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Oh, no, it's the stupid Woot.com video podcast again.
Recently Woot's Travelcam went to the Emerald City Comicon in drizzly downtown Seattle.
Now, a lot of people mock comic conventions, and you can see why -- hordes of portly nerds,
many of them adults dressed up in shabby superhero costumes -- it's a target-rich environment.
But personally, I think it's great. It's great that these people -- not all of whom, let's
face it, are magnificently adept in more everyday social situations, like work and school and
whatever -- these people have a safe environment at conventions, where they can fly the dork
flag proudly among people who aren't going to hate on them for it. Too much anyway.
Plus, it's just really, really fun to see all this stuff. Marvel heroes glassware? I
need that! And all these collectible comics from the past, in one exhibit hall -- it's
like a fine art museum, except with art that's awesome. Instead of boring.
Hey, I have that one. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 300. Somebody make me an offer.
You know, speaking of Todd McFarlane's run on Spider-Man -- this is kind of off the subject,
but maybe you're the sort of person who would give a fraction of a crap about such things
--
I was recently watching Elvira's 1988 feature film ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK, because,
you know, it's a classic -- and there's this scene in a bowling alley with these two yahoos,
and one yahoo tears the other yahoo's comic book in half. And it's one of these early
Todd McFarlane issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Like 297 or 298 or something like that.
Which is funny, because it's one of only like five issues of any title that came out during
that whole collectors' bubble era that would still be worth something today. Not much,
but something.
Except not torn in half, obviously. Although, who knows? In general, being torn in half
decreases a comic book's collectability value. But maybe being torn in half onscreen in ELVIRA,
MISTRESS OF THE DARK enhances it. It would be an interesting question to put to the market.
It doesn't matter, obviously. So probably the thing to do is just drop it, and get this
video back on track.
Just ambling through the chubby masses of sweaty fanboys and fangirls is one of the
delights of conventiongoing, because you really never know who you might see. Well -- you
know you'll see a few Stormtroopers. But aside from that, it's a total surprise. Look, Indiana
Jones! Here's a whole little gang of Deadpools. And here's Aquaman's legs, I think. Maybe
this is one of the Incredibles or something. Here's Tony Stark and the Punisher. A unicorn.
And how about that? Tusken Raiders. It's a fun game, character-spotting on the convention
floor -- fun, that is, until you bump into the wrong weirdo, and find yourself assimilated.
Permit me to wax nostalgic for a moment. As a young kid, I went to a handful of comic-book
and baseball-card shows with my dad. In those days, though, if I had fifteen or twenty-five
dollars on me, I was FLUSH. But fifteen or twenty-five dollars doesn't go so far when
you're suddenly trying to choose between more comics than you're going to see again in the
same place for years to come. That was before the Internet, too, so there I'd be, presented
with an opportunity to buy, say, any three issues of MARVEL FANFARE that I wanted --
but ONLY three. That's a scenario that forces hard choices and inevitable regret.
Fast-forward to the present. Now I've got a job, a couple credit cards -- and look,
all the comic books I could ever want, right here in one place. It's a weird feeling.
You know how your grandma lived through the Depression, and so, for the rest of her life,
every time she went to a restaurant, she would fill up her purse with sugar packets? I feel
like it's like that except drastically less serious, when I'm in a situation like this,
and I go: "Oh, man, this particular G.I. Joe figure is hard to find! I should buy it!"
Hey, check it out. It's Porkins.
Hmm, should I fund my infant son's college savings, or own Spider-Man's first appearance?
That's no choice at all, really. One is a sound, responsible investment in the promise
of future prosperity, and the other one is what student loans are for.
Good to see, too, that Darkwing Duck is getting one of those gritty reboots that's going around.
The high point of the convention, for a lot of people, was probably the panel discussion
featuring Seattle's local boy made good, Dwight Schrute, who was in town to promote his new
superhero-themed movie. Making an impromptu appearance at that discussion were two of
Seattle's "real-life" superheroes, Phoenix Jones and Pitch Black, That was neat.
But exciting as that was, it wasn't the highlight for me. The highlight for me was balloon-animal
Hulk. I mean, come on. Awesome.
So, that was the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, WA. Stay tuned for more video travelogues
when we get around to it!