The Big (Comic) Con

But before we begin with our recap, behold the glory and power of the crazy Animoto video!  Here are my pics (link courtesy of Alvina Ling).  Watch the volume, since this puppy is a bit louder than you might expect.

Now on to the recap!

Now the very weird thing about Javits, above and beyond its choice of architecture, is that it is so large that it tends to prefer to simultaneously book several conventions at once.  So on one side of Comic Con was the Big Apple Job Fair and on the other side was Club Industry East.

That meant that you had guys who looked like this . . .

. . . intermingling with guys who looked like this . . .

Frankly I think the two conventions should have just combined forces.  That fellow looks like a superhero anyway.  Why fight it?

That’s Gina Gagliano on the right, Mark Siegel on the left, and a very nice woman that I do not know right smack dab in the center.  This is why I’m bad at taking pictures.  I’m horrible with names and I just end up embarrassing myself when I post people without the proper info.

By the way, check out that banner in the back.  Know how smart these people are?

They knew to highlight libraries for one and all to see using scenes from Robot Dreams.  Pretty sneaky, sis.

Comic Con works as well as it does simply because it takes every aspect of nerd culture and mixes it in one bit bowl.  It takes all kinds.  Sometimes you’ll be shaking hands with this fellow:

Other times you’ll be sitting around waiting for this guy:

And lest we forget, this is a great place to sell video games as well.  There were two areas in particular that I had difficulty with.  The first was around the LOST vids.  It’s a really odd game.  You’re apparently a survivor and you have to ask fellow survivors questions to figure out . . . something.  The voices weren’t done by the actors, though, so I kept getting distracted by the pseudo-John Locke and pseudo-Kate I heard.

The other fellow responsible for ripping full hours out of my already too too short life was this guy:

Recognize him?  Yeah, at first I didn’t either.  In fact, I spent much of my day just sort of walking about snapping pictures of people being interviewed that I didn’t know.  For example, who is this girl?

Dunno.

As you can see, I’ve gotten slightly more comfortable with my camera.  But I alternate between one of two settings.  Terribly Scared and Afraid to Get Anywhere Near My Subject:

And Stalker.  I got particularly stalkerish when I saw Neil Gaiman being interviewed way way way up above all the action by MTV.  Here is Neil from a distance:

Halloooooo, Neil!  And here is Neil directly above me.

Rump o’ Neil, that’s what that is.

The costumes are another reason to go.  I don’t know why I’m so afraid to photograph people at this convention.  After all, nine times out of ten they’re just begging for the attention.  And will you look at this adorable Harley Quinn.  Doesn’t she just match her doll to a tee?

On a slight tangent, I don’t quite understand the world of fantasy dolls.  Do you play with them?  Do you display them?  To what end?  Little tiny figurines that you paint, that I understand.  But dolls?  Then again, the idea of having Alan Rickman on my desk is somewhat tantalizing . . . . .

Now on Saturday I was joined by fellow children’s literary cohert and partner in crime Monica Edinger of the blog Educating Alice.  Here a very game Monica sits in the pinkest, fluffiest, oh so kawaii porch swing.

Saturday proved to be roughly 70% more busy than the day before.  Check out these crowds.

Woof.  As it turned out, there were some nice panels and roundtables, but after snapping some additional picks and running into some friends I was one pooped puppy.  Now, Comic Con has some problems that other conventions do not have, but in one area in particular it succeeds brilliantly.  Behold the realm of the beanbag chairs:

Every convention, as far as I am concerned, should have some of these lying about.  They even had a separate set in front of the stage for the fashion show:

Ironically, the one day I did not go to Comic Con was Sunday, the day specifically set aside for kids.  I could have seen Mo Willems speak or watched Lisa Von Drasek interview Shannon Hale and Holly Black.  Instead, I cuddled up at home and wrote you this recap instead.  A good time was definitely had, and I’ll be looking forward to the next one.  There is something to be said for a convention where you don’t get weighed down by books at the end of the day.  There really is.

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