Will Comic-Con jump the shark?

I've never been to a Comic-Con in my life, but judging by the way things are going, what was once considered geek nirvana seems to be turning into an exercise in Hollywood PR.

As this writer points out, the annual San Diego convention has strayed far from its comic-book roots and it won't be long before the "cool" kids outnumber the fanboys. Can the convention survive the shift?

It's not just Hollywood movies which are getting pumped up at Comic-Con, but genre TV shows as well and sorts of other SF & F products.

Call it the revenge of the nerds, but the studio suits are flogging their wares at the convention in order for the fans to generate plenty of free word-of-mouth publicity for them. Of course, the flip-side of generating postive buzz is that it's just as possible to have the fans turn on you and start bad-mouthing your product before it goes public.

As this blogger points out, some fans are enjoying their new-found powers and have become self-important critics that use the internet to bash what they dislike and fawn over what they do like.

If you ask me, the best thing about the convention are the costumes, especially those sported by the female fans.