Haven’t been to a comic convention in a while, but some friends reminded me that WonderCon was this weekend and I now live so close to downtown SF that I really had no reason not to go. I am up for any excuse to wear the Ghostbusters outfit in public, but when I saw that Ernie Hudson was going to be there in the autograph alley — the Winston Zeddemore — well, how could I not? Sure enough, he was there, signing photos for $20 a pop, and you get one free photo with him with purchase. He offered to sign my pack and I politely refused. He was very gracious and looked rather bored.
One Ghostbuster autograph down, three to go.
What surprised me was how many people asked to have their photo taken with me. The place was packed with geeks but I was the only GB there and every few feet, someone asked for a pose. That was cool; you don’t come dressed in costume unless you want people to see it, and to be asked for a pic is a compliment. Some people come to cons looking for bargains; I come looking for attention.
That said, there was quite a bit of purchasing going on. In addition to Firefly, Buffy, and Angel swag (oh good, more Joss!), Kat got to meet and get books signed by not one but two of her favorites: Castle Waiting author Linda Medley and her all-time favorite comic creator, Terry Moore. SiP is ending very soon so I’m glad she got to meet him before it did. It was kind of cool to see her tear up when talking to him, simply because I know how important his stuff is to her.
I, however, did not cry when giving blood. If there’s one thing geeks are, it’s willing to help a decent cause, and the blood drive at WonderCon was set up by no less a luminary than Robert A. Heinlein. I don’t use all my blood all the time anyway so I went in and said “Suck me.”
The other thing that was really nice to see at the convention was a good number of hot chicks. I mean that in the sense that it wasn’t all fat, sweaty man-boys running around the con; in fact, I saw very few of the classic Simpsons stereotype. There were kids, adults, fatties, and hotties in equal numbers. Attractive females were there in force and in costume (and, surprisingly, in corsets), probably because, well, comics aren’t just male power fantasies anymore. There’s so much more depth and variety than Superman and the Hulk; if you can tell a good story, why wouldn’t everybody be interested in hearing it?
Of course, I mention this gender stuff purely from an academic standpoint. I had my own hot chick with me.
