A fine idea, so why was it so conspicuosly avoided throughout the 16 or so hours of Pro/Con programming? This year’s convention theme was “Surviving in Turbulent Times,” but it might as well have been retitled “Ignorance is Bliss.” At the very least, they should have just opened the bar at nine a.m., ’86ed the programming, and renamed it “SchmoozeCon.”

For those unfamiliar, Pro/Con is an annual event open to anyone who makes enough of a living in the comic book industry to pay the $100 ticket price. It’s a fine idea in principle, giving professionals the opportunity to get together and discuss serious industry issues during an era when the increasing circus-like atmosphere of the larger conventions are making it logistically impossible for professionals to exchange formalities, let alone ideas.

Not only is Pro/Con a fine thing in theory, but given the current State of the Marketplace, it’s a downright necessity — or so you would think. In the last two years, several distributors — including Titan, Comics Unlimited, Heroes World, Andromeda, Neptune, and now Friendly Frank’s — have either gone out of business or been absorbed by larger companies. At least twice as many publishers have closed their doors, including but not limited to Defiant, Blackball, Innovation, Eclipse, Majestic, Axis, Silver Moon, Triumphant, Apple, Dagger, and Ominous Press. Hundreds if not thousands of retailers, including savvy and respected proprietors like Sung Koo of Halley’s Comix and John Kukasakis of Freedonia Funnyworks, have been forced to find new lines of work. A very serious paper shortage is forcing publishers to raise prices at the worst possible time, turning off an already fickle fan base. Freelancers are having the hardest time in years finding work with titles beings canceled right and left.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The direct market is facing the most fundamental changes in the way things operate since its inception over 15 years ago. In the span of a month, Marvel bought a distributor, pulled from the direct market, was sued by Capital City Distribution, settled with Capital, bought its largest trading card competitor for $150 million, and embarked on a worldwide tour to convince retailers that comic books = Marvel Comics and the fuck with everybody else.

DC, meanwhile, laid low for months, complimenting Marvel one day, wishing them the best the next, and all the while keeping the K-Y by the bedside in preparation for their move. Many thought this would come at Pro/Con, but then Paul Levitz neglected to show up. It took an extra week, presumably due to legal haranguing, but when it came at least everyone was a bit more prepared to bend over then they were with Marvel.

With all the shoes dropping, you’d think that it was Imelda Marcos’ closet blown up by a wacko milita group. The computer bulletin-board systems are littered with apocalyptic predictions, as are the letters pages of every industry trade publication. Hell, conversation at the Pro/Con hotel bar was dominated by these subjects, and come to think of it, probably more was achieved there than in the meeting rooms.

Everyone is scared of the future, and nobody is devoid of an opinion of what that future will be. Nonetheless, virtually none of these subjects were discussed at Pro/Con, and it’s important to look at why not.

First of all, I should say that despite my own paranoiac tendencies, I don’t for a moment believe that all of the issues avoided at Pro/Con was due to any concerted, conscious supression of them. At worst, it was simply indicative of the wimpishness of those who should know better and the greed of those who don’t give a shit. At best, it was an unfortunate result of the limited amount of time, in that those in attendance just never got around to the important stuff. In either case, it was inexcusable.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt this year, the programming staff for Pro/Con must insure in 1996 that all programming be focused enough so that a panel on “How the Changes in the Industry Affect Creators” doesn’t degenerate into a conversation about how great Marvel’s Barbie comic is.

Actually, this is an interesting digression. The only moments during Pro/Con when anyone attempted to raise an issue of concern were by a constituency of people who actively brought up many women’s issues in reference to the scheduled programming. Many of these people are a part of the group Friends of Lulu, and their activistic approach was/is refreshing. Furthermore, they threw a party one night at Comic Relief in Berkeley, which drew more alternative cartoonists than the convention (a separate issue which I’ll get to in a minute) and was one of the few highlights of The Pro/Con Experience.

I should note that I am listed as a “Programming Advisor” to Pro/Con 3 in the program. While I appreciated the gesture, before I start criticizing it I should explain that I had nothing to do with the programming at Pro/Con. My involvement with Pro/Con was a titular one which amounted to me suggesting several possible programming subjects months ago, none of which were used for whatever reason. It was kind of Pro/Con VP/Programming Noel Wolfman to acknowledge my efforts, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t as embarassed as I was surprised to read it on the program the night before the convention.

