Chicago Comic Con, Part 2: Obligatory Wrath of Con Joke
Optimus Claus wants to hear what’s on your Wookie Life Day wish list..just don’t ask for the Matrix of Leadership.
I try to avoid paying cover price for anything at a con, at least in regards to paperback collections of old issues (because you can always get those for less than cover price on Amazon. I will pay cover price at my local comic book store, however). The nearest I came to paying cover price was buying vol. 3 of Planetary for 20% off. Obviously, I paid full price for the Mouse Guard hardcover–but I bought that from David Petersen himself. As someone who also sells copies of his own book, I have no problem doing that. I regret not buying the second Mouse Guard book, however. Oh well.
I also paid full price for issue #1 of Cursed Pirate Girl, but again I bought that from the artist over in Artist Alley (where I also picked up a great collection of pin-up sketches from another Michigan artist, Katie Cook).
Honestly, one of my favorite finds at the con was something I got for free–a sketch from Liberty Meadows creator/artist Frank Cho.
In typical fan boy fashion, I blanked when I was next in line and couldn’t remember the name of the character (Truman the duck) I wanted drawn. So, I said “Uh, can you draw your duck character from Liberty Meadows?”
Oy.
To further add to my embarrassment, my notebook had a bunch of debris in it, which spilled out on Frank’s table. UGH. I found out later it was the tea leaves from a tea bag that had torn open in my backpack. Stay classy, Dan.
I debated getting an autograph from the fourth Ghostbuster, Ernie Hudson. I decided against it, as Winston isn’t my fav Ghostbuster. Nothing against Ernie Hudson and he does have one of my favorite lines in the film (“Since I have joined these guys, I have seen s— that would turn you WHITE!”). He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself, which is always great to see.
this guy put my Ghostbuster costume to shame.
A few folks from the Battlestar Galactica reboot were on hand, including Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama).
Eddie “Admiral Adama” Olmos answers some questions. Or ponders your destruction. I’d say it is 50/50.
Michael “Uncle Mike” Hogan was around too, and I briefly thought of talking to him and saying “Hey, remember when we met back in May at Motor City Con?” — only because he got a kick out of the fact I had the same name as his brother (Daniel Hogan…we’re a dime a dozen, seriously).
I made more than a few trips by the SuicideGirls booth and also thought of getting my picture taken with them…but I chickened out. There was never a shortage of guys around the booth, heh. As a fan of pin-up art (especially art cira and post WWII)/photography, I find what they do interesting–featuring women with piercings, tattoos and the like.
Which brings me to something else I noticed–there were a considerable amount of women attending this con. Families too (saw a toddler in a Chewbacca costume, which was great).
Dark Phoenix knows what you are thinking, so you had better stop.
I tell you, these aren’t the guy heavy conventions I went to in my early teens, things are way more diverse today (or I’m just more aware of it, which is possible). And I think that’s great, and I don’t just mean the cute geek girls (which I’m a fan of), seeing families sharing their love of something like Star Wars or X-Men just warms my heart. I saw a few families in costume and it made my day.
This might be a generation shift thing–Gen X’ers (and my fellow Gen Y’ers) are having families, and they grew up with a lot of the Star Wars/comic book stuff being so commonplace (merchandising especially) in the ’70s and ’80s, so they are sharing their interests with their kids. I’m not saying Baby Boomers didn’t do that as well (my dad is the reason I got into Monty Python and Star Trek), but I think fandom (and geekdom) has become more mainstream, and therefore more acceptable, as of late.
Next: Chicago Comic Con, Part 3: The Long Walk Home.
