Comic Con - Where have you been all my life?

Have you ever come across something for the first time, and realized you’ve been missing it your whole life? This is how I feel about Comic Con. I wish I’d written this blog 2 months ago when it was all still fresh in my mind. But better now than never.

When Joey and I first started dating he told me he’d take me to Comic Con in July. I was into him from minute 1 on New Year’s Eve, but this was still a big selling point. I’d heard of Comic Con. I mostly knew that people dressed up like Storm Troopers and Klingons. Even that was enough to make me want to go. But then I found out it was Mecca for all things pop culture, which I love. I realize a lot of people think Comic Con has sold out… moved away from the true source material… blah blah blah. I loved it.

I’ve always been a person who likes to be around fans. Not fans in anything specific. Just fans. I just love people who love great stuff. Usually if that fandom is not within the sports category these folks are moved to the margins of society (or the lame section of lockers in high school). But at Comic Con, these guys are King.

Of course my brand of poison is in the nerd category. If you’re talking about Lord of the Rings, anything by Joss Whedon, or Star Wars, I’m listening. I love sitting in line to get into the newest movie based off a comic book, mostly for the conversations I get to overhear. At movie theaters, those numbers usually top at a few hundred people. But Comic Con… 150,000 lovers of awesome stuff.

At Comic Con you wait all day (and night) to get into the good panels. This is where we get to see all the awesome actors, actresses, directors, and authors of the sweetest movies coming out in the next year. We did it all. We stayed out all night to get into Hall H on Thursday. Totally worth it to see the Tron Legacy panel and about 8 other rockin’ panels. The Chanel 8 News people came out to the line that night to interview us weirdos about why on earth we would do such a thing. They didn’t have much interest in talking to Joey and me, but only because they didn’t realize how awesome we are.

The panels were sweet. I don’t really feel like I need to write a lot about them. We saw dozens of incredible actors. Harrison Ford came for the FIRST time ever to Comic Con and we got to see that. A guy stabbed another guy with a pen over some sort of seat dispute, we were there for that. We did it all.

But even better than the cool panels and amazing displays in the exhibit hall, were the people. Here’s what stood out to me at Comic Con: there is no hierarchy of cool. It’s just a bunch of people who like cool stuff, coming together to talk about that cool stuff. Fans, true fans. No need to worry about fashion, or hair products, or even hygiene for that matter really (no judgment here). I think a lot of these folks live on a steady diet of hot pockets and Mountain Dew in dark rooms while playing video games. But at Comic Con that’s okay! It’s just people who love stuff, loving it together. This was one of the first places I’ve ever gone where we could get our eyes off of ourselves, and onto more important matters… like the shocking lack of security on the Darth Star.

Comic Con 2011 or bust!!!