Pro/Con began with a morning keynote address by John Romita, Sr. on “How to Survive in Turbulent Times.” Now, in light of recent events, is a 30-year Marvel company man really the ideal person to address professionals on surviving industrywide turmoil which was largely caused by Marvel? No serious disrespect meant to Mr. Romita — he was quite charming and I enjoyed his speech quite a bit for its anecdotal history of “the good old days” — but it was hardly relevant.

“How the Changes in the Industry Affect Creators” was next, a panel with Image Executive Director Larry Marder, Dark Horse Editor Bob Schreck, Marvel Group Editor Bobbie Chase, and DC Group Editor Archie Goodwin. This could have been interesting, but then Bobbie Chase started talking about Barbie.

You could tell that Marder and Schreck were trying to be as candid as possible, and basically intimated that they had no idea what the future of their companies holds until DC announces its deal with Diamond. Euphemistically comparing it to a game of musical chairs, Schreck noted, “The music is still going, and we don’t know how many seats there will be or who the players will be in the next four to six months.” Fair enough.

At the same time, however, I don’t think there was a soul in the room who didn’t firmly believe that DC and Diamond were in cahoots. Many knew it as a matter of fact. Levitz and DC Bob Wayne were both no-shows (Wayne was scheduled for this very panel), which only furthered speculation outside the meeting rooms. So why not talk about that, since everybody already was?

Well, in Marder and Schreck’s case, if DC’s announcement was spoken of as a given, then the eye would be turned on their companies (in Schreck’s defense, he’s not necessarily in a position where he could speak for Dark Horse’s distribution future — Marder, however, certainly is with Image). Furthermore, Goodwin would have had to field a few questions about DC’s business future, and he would have just said, “Well, only Bob Wayne could answer that, but he’s not here because, uh,” you get the idea. And of course Bobbie Chase wouldn’t have been able to talk about Barbie.

And it’s not even lunch yet on the first day, which was sponsored by Diamond Distribution. VP Bill Schanes gave a presentation followed by a Q&A, which he prefaced by basically saying, “Don’t ask me any tough questions about distribution.” And nobody did (well, actually, our own Gary Groth did, which was met by the room with a condescending look that said, “You fool, he said he wouldn’t answer any tough questions!”). Such is the way of Pro/Con.

After lunch, there were some promising signs of improvement. For the first time, Pro/Con offered multi-track programming, to more specifically acknowledge and benefit diversity in the industry. While this wasn’t utilized as effectively as it could have, this was a positive improvement from past Pro/Cons. Craft-related programming such as an “Adobe Photoshop Computer Coloring Workshop” may not appeal to my licivious journalistic instincts, but the computer coloring boom in comics has been extraordinary, and the Pro/Con staff was fairly progressive this year in acknowledging technological advances in this field and others, such as on-line services and the Internet.

A “Retailer Word on the Street” panel was interesting enough for informational purposes, but unfortunately (which goes back to an earlier point), time constraints brought things to a close just as they were kicking in. I know retailers Rory Root and Brian Hibbs were particularly disappointed that they didn’t have time to dig real deep. Such is the way of Pro/Con.

“The Fundamentals of the Printing Process” brought a rousing close to the day’s official business, but I didn’t go to that. I was up at the bar reading the sports section and thinking about hanging in San Francisco for a few days when this was all over, reminding myself that the Journal was paying for all the Pro/Con-related stuff, including the air fare and the car-ride to the hotel. Besides, Marvel was throwing an open bar party in a few hours (I fantasized of being Stuttering John, interviewing Stan Lee: “Mr. Lee, who’s stronger? Thor or Hulk? And why did you fuck over Jack Kirby?” Instead I just subversively ate and drank a lot at Marvel’s expense), followed by a keg at Comic Relief in Berkeley. And another keg the next night at Comix Experience. But I digress.

The next morning was supposed to begin with a seminar on graphic storytelling by Jim Steranko. I don’t know if somebody told Pro/Con that Steranko didn’t draw anymore and spent his time publishing photos of semi-naked B-movie queens, but he never showed up, and was replaced with Howard Chaykin and Gil Kane. This turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Chaykin is a very entertaining and witty speaker, and Gil’s veteran, nonpartisan insight was exactly what was needed in the keynote address. “The fact is,” summed Kane on the state of the comic book artform, “the infusion of the Jim Lees and Todd McFarlanes brought with them the sensibilities, not of comics, but of G.I. Joe.” Amen.

Several other panels were offered in two, three-track programming sessions of various interest, and although I couldn’t attend all of them, from what I heard none of them came any closer to addressing the industry’s most pressing issues. The day ended with a panel titled “The Wave of the Future: On-Line and Beyond.” Despite moderator Scott McCloud’s best attempts to turn the event into an interesting, theoretical discussion the comics medium’s growing relationship with computers, it was largely reduced to an advertisement for DC’s America On-Line service.

