The Con Game

Originally published July 23, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1027

I am about to tell you the shocking secret of The Con Game. Please do not tell anyone else, since you wouldn’t want to ruin it for them.

The Con Game occurred at the recent Great Eastern Convention in New York. Last time I wrote about Great Eastern, you will remember, it was the site of the Image incite-the-crowd-to-riot fiasco. I wasn’t there this time around, having a previous commitment for the weekend.

A week or so later, however, I received a phone call from friend and occasional collaborator James Fry. James, speaking with great ire, alerted me to something that had happened to a friend of his at the convention. It seemed such a bizarre story that I promptly contacted all concerned to find out just what had gone down.

And now BID will tell you:

Conventions routinely use volunteer workers to flesh out their staff. It’s a fairly harmless quid pro quo: Volunteer workers are given free admission, (plus free food at the classier conventions), and hobnob with the celebrities, in exchange for which they work their little keisters off doing whatever is needed to be done.

Charles, it would appear, has a shapelier keister than most. Charles, you see, is a professional female impersonator and “real life transvestite.” And Charles, who intended to volunteer at Great Eastern, decided that he was going to endeavor to get into the spirit of things by engaging in a time-honored convention practice. He was going to show up in costume.

“It was my idea,” he said. “I told them before I came that I wanted to do it.”

Whoever it was that Charles told, it wasn’t convention organizer Fred Greenberg. Nevertheless, Fred subsequently stated that, in principle, he “had no problem with it.”

The “it” being Charles’ choice of costume.

He showed up as Catwoman.

Specifically, in an eerily accurate re-creation of the leather number that Michelle Pfeiffer sported in Batman Returns.

Charles entered the convention floor in full costume, before the convention even started.

By early that afternoon, he was being escorted out, at the direct request of DC Comics personnel.

The stated reason? Fred Greenberg was told, “We don’t want (him) here because he’s getting pictures taken (of himself). This is not how we want Catwoman represented.” Charles was presenting, they told Greenberg, “the wrong tone” for the character.

Keep in mind, of course, that Catwoman–in current DC continuity–has an origin based in sado/masochism and prostitution. Even the movie version had massive sexual overtones. Catwoman has never exactly been the Flying Nun, and her sexuality has only become more explicit over the years.

With all that baggage that the “real” character is carrying, the concept of being portrayed by a male would seem relatively tame. Particularly when the portrayal was so perfect that no one was tumbling to it… no one, up to and including, Jim Balent, the artist on the Catwoman series.

The moment Catwoman made her appearance (for clarity’s sake, we’ll simply call Charles “her” when referring to the costumed persona) on the convention floor, Jim Balent spotted her. “The costume was very good,” said Jim. “I was impressed that a fan had dressed up in that costume.”

So impressed, in fact, that Jim immediately went over to her and brought her to the DC booth, to pose next to a Catwoman illustration. Jim himself also posed with her, spoke with her, and even talked to her about future modeling work for a series of fantasy artworks… all completely unaware of the model’s gender.

Jim’s offer was subsequently withdrawn (with no resentment on either side) upon learning that Catwoman was being portrayed by a man. “When I told the editors (that it was a guy), they laughed,” he said.

Not laughing, however, were DC representatives Rich and Vince.

Late that morning, according to Charles, “My supervisor for the day came over to me and said that they (DC) didn’t want me ‘hanging around’ their area.” The reason was not stated. Catwoman was surprised, considering her earlier warm reception, but obeyed their desire that she keep her distance.

So although Catwoman’s appearance and deportment was good enough to fool a professional artist, and dozens of fans who were asking to have their picture taken with her, it was apparently not good enough to stay within proximity of the company that published her.

And, eventually, not good enough even to stay at the convention.

Because a few hours later, at about 2:30, according to Fred Greenberg, Rich called him over and informed him, in no uncertain terms, that the masquerade was to be brought to an end. That either Catwoman was to leave the convention entirely, or change out of the costume into street clothes. “He said that this is just the exact kind of thing they didn’t want,” said Greenberg. “I was unclear on what the reason was.”

Was Catwoman off the mark somehow? That didn’t seem likely. The portrayal was so good, according to Jim Balent, that “I thought she was working for DC or Fred Greenberg.”

Perhaps that was the concern: That the costume was so good, it seemed “official.” But was Catwoman then to be penalized because the job was too good?

