Yesterday morning, Sam and I dropped Grr off at his puppy playtime day care center and marched over to the Moscone Convention Center with Kevin and Gordon for Wonder-Con, the annual comic book/animation/sci-fi/fantasy summit in downtown San Francisco.
I don't know much about sci-fi or fantasy, less about animation or comic books, the various "universes" in which the superheroes live, the elaborate histories and complexities of these characters and worlds. All I know for certain is that the Speed Racer movie was awesome despite near unanimous critical flogging, Dean Cain was the hottest Superman, and that I had a high school friend who insisted on being called Jubilee, despite actually being named Arlene. Beyond that, not a whole lot else.
Still, I decided, apropos to the occasion, that I would wear a T-shirt with a print of Wolverine, Spiderman, Silver Surfer, and Thor on it, just to fit in. (I borrowed it from Sam.) It totally worked until a guy at the Prism Comics booth (a line of gay stories and characters; who knew this existed?) said something about one of the characters, or the illustrator, or some other thing that I had no idea how to respond to. I was therefore left with a stupified look on my face for several seconds before I remembered my mantra for life: when in doubt, smile and nod.
But it was too late, and I had to come out as a poseur.
All in all, though, it was a fun afternoon. I only wish that I saw more people in costume, which I thought was the greatest thing, seeing how excited people got, for one afternoon, to become their favorite superheros, wearing their uniforms, talking their talk. At one hardcore comic book vendor's booth, boxes and boxes of comics were lined up like dominos, sorted by publishing house, title, year. An older fan in his 50s or 60s held up an issue he found in the stacks and jabbed a finger at his friend, who also had his hands full of books and tchotchkes. I overheard them say something to each other, excitement and awe reflecting off of their eyes; though I heard the words, they were incomprehensible to my layman's ears.
Because I was truly a layman in their church, a lowly visitor to their Wonderland. I may have attended the event, bought a ticket and was in, but I was not of it. Though I had no understanding of the characters or the stories I saw at Wonder-Con, I did recognize wonder. I saw lots of it, proud and unabashed wonder.
I almost felt privileged to witness the meeting of so many like-minded individuals, artists, their admirers, reveling in the shared authority of their passion they've cradled for so many years.
Some pictures:
Stepping through the portal
An old-school Battlestar Galactica Centurion. For Steve.
One of those Death things from Lord of the Rings
A couple of Power Rangers and (inexplicably) the Green Hornet
Some characters from the Venture Brothers (as explained by Gordon)
Somebody please hire this guy!!
Apparently, this was a group of gender-switched superheroes
(female Superman and Batman, and that was pretty much all I recognized)
And finally, life-sized R2-D2s that moved (I think) and made beeping noises
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