COMICCON: IN THE BEGINNING, IT WAS THE COMIC STRIP...

Chronicle by Sergio Martinez

Most of the followers of superheroes or other characters they see in their blockbuster movies or TV series are unaware that from Superman, through Batman, Dr. Strange or Thor, to the most recent characters, all of them were originally comic book characters. Initially, the medium in which they became known as the comic strip or simply the comics, as they are known in English. This apparent discordance, because even though their adventures were rather serious, dramatic and even terrifying, the generic name—comics—struck because their first characters, appearing in newspapers, had their mission to make people laugh. They were there to amuse the readers and distract them from the sad and depressing world of daily events that the newspapers reported.

Eventually, these comics were so successful that they gave rise to their own publications; thus, comic magazines or comic books were born and with them, some of the gigantic multimedia empires, such as Marvel or D.C., in the United States. Although on a smaller scale, similar publishing phenomena have occurred in other countries such as France (with characters like Tintin) and Spain (its most famous comic strip Mortadelo y Filemón). In Latin America too, where probably the two best-known comic strip characters are Mafalda (Argentina) and Condorito (Chile).

It is not surprising that so many people are interested in and even like to identify with these characters—now famous in the movies or on television. These were characters who originally came into the hands of children and teenagers in the form of comic books. Interest in this medium has eventually expanded to a host of other derivatives: movie and television stars, video games, and a growing range of merchandise, from T-shirts to figurines. It is precisely this explosion of products derived from what was once a humble product of popular culture, disparaged as sub-literature and even the subject of a U.S. Congressional investigating committee, that Montreal and many other cities celebrate, bringing together thousands of people: the Comic Convention or ComicCon.

The Montreal ComicCon, held July 8-10 at the Palais des congrés, was the first after the two-year interruption due to the pandemic. Undoubtedly one of its outstanding elements is the large number of attendees participating in the event, engaging in cosplay and impersonating their favourite characters. This practice of dressing up has its origins in antiquity, and it is suspected that almost all civilizations incurred at some point in the collective practice of "being the other". This sort of rite meant dressing up as some animal or mythical being as a way of acquiring their powers or at least aspiring to be like them. Perhaps there is something of this in the desire of those dressed as Superman or Batman.

No doubt Pablo Neruda, who liked to organize parties where his guests had to dress up and where he was the first to wear a costume, would have enjoyed events like these. However, we do not think he would have been interested in dressing up as a superhero. However, he would undoubtedly have been very attracted to the beautiful young ladies dressed as Wonder Woman.

As for me, with nostalgia, I go through the booths where there are old comic magazines from the years of my childhood and youth (at prices that today make me remember with curses the times when I unceremoniously discarded my old magazines), and there I find some treasures: an old Captain Marvel (the original, today called Shazam), some Super Mouse (not the one in the yellow suit, which in English is called Mighty Mouse, but a less popular one, which in Spanish was known as the Superatomic Mouse) and some other characters created by Walter Lantz or Walt Disney.

As in previous years, ComicCon proved that it is undoubtedly a grand celebration not only of comics—although that is its starting point—but of everything we call popular culture.