June 1, 2011
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Boston Comic Con.
Two weekends ago I ventured into deepest parts of the Hynes Convention Center and stumbled upon what I presumed to be an absurdly geek-tastic experience and ended up being an actual kick-ass time.
Sunday May 1st was the last day of Boston’s Comic Book Convention. I went with my usual adventure partner in crime Derek Ring, a comic book aficionado and artist, and he warned me how bad it could be. He explained that New York is amazing, San Diego is even better and he had heard that Chicago was getting the same sort of response as well.
His only other experience at the Boston one was fanboys and girls critiquing these unbelievable artists and writers on minute details. He told me a story of a time where he was at the San Diego Comic Con and he was in line to meet Frank Miller, or someone of that stature, and it was taking way too long. His girlfriend, Nicole, decided to go up front and see what was going on. And what did she see? A man just standing there frozen, not able to move or talk and Mr. Miller just sitting there. A stalemate of the nerdiest proportions. So she goes right up in front of the line and introduces herself. Twenty minutes later she’s like, “Look at all the cool stuff he gave me?”
So we proceed in, Derek turns back to me and says, “I’m so sorry.”
On my right there’s the entire fake team of the Ghostbusters, a couple vampires and a really good looking elf of some sort. To my left is the entrance to what I hope to be the beginning of a great Sunday, one where God doesn’t rest and puts on a freak show for me. Its quiet, its intense, and its normal.
Don’t get me wrong, I took a picture with a very sweaty, very tall Mr. Incredible from Pixar’s “Incredibles.” Got denied by a man who was dressed like a disgusting Purple Lantern, if he even exists. And, my personal favorite, a 12 year-old Deadpool of Marvel fame. Deadpool talked in a forced growl and even stuffed his tiny red tights to look more awesome…yup.
There were two giant surprises in my time there: one was that it wasn’t just nerdy white guys and girls. There was some color there! And the other was how much I was geeking out. The biggest moment for me was when we were just walking around and Tim Sale, one of the regenerators of the Batman series, was just sitting there to my right. And I look quickly up to Derek, his eyes are wide now, grinning and just says, “I know.”
There was a downside to this whole day. We found some of Derek’s art stolen by another artist and trying to sell it, to his face, when Derek had the same piece of art LITERALLY on his shirt and called him out on it. My fists clenched, snort started to drip out my nose, but Derek played it so cool.
(Pointing to his shirt) “That looks really good.” Way to go buddy. And fuck him.
I have to say, all in all, the passion and the commitment are the two things I take away from this. To see a collection of people all accepting what it is and what we see and what we like, that’s something special. And the respect, for the most part that is there. I am happy to have gone.
Next up, I’d love to go to one of those Hair Competitions in the South, the ones where weaves are entertainment. Or maybe an ICP concert. Or some sort of 4H gathering. Ideas are welcome. Suggest away.
