses to look at attendees rather than at celebrities. Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, Guillermo del Toro and Frank Miller speak, but the weight of the narrative is on the seven. The strongest line is the dealer, Chuck Rozanski. Whether the old issue he has sells decides the fate of his shop, and that section shows a reality entirely apart from the fun of the convention. What the documentary does not look at is commerce. That Comic-Con was turning in those years from a comics fair into a promotional space for the studios comes up several times and is never dug into. It was finished in 2011 and stands as a record of the convention's period of growth. Who it is for: viewers who like comics culture and convention documentaries. Who it is not for: there is no critical view, the narrative sits close to a promotional film, and some of the seven stories never go deep.