The Pro/Con programming staff needs to desperately evaluate the shortcomings of this year’s event and plan for the next. Perhaps the most notable shortcoming of Pro/Con is that it portends to be a service for any professional in the industry, but it’s $100 ticket price ($125 after the deadline) makes attendance prohibitive for most alternative cartoonists, and the unilaterally mainstream programming will never attract a keynote speaker along the lines of, say, an Art Spiegelman.

Most freelance artists attend Pro/Con to simply schmooze editors for work, which is perfectly valid, and “networking” is undoubtedly a huge part of The Pro/Con Experience. But most alternative cartoonists or self-publishers would gain nothing by buying Mark Gruenwald a beer, so it falls to the programming to attract them. I can think of only about six or seven alternative cartoonists who’ve attended any of the three Pro/Cons, and only one (Donna Barr) who’s attended two. Paul Mavrides attended the first solely to raise awareness of his Comic Book Legal Defense Fund case, and his appearance represents the only Pro/Con “airtime” in three years that has addressed any censorship issues — CBLDF Executive Director Susan Alston opted to use her 1995 travel budget to attend the Alternative Press Expo this year rather than Pro/Con, after attending in 1994. Cartoonist Roberta Gregory was in town for WonderCon and attended the Comic Relief “Friends of Lulu” party, but blew off Pro/Con after attending in 1994, as did Steve Lafler, who attended the first year but none since. Colin Upton was a no-show in 1995 after attending in 1994. Bay Area residents and frequent WonderCon guests like cartoonists Dan Clowes, Lloyd Dangle, Mario Hernandez, and Last Gasp Publisher Ron Turner have never attended Pro/Con despite it taking place in their backyard.

It’s sort of a vicious cycle. The cartoonists who most need advice on issues like health care and contract negotiations can’t afford to go to Pro/Con and probably wouldn’t if they could. The issues that need to be addressed are left in the hands of people who can’t afford to talk about them, while the people who most need to see them addressed are sitting at home. People like Friendly Frank’s Distribution owner Frank Mangiaracina, who is as deep in the thick of things as anybody and always has a valuable opinion, sits in the audience because his company can’t afford to buy lunch for 150 and say nothing to them.

I do believe the Pro/Con staff, led by Noel Wolfman, is trying to do the best they can, but it’s possible that the nucleus — retailer Bryan Uhlenbrock, Star-Reach owner Mike Friedrich, the writer Peter David, and Wolfman — is just too far removed from non-mainstream circles to achieve any degree of success. This is disappointing, given the increasing role independently produced comics will play in the still-unfolding distribution situation. Capital is already promoting itself as a distributor of independent companies. Self-publishers earned 18 nominations in the Eisner Award ballots, while Fantagraphics earned 13 times more than Marvel. Marvel and Malibu’s market share took an ominous nosedive in their last month with the direct market. Comics like Hate and Bone are outselling many Marvel and DC comics, and the Crumb filmography is one of the most critically-acclaimed films in years.

You wouldn’t know it if you attended Pro/Con.

Perhaps the list of who wasn’t at Pro/Con is the most telling. Let’s see, Marvel had most of its group editors there, but nobody seemed to care. All the Marvel people were always looking over their shoulder, as they should be. DC’s key people backed out at the last minute. Image sent Larry Marder, but the six founders stayed home and counted their money. Malibu honchos Scott Rosenberg and Dave Olbrich were busy workin’ for the man. No executives from Acclaim were there as far as I could tell. Respected publishers like Matt Groening, Denis Kitchen, Chris Oliveros, Stan Lee, Mike Richardson, Jenette Kahn and Dan Vado had better things to do, as did star self-publishers like Dave Sim, Jeff Smith, Terry Moore, Mike Diana and Jason Lutes. There was no Neil Gaiman, no Frank Miller, no Los Bros, no Karen Berger, no Harlan Ellison, no Will Eisner, no Jim Shooter. Steve Geppi had to deal with the start of baseball season, while Glen Danzig went on tour. Even Hart Fisher blew this thing off. Gary Groth went, but he regretted it and could be seen walking out of any given panel within ten minutes.

In fact, true-blue, balls-out movers-and-shakers were sorely lacking. For every Scott McCloud there were ten oddball wannabes with one-word names like “Merlin” and “Spaz.” So, in that respect, maybe Pro/Con’s neither here nor there — the comic book middle class?