** This is a small excerpt of a transcript of a live interview on KPBS Radio's talk show "These Days."**

CAVANAUGH: You're listening to These Days on KPBS. I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. We're continued (sic) to talk about the highlights of the 40th Annual San Diego Comic-Con that starts on Thursday at the downtown convention center. Comic-Con brings not only legions of fans but also famous actors, directors, animators, writers to San Diego each year and is one of the most anticipated events of the summer if you don't have to drive downtown. With me to talk about where the Comic-Con has been, where it's going and what's happening this year are my guests David Glanzer, Director of Marketing for Comic-Con International, and Beth Accomando. She is KPBS film critic and judge for the Comic-Con Festival. And I want to welcome David on the line. Hi, David, are you with us?

DAVID GLANZER (Director of Marketing, Comic-Con International): Yes, I am. Thank you for having me.

CAVANAUGH: David Glanzer is Director of Marketing for Comic-Con International. And I want to welcome a new guest to These Days. Miguel Cima is the director and writer of the short documentary, "Dig Comics." He is an avid comic book collector. Miguel, welcome to These Days...You know, Miguel, I've seen the documentary and it's, you know, if I may say, it's really very well done. One of the most compelling things is you go out on the street and you ask people whether or not they read comic books and whether or not, you know, they've ever read comic books or what kind of comic books they could read. What were the kind of answers you got from people?

CIMA: Well, nobody read – nobody reads comics, you know. There was one guy that I got on there who I didn't really feature too much but there was one guy who read comics. Everybody else, it was pretty much the same. The older people, yeah, they read them when they were kids because when they were kids, comics were everywhere. The kids these days, none of them read comics. None of them read comics. I interviewed a kid wearing, you know, a "Wolverine" tee shirt, he never read a comic. You know, I – If you remember, I handed a little kid – You know, he just came out of "Fantastic Four 2" and I asked him, you know, he's a five year old kid, did you ever read Fantastic Four comics? He didn't even know they existed.

CAVANAUGH: You know, Beth, Miguel's documentary points up a real irony and as so many movies are dedicated to comic book characters and they're making huge amounts of money, but the result is not people running to get – buy comics. I mean, this is just sort of awful for the comic book industry.

CAVANAUGH: That's amazing. You know, I think one of the most compelling parts in your documentary "Dig Comics," is that silent part where you just show – you just show the drawings in these comic books and the different styles of drawings. And I have to admit, I mean, I'm not big on comic books and I kind of fall into the category where I thought they were for kids, I was surprised by the variety and the beauty of this artwork.