Confession: On July 25th, I was a San Diego Comic-Con virgin.
By July 29th, I was ravaged, savaged, and exhausted after five separate days of Comic-Con insanity, which included dodging crowds that topped six figures, serving as Slave Leia’s bodyguard, interviewing industry celebrities, and strutting onstage in a skimpy Lara Croft costume during the Comic-Con masquerade—in front of over five thousand Comic-Con fans.
Here’s my story.
Comic-Con Exhibitions: Fans, fanatics & fantasies
Two of my longtime friends, Amanda and Rachel, traveled to San Diego for the Con with their significant others. All were crashing floors and couched of my Downtown San Diego loft. The foursome included a Star Wars enthusiast, a comic book geek, a Magic: The Gathering fanatic, and a professional Disney Princess.
As for me? I don’t read comic books (though I appreciate them!) and my knowledge of graphic novels is limited to ultra-literary works like Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth.
But because of my mother’s profession (art) and my father’s pre-retirement occupation (old-school movie special effects), I expected that at least some of San Diego Comic-Con’s bajillion exhibitions and industry celebrities would appeal to me. Plus, I had a press pass.
I was hoping Comic-Con 2007 would be a geekstyle sensory extravaganza. And that’s exactly what it was.
The entire San Diego Convention Center was turned upside down for the event. Costly, elaborate booths stretched miles-high, advertising The Golden Compass, Prince Caspian, X-Men, Star Wars, Harry Potter. Countless stalls were packed with vibrant stacks of comic-books, art books, miniatures, posters, graphic tees.
A remote-controlled R2D2 zoomed through the eagerly parting crowds. Promo girls in revealing attire passed out freebies to slavering fans, who were everywhere: shoulder-to-shoulder, deafening, and unanimously happy.
San Diego Comic-Con is famous for its costumed attendees, who can’t walk ten feet without pausing for amateur photographers. Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean was the most popular alter ego for male fans, while females favored Slave Leia as their Comic-Con costume of choice.
Which brings me to. . .
Comic-Con Costumes: Slaving for Leia
My friend Rachel worked on her Slave Leia costume for months, as part of an online Slave Leia community scheduled to pose in front of a life-sized Jabba the Hutt at the San Diego Comic-Con. Every man’s fantasy? Probably—especially when a certain someone’s Slave Leia costume wouldn’t stay on.
I won’t get into the dirty details; I’ll just confess they included staples, a glue gun, and a whole lot of duct tape. However, the Slave Leia photo shoot itself was a success, drawing in the most impenetrable crowds I saw during the entire convention. My press pass allowed me front-row access, a enviable thing until my camera died.
Comic-Con Celebrities: Starstruck!
Obviously, over the course of its 37 years of life, Comic-Con has long since emerged from the underground. The most daunting lines at the San Diego Convention Center belonged to panels for television shows like “Heroes”, “Family Guy”, and “Lost”, and celebrities like Jessica Alba, Neil Gaiman of Stardust and Sandman, and even Jenna Jameson.
I’m sort of an in-between snob: I spent my time speaking with lower-key celebrities. Most notably, Ray Harryhausen—the 87-year-old genius of stop-motion special effects in vintage films—and Lee Cohen of Every Picture Tells a Story, a Los Angeles gallery representing the world’s most illustrious illustrators. (Tim Burton! Chris Van Allsburg! Walt Disney!)
I’ll be uploading my interview with Ray Harryhausen soon, so keep checking back!
My favorite illustrator growing up was Brian Froud, painter of faeries, creator of goblins, luminary behind the creatures of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. He was solely responsible for the fairy drawings in the margins of my high school homework assignments. When I mentioned this to Lee Cohen, he said: “Brian Froud? He’s right around the corner.”
The sixteen-year-old inside me screamed at the top of her lungs.
I bought two books from Brian Froud—Good Faeries, Bad Faeries and The Goblins of the Labyrinth— and he drew his signature elf in both. Manning the booth beside Brian Froud was his son, Toby Froud—the same baby Toby from The Labyrinth, all grown up. I had to ask: “What was it like to work with David Bowie when you were a baby?”
Toby said he didn’t know, since he was a baby.
Comic-Con Masquerade: Oh no I didn’t!
On Friday the 27th, Rachel and I were accosted by a young woman dressed as Lara Croft. She asked us if we were attending Comic-Con on Saturday, which was already sold out. When we nodded, she asked us if we’d be interested in donning Lara Croft costumes and parading onstage in during the San Diego Comic-Con Masquerade. “Well—” I began.
“Of course!” said Rachel.
Read the rest of the story at San Diego Comic-Con 2007 Confessions: The Masquerade. You know you want to.
