Emerald City Comic Convention

It is a day you'll never forget. You'll feel really nervous beforehand, you'll always remember where you were, how it felt, how much fun it was, and then, in the end, you'll have that feeling of it being over much too soon. No, I'm not talking about losing your virginity, I'm talking about losing your CONginity. Which I did, this past weekend.

I, along with my very supportive girlfriend, (strength in numbers!!) attended the Emerald City Comic Convention here in Seattle. I'll admit I was pretty nervous on the bus ride downtown. I knew that I was taking a step that led down what many would consider to be a verrrrry "dorky" path, but I've been craving some sort of new experience lately and Comicon provided the perfect new experience: it was strange, it was unknown, but CONFIDENCE! It would be also be fun...

Costumes proved to be one of our main sources of entertainment for the day. We knew we were nearing the Convention center when we started seeing people dressed up as Trekkies. As we entered the convention center it became harder and harder to suppress our giggles as we saw more and more people decked out in costumes. We knew there'd be people in costume, but somehow, seeing it for real just made it hilarious. The costumes varied in style from amazing first-rate replicas of the real deal, to solidly done homemade ones that ranged from decent to great. We walked past one scantily clad lady in a red bikni-esque outfit with red fishnet leggings and I then realized that people who wore costumes were an interesting niche group who definitely ascribed to the "go big or go home" frame of mind. Let's face it, super heroes wear some crazy, ridiculous stuff, and seeing normal everyday folk wearing the same thing blew my mind. As we passed the red bikni/fishnet lady, Anjali, my girlfriend, leaned in towards my ear and whispered the quote of the day: "I think I saw her vagina!" Now is that dedication to a hobby or what?

Another cool thing about comicon: celebrities are abound! Well, celebrities for the comic world. I never laid eyes on Stan Lee or Lenard Nimoy, but I did see Lou Ferrigno...he is still Incredibly Hulkish, and I also saw Tom Jane. (I guess he played the Punisher in a movie). Jane struck me as a complete celebrity douche. When I saw him, he was sitting on a table looking ever so much the movie star: Aviators? Check. Cowboy boots? Check. Distressed looking expensive jeans? Check. Leather Coat? Check. The way he "interacted", I use the term loosely, with his fans did not impress me...The word "smarmy" comes to mind.

There were also a large collection of comic writers and artists at the show. Since I am pretty much a comic noobie, I'm sure many of the amazingly talented people there who are big names in the field flew completely under my radar. But, I did see Joe Quesada, editor in chief at Marvel Comics, Brain Michael Bendis, a big name in comic writing, Ed Brubaker, local dude, and comic writer extraordinaire...I think I mentioned him here somewhere...And many others who were kind, polite, and always willing to take the time to discuss their work, and talk to you about your day.

The coolest part for me was being around so many talented people for the day. There was so much amazing artwork to look at and so many nice, interesting people to talk to. I don't think a smile left my face the entire day. I also scored some sweet S.W.A.G. and picked up a few new titles which I'm sure will get mentioned around here sooner or later. Losing my CONginity is certainly one of the highlights of my year so far. It was a really good time, and I'm really glad I decided to try something new on a gray Seattle Saturday.

Enjoy some Emerald City Comic Convention photos!