Holy Marketing! It's a TV Audience in Disguise!

At Comic-Con, Networks Find Their Heroes

Gary Ochs, dressed as Mr. Freeze, and Valerie Perez, as Wonder Woman, were among comics fans attending the Comic-Con International 2006 on Saturday. (Photos By Denis Poroy -- Associated Press)

SAN DIEGO -- First, the costume report: There were, interestingly, more blood-splattered, brain-eating zombies this year. Blame the economy? The pirates and the ninjas are still apparently at war, though the Jack Sparrow puffy shirt look ("Arrrrr!") appears to be winning out over basic samurai-assassin black. Of course, lots of attendees in Star Wars Clone Trooper regalia, goose-schlepping through the cavernous convention hall here, clutching goody bags. Plenty of Spidermen and Spiderboys. A few Transformers. Hairy Harry Potters. An excellent African American Batman -- and many naughty Japanese schoolgirls ("Arrrr!").

The fanboys and nerdsters in their black T-shirts and costumes (and their progeny; ka-pow! children, children everywhere; they replicate!) were still sluicing through the cattle chutes over the weekend at Comic-Con International, one of the largest annual gatherings of its kind (100,000 plus) devoted to the celebration and the commercial exploitation of popular arts and culture. But there was something different in the wind this year at the Con, and that was television. TV, TV everywhere.

For several years now, Comic-Con has been the go-to hot spot for the marketing arms of the Hollywood film studios, which come to offer sneak peeks of coming attractions. This past weekend was no different, with Sony showing "Monster House" (in 3D) and Lionsgate doing "Saw III" (the fiends go dental). Warner Bros. brought freshly divorced Hilary Swank to town to sell "The Reaping," and New Line Cinema escorted Samuel L. Jackson to his first Con for "Snakes on a Plane" (huge line).

But what was new was the omnipresence of television show touts. Jorge "Hurley" Garcia from ABC's "Lost" came, and so did David Boreanaz from Fox's "Bones." There was product from the Nickelodeon pipeline, the Sci-Fi channel, Cartoon Network, IFC-TV, and a world premiere of CBS's new series "Jericho," "about what happens when a nuclear mushroom cloud suddenly appears on the horizon."

The CBS answer: "chaos." (Interesting, we would have guessed: "prayer.")

Why are the TV people here?

Two reasons pop to mind. First, the paranormal is the new normal. Giving the crime procedurals (the "CSIs" and "Law & Orders" and their imitators) a run for their money are the shows about otherworldly weirdness. "Medium" and "The 4400" and "Lost" and "Psychic Detectives" and "Dead Zone" and "Ghost Whisperer," etc. We leave it to future pop-cultural archaeologists to ponder the implications of a society obsessed by forensic pathology and alien abductions.

The second reason is that the demographic represented by the Con -- the genre fans of horror, Middle-earth, comic book heroes, Gotham, deep space, first-person shooter games and angels -- grows ever more red-hot. A popular T-shirt at the Con: "Talk Nerd to Me." (You know this: The appellation is now a badge of honor.)

"The Comic-Con has evolved from a narrow comic book fest into this mainstream, opinion-forming, entertainment event," says Dave Howe, general manager of the Sci-Fi Channel. "It is now a huge buzz fest. We go and everyone else goes. Because it is the beating heart of buzz generation."

Howe guesstimates that for every consumer a network tout "hits" at Comic-Con, another 30 people become infected with buzz via e-mail, blogosphere, text message, cellphone photo or Internet site -- and actual talking through the traditional mouth-portals of 14-year-olds.

"We live in a world of over-saturated media. It's hard to cut through the clutter," says Eric Coleman, vice president of animation development and production at Nickelodeon. Going to Comic-Con, he says, not only gives a company a forum to peddle product, but buys them feedback. "You can feel in your gut what is cutting through."

So: TV time.