Denver ComicCon 2013

This weekend my family attended their first ComicCon, not the big one that everyone talks about in San Diego, but the newly organized Denver ComicCon. A ComicCon is a convention for people interested in all things nerdy like comic books, superheroes, science fiction, animation, and other small corners where a crowd of interested fans accumulate.

Our experience began on Saturday morning when we trudged off to the Denver Convention Center to join a multitude of strangely dressed trekkies, gamers, aliens, and others in the longest line we had ever been in in our lives. The line stretched under the viaduct, all the way along the side of the building. Bets were made to guess how long the wait would be, which turned out to be surprisingly short at just under thirty minutes. The costumed crowd made the wait entertaining and more interesting than an amusement ride at Disney World.

Once inside, lines started appearing everywhere and with no apparent reason. One costumed group of people I talked to said happily that they were in line to ride the escalator. After checking out a few lines and getting our bearings straight, we joined the line into the exhibition hall, which was still fairly empty. It was there that we met Frank Beddor, author of the novel series The Looking Glass Wars, based on the future adventures of Alice in Wonderland. Ben also met Steven Seagle, one of the writers responsible for creating the Ben10 series. Each of the authors was approachable, friendly, and excited that we were fans of their work.

In addition to a huge exhibition hall filled with writers, artists, and other stuff, panel discussions were being presented in smaller conference rooms. The first one we attended was on “nerd rock,” a sub-genre of rock devoted to the loyal fans of nerdy things. It was at this panel that we were introduced to the groups Harry and the Potters, Kirby Krackle, H2Awesome, and The Doubleclicks, who talked about what it was like to write about things that interested them. They espoused a message find your people, follow your dreams, and sing about what you like most. Later we attended a panel on Ben10 where all the questions were asked by the kids in the audience. The funniest panel was in one of the many, always full speed-dating sessions where 
a fully covered horse-head wearing person was talking to another participant.  I hope horsey
found true love. 

Hana was the only one of us dressed in cosplay, which is short for costumed-play, the combination of a fan looking and acting like their favorite character. She made us feel like we were body guards for a real-life celebrity, receiving many requests for photos and hugs.. While the number of anime fans were fewer than Doctor Who fans, there were sighting of other characters from Hana's anime series Hetalia and she was the only Russia. People often approached her by complimenting her costume and asking if they could take her picture. This added to her experience and allowed her to be on constant lookout for "her people." I was hugely impressed with the people in attendance at the Con who all seemed nice, open, accepting, and kind. It is easy to see that this was a highlight of the social calendar for many of those in attendance.

We all returned to our room in early afternoon for a bit of a break. Hana and I even took naps, a rare occurrence and sign of information overload. Instead of returning to the Con, that night we met an old high school friend for dinner and checked out Denver’s independent bookstore The Tattered Cover.  Returning to the hotel room also gave us a chance to plan our attack on the Con for Sunday.

On Sunday morning I set out early to see if I could acquire a special wristband that would allow me to attend the William Shatner talk. This put me in before 8 am with strangers, in a line which started at 5:30 am. By 9:30 am, I had my wristband, and went to the back of the exhibition hall to see if I could glimpse Shatner, George Takai, or any of the famous celebrities signing autographs. Charlie and Ben attended a talk by Colin Baker, the 6^th Doctor Who incarnation. I joined Hana at a panel on discussing how to attend a cosplay summit in Japan. Afterwards, we all reconvened and went to get an autograph from Dee Bradley Baker, voice actor for many of the Ben10 aliens, and some other favorite characters from The Last Airbender, and Adventure Time. He chatted with us and did the voice of Nanomech, a Ben10 alien. 

My William Shatner experience involved standing in yet another line between two Doctor Who reincarnations and Mr. Spock. Once inside I found a seat next to Black Widow from the Avengers and felt much safer. Shatner opened with a funny story about the aging of his dog Starbuck, