Saturday, April 12, 2008

Cute, NY Comic Con. Very Cute.

Due to a good news/bad news sort of turn of events, I will be able to attend lots more of next weekend's convention than originally planned.

In perusing the schedule, I noticed something that really isn't cool.

Friday, April 18th
5pm - 6pm Room 1E07
Women in Comics

Friday, April 18th
5pm - 6pm Room 1E15
Women in Fantasy and Science Fiction

I see.

Well, given that I am not a time traveler, a Time Lord, nor in possession of a Time Turner, it looks like I'll have to choose. I know I certainly can't be the only person who wants to go to both.

Scheduling these panels against each other severely divides their attendance. Obviously, many conventions have panels which compete with each other. That being said, why, in this climate of "Bringing The Womens Into The Comics/Genre/Fandom," would they do this?

The really ugly thing about this is that when programming gets planned next year, one or both of those panels may get cut due to low attendance. I hope the panels are next door to each other, otherwise I'm going to get really tired running back and forth.

I'm also slightly perturbed by the creative choice to list "Fantasy" before "Science Fiction" in the title for that panel. Given that the "generally accepted" shorthand is "SF/F" or "Science Fiction and Fantasy," why list Fantasy first? Alphabetically? Somehow, I think no.

I'm glad both of these panels are happening. I just wish it didn't come with another example of "What? We gave you panels, what more do you want?"

4 comments:

IKM said...

The really ugly thing about this is that when programming gets planned next year, one or both of those panels may get cut due to low attendance.

Sounds like that's the point, yes. They'll have a nice built-in excuse to cut one.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Women in Refrigerators Syndrome to me. *snort* When are the fanboys going to learn that women are crucial to fandom?

Anonymous said...

It is news to me that "the standard" abbreviation is "sf/f". What makes you think that it is?

And yes, the scheduling is so awful it seems deliberate. I can't imagine what was going on.

Red Stapler said...

It is news to me that "the standard" abbreviation is "sf/f". What makes you think that it is?

It's how I've always seen it listed in magazines and other media, including college lectures. I'm willing to accept that I'm wrong in this statement. ;)