Comic-Con letdown: In UC-Berkeley's Daily Californian, critic Jake Mix complains that Comic-Con International only reinforces comic-book stereotypes:

"Walking through the dozens and dozens of packed aisles, the vast majority of Comic-Con’s content strongly reinforces the image of comics as being for kids and socially underdeveloped middle-aged men. One of the notorious methods of luring wallets into booths is through scantily clad women—and sadly, the technique works. Perhaps even stranger are the booths unloading Renaissance Faire weapons and clothing, Alien props, Star Wars gear, G.I. Joes, and exceptionally bad fantasy art.

"Then, of course, there were the thick patches of body odor. The experience on the exhibition floor was irritating at best. Walking around randomly is not to be encouraged.

"Despite the inclusion of 'International' in the title, the Con is decidedly focused on American comics and trends. Franco-Belgian comics were utterly absent, and manga (Japanese comics) was mostly being sold by American distributors. The self-publishing grid of booths, a more hopeful arena for finding some nugget of quality, were sadly filled with tiresome stories of ninja cows and pirate chickens."