Friday, July 23, 2004

seen at the San Diego Comic Con

Wandering the humid hall of the San Diego Convention Center (one wouldn't expect that such an expansive space would be humid when the air conditioning was on but the crush of bodies and electronic doo-dads conspired to make it just so) during the annual Comic Con today I was reminded about how much I enjoy the quirky habit of reading comic books.

The exhibit hall...the size of at least three city blocks...was filled to overflowing with comics and computer games and movie memorabilia and people...lots and lots of people.  People buying and selling...people seeing and being seen...people, paid actors and ardent fans both, dressed in elaborate costumes wandering the hall and posing for photos.  There were three people (including one woman) dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp's character from Pirates of the Caribbean)...and lots and lots of people in Star Wars costumes.

At the DC comics booth, Wonder Woman and The Flash posed with fans (and reminded us once again that super-hero comics rarely look as impressive in real life as they do in the pages of a comic book.)  And one actress was covered head to toe in white paint to portray the character "Lady Death" (a very pale woman who wears little more than a bikini and a cape.)  And one intrepid band of fans made themselves over as Spider-Man, his enemies Dr. Octopus and the Green Goblin, and his curvaceous ally The Black Cat.

At my advanced age, I still love comics...and, bless 'em, I love the people who love comics enough to dress up in wondrously geeky costumes and strut their stuff on the floor of the biggest comic book convention in America.

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