Of course, technically, parading around in a company-owned creator costume is a violation of trademark. And if Catwoman had put up a sign that said, “Have your picture taken with Catwoman, $5,” that would have been dangerously into the territory of unauthorized appearance.

Catwoman, however, was doing no such thing. Merely obliging various fans by posing.

Furthermore, in Greenberg’s seventeen years of putting on conventions, plenty of folks had shown up in costume and no one from DC had ever requested that they been removed. In fact, at shows such as the San Diego Comic Convention, DC gives out cash prizes at the masquerade for best costume.

So the sudden cold feet about the notion of a fan-in-costume struck Greenberg as somewhat odd.

Nevertheless, Fred felt he had no option.

He took Charles aside and apprised him of the situation. “I made it clear to him,” Greenberg said, “that it was not my doing. I was very much on the guy’s side. But he was getting me into hot water with DC. I told him, ‘DC doesn’t want you to wear it. Either take it off or leave.’”

But Charles had no clothes to change into. “Would it really be preferable,” asked Charles, “if I were walking around in my underwear instead of the costume?”

Trying to come to some sort of accord, Charles asked that he be allowed to speak directly to the folks at the DC table who wanted him gone. Fred gamely agreed.

As they approached the DC table, a man walked over with his two small daughters. He had a camera, and asked Fred, “Can they have their pictures taken with Catwoman?”

“Not right now,” Fred said hurriedly, and hastened Catwoman on her way, leaving the puzzled father and children behind. It was that single moment, Charles said, that he found more upsetting than anything else about the entire incident.

There was a crowd around the DC table, and Fred instructed Catwoman to hang back while he approached Rich. He told Rich of Catwoman’s desire to try and sort matters out.

According to Greenberg, Rich told him, “Listen, I said I want this person out. I’ve said everything I’m going to say.”

And that was that. Minutes later, DC reps had managed to accomplish what Batman hasn’t managed to do in half a century: Get rid of Catwoman.

Sadly, it didn’t occur to Charles to turn around and buy a ticket into the convention. It would have put Fred into an interesting position because, as the convention organizer, he felt he had to accede to DC’s wishes when it came to a volunteer worker. But would he have then kept out a paying customer? “It would have raised some interesting legal questions,” he said. In all likelihood, Charles would have been able to march back in in full costume.

But the fact that he was ordered gone by DC had taken a lot of the fun out of it for him. However the cat, as the song goes, came back… and wrote to DC, complaining of his treatment.

And DC, to their credit, moved quickly. After looking into the incident, DC veep Paul Levitz wrote to Charles. The letter said, in part:

“Please accept our apologies for the incident at the Great Eastern comic convention…

“For the record, neither our policies nor, based on our investigation, the motivations of our staffer, were based on the gender of the person in the costume or your possible sexual orientation. Our policies are simply to try to ensure that when a promotional event is staged… only the authorized licensee of DC provides the talent… to ensure that our trademarks are protected in accordance with the legal requirements placed on us by the trademark law. However, what you did, showing up in a comic convention in costume, is a tradition going back over two decades, and is one we are entirely supportive of.

“We believe that this experience aside, you have no reason to brand DC as homophobic, and that we have exhibited a sincere (as opposed to simply politically correct) commitment to non-discrimination based on sexual preference… I hope you will accept our apology for this incident, and continue to be a satisfied customer.”

It’s a remarkable bit of irony, really. When Marvel Comics had Northstar publicly state that he was gay, it caused a major media brouhaha. Marvel then promptly closed ranks, issued terse “No comments” to all subsequent inquiries, and a wave of conservatism swept through the editorial ranks (the first victim being my own story about abortion in X-Factor which was gutted and rewritten into near-incomprehensibility.)

This is as opposed to DC who, in their mainline comics and Vertigo line, has had consistent portrayals of people with all manner of sexual orientation… and nary a word has been said about it. And then, bam, this happens.

And it had to be Catwoman. Catwoman, the single kinkiest character in mainline DC continuity. If anyone should have an aura of “anything goes” surrounding her, it’s Catwoman.

Now if any Marvel sales or promotional folks are reading this and chuckling to themselves, and thinking, “Wow, we’d never have reacted like that…”

Charles’ next costume is going to be either Storm or Psylocke.

Tread carefully in how you proceed, gentlemen, lest the cat be once again let out of the bag.

(Peter David, writer of stuff will be appearing as Wonder Woman at the next Great Eastern Convention… or maybe not.)