ComicCon.

The word strikes terror into the hearts of millions.

Agorophobics all left the STATE before the show started.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Registration is up the escalator and to the left. We could be funnelled into a long row of cattle cars, headed for some Soylent Green factory, and still look hopefully around, with registration receipt and picture ID in hand.

There was a lot of zombie to be had this year, including the zombie walk and the X-Sanguin zombie dance party... and you get your zombie training right there on the show floor, doing the slow, undead shuffle from one end to the other. In order to see the whole show, you have to travel in longitudinal lines along the halls, reach the end and slooowly turn to go up to the next aisle. If you are so foolish to attempt to cut across traffic mid-stream... well, it ain't gonna be pretty, as the God of War or other entity steps on your head.


Families worry that their designated wage-earner will lose his entire life savings to some limited-edition-exclusive-ComicCon-only-action-figure, of which only ten were made. And he will, because after you stand in line for 17 hours outside of Hall H, you have no reason left.

In fact, the San Diego Blood Bank should have set up shop at the Hall H line instead of at the Marriot, because they had 3,297 beating pulses there that they could have slorped donations from, and the geeks wouldn't even NOTICE, fixated as they were on getting a glimpse at something "Twilight" oriented. TWILIGHT? Seriously, people. Stop breathing in MY oxygen.

And the H? It stands for Hell. You knew that.

So why do we go, with sweat running down in rivulets as the AC fails to take the edge off the hot San Diego burny thing in the sky?

Cause it's that cool.

There is a reason that the 4-day passes sell faster than you can muster a sneeze. In fact, you have to be geeky enough to construct a functional worm-hole, in order to travel back in time to buy tickets before they sell out. Rite of passage.

I got to wander around and see some of the most amazing costumes (no, I did not dress up as Brasse, because it's a good 45 minute drive from my place, and I ain't doing that in armor and beard). Plenty of celebrities around to geek out over, and most of them turn out to be pretty human. Awesome comic art, some of it drawn right on site, by the best in the business.

I admit that after a few years of frustrating two to three hour lines, I didn't try to take in any of the panels and presentations, but if I take along a laptop and a flask of liquid entertainment next year, I may brave it again.

Seeing my niece dressed up as Cheetara and her beau as The Doctor really made my suffering worthwhile. I have certified geeks in my family, and I have pictures to prove it. Life is good.

;-)#
Brasse

ps. Full credit for today's comic goes to Shipwreck. I was halfway through an utterly sucktastic comic about the show when I read his Facebook status... and stole it. Thanks man. The next tequila is on me.

For all my ComicCon pics, see this linky to Facebook.
To download full-size, high-res versions, go to my SmugMug site.