Comic-Con soars as comic book and fantasy fans gather to explore other realities.

It started modestly enough: a couple of hundred guys devoted to comic books assembling in the dank basement of an aging downtown hotel in 1970.

Comic books. Those things that teachers would seize and parents disdain. The illegitimate child never mentioned in the literature family.

Flash-forward - like in a sci-fi time machine - to 2005, when the annual Comic-Con International gathering, which begins today, is expected to attract more than 95,000 aficionados to the city’s upscale, waterfront convention center.

If you’ve got a comic book, movie, card game, action figure, video game or other entertainment item you hope to sell to the youth market, you’d better be here.

Super geek is also super consumer.

The event that started in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel is now considered by many in the entertainment industry to be the largest, most energetic and most innovative trade show of its kind.

There are other large comic fests in other cities - and starting next year, an imitator in New York - but this remains the biggest, the one not to miss for producers and consumers.

"This is the gathering of the tribes," said Chris Charla, executive producer of Backbone Entertainment, whose Death Jr. character has spawned a comic book, action figure, T-shirt and, making its debut this week, a PlayStation-compatible game.

"For four days each summer, San Diego is the center of the cool T-shirt zeitgeist of America," Charla said. "Some older guys miss when it was just comic books, but it’s become so much more: It’s a total pop-culture event."

Comic books are still the heart of the program (about 60% of the events). DC Comics, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image and other heavies will be there. New books are unveiled, older titles are updated. And there are seminars on the intellectual underpinnings of comic books, with literary-establishment titles like "Masculinity and Adulthood in Comics" and "Sin, Transgression and Redemption in Comics."

But while comics were the genesis for the annual meeting, things have changed considerably in 3 1/2 decades. Hollywood studios and the indies have discovered Comic-Con. Last year, more than 50 films were shown in full or in sneak snippets.

In addition, the makers of nearly every genre of youth-oriented diversions - whether it’s Japanese anime, toys and action figures, or video games - get a chance to start the all-important word-of-mouth about their products.

"We’re hopefully going to start a lot of buzz with a lot of our stuff," said Mike Leavey of Diamond Select Toys and Collectibles, which is unveiling, among other things, its new "Star Trek" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" action figures. "Comic-Con is the greatest way to get directly to the consumers."

Buffy, Leavey said, is marketed to girls in their late teens. To be sure, Comic-Con is still mostly a guys’ thing - legend has it that the 1970 event was 299 guys and one girl - but the gender ratio is shifting.

If the sellers get a chance to sell, the buyers get a chance to express their views on what’s good and what’s boring.

"It’s a very hip crowd as far as pop culture goes and the underground culture, the next wave," said Eric Coleman, vice president of Nickelodeon animation development and production.

(Though the preferred mood may be dark, edgy, hip and nonconformist, Comic-Con is also modern and family-friendly: Child care is provided, a rest area is available for the aged or infirm, and American Sign Language interpreters are on duty.)

Nickelodeon is one of the bigger forces at Comic-Con. For openers, Nicktoons Network will present a sneak peek today of its new sci-fi animated series "Skyland," about a brother and sister who fight to save the world from evil in 2251. And as a closer on Sunday, there’ll be new episodes of "SpongeBob SquarePants."

"Sure, everything has gotten more corporate, but there is still a creative, underground spirit and it’s here," Coleman said. "These are not just passive consumers."

Nor are they unafraid to dress the part. Costumes are common. Name it: Darth Vader, Superman, Buffy, "Star Trek" characters, "Lord of the Rings," slashers, Spider-Man, et al.

Last year’s trophy for the most beautiful costumes went to three fans dressed as Queen Amidala and her Handmaidens from "Star Wars"; Lucasfilm, like other companies, gives prizes at the Masquerade costume contest.

"A lot of people look like they’re wearing costumes, but then you realize they dress like that every day," Charla said.

Run by a nonprofit organization dedicated to comic books and their cultural offspring, Comic-Con is more festival than convention. If your idea of a trade gathering is the annual Boat Show, forget it.

Besides the costumes, patrons are known to be vocal, to dance in the aisles and to crowd around popular booths, of which there are to be hundreds again this year.

For the first time, Comic-Con will take over the entire convention center; its 460,000-square-foot exhibition space will be filled with booths.

Goodie bags will overflow.

The Masquerade costume-judging on Saturday night will last 2 1/2 hours. The rules are complex and strictly enforced, including: "Unsheathing of bladed weapons is not allowed without clearance from the coordinator."

A tip: Arrive early. Last year the 4,300-seat ballroom was full and a line formed three hours before the doors opened.

Jeffrey WADLOW, long a comics fan and recently a Dartmouth film major, has come full circle. Last year he paid to attend Comic-Con, and now he’s back with his own movie, "Cry Wolf," done on a $1-million budget after winning a contest sponsored by Universal and Chrysler.

"Last year, it was like I died and went to heaven when I attended as a civilian," Wadlow said. "Now I’m back with my own movie and showing it to the true tastemakers, the guys and girls who get online and tell their friends what they’ve seen and the filmmakers they’ve met."

Comic-Con is proof that the entertainment biz is a maze of links between different genres.

Not even a superhero can stand alone. Today’s comic book is tomorrow’s movie. Movies spawn action figures. Playing cards give rise to video games.

Take the Wayans brothers, stand-up comedians and movie stars ("I’m Gonna Git You Sucka," "White Chicks" and "Scary Movie" and its sequel).

They’ll be at Comic-Con with the classic pastime of exchanging "yo mama" insults, only this time via cellphones and trading cards. Example: "Yo mama’s so fat, she carries a microwave like a beeper!"

Shawn and Marlon Wayans have teamed with trading card giant Topps to produce the game the Dozens.

What better place to road test it than with Comic-Con attendees?

"These guys used to be geeks," Marlon Wayans said. "Now they’re the ones who drive the movie industry, the video industry, the whole entertainment industry."

In keeping with the interactive spirit of Comic-Con, the Wayanses say their own taste in pop culture is changing after numerous close encounters with fans at the annual fest.

"We’re becoming sci-fi geeks," Shawn Wayans said.

"Sci-fi geeks are the coolest."