Comic Con!

I get to go to Comic Con again this year as a panelist. This year I'll take a laptop with me and maybe post in this blog as I go. I'll see how it all works out. I've never done the mobile thing before. When I was posting from Sweden that was from the hostels I was staying at. And I wasn't able to do the pictures at the same time.

I like going as a professional. I get in for free. This year I found out late I would be on the panel again. When I was unsure I looked at the website. SOLD OUT. All memberships. This was kind of shocking. A few years back there was no limit to the attendance and consequently it was freakishly crowded. Like U2 at the Rose Bowl. They changed the policy to keep the mob to something manageable.

I go in costume sometimes. I am a Master Costumer in the world of convention masquerades. I mainly do recreations of movie, TV or comic books characters. Characters I'm the right body type for. Which is generally the athletic type.

I like the characters that are masked. Like Spider-man. Because then you can wander around completely anonymous. It's a lot of fun to talk with people and then see them later when out of costume. You can have a conversation and they never realize that you were Spider-man an hour ago. Okay. I'm a big geek. When I was at Dragon Con in Atlanta in 2002, me and my friend Terry wore a number of costumes. Dragon Con is strange to me. There really was nothing to do there. So all we did was walk around in costume and have our picture taken. We called ourselves Paparazzi Whores. We couldn't walk 2 feet without someone wanting to take our picture. It was kind of intoxicating to have that much attention.

So at Comic-Con I'll have the Spider-man costumes, and I just made a new one from the BBC series, Torchwood. Captain John Hart. He was played by James Marsters. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Simple costume, but a lot of work (sewing, dyeing, leather work...) and expense... I don't do costumes that are uncomfortable or hot. It's crowded at the Con and if you are uncomfortable, you won't have a good time.

Should be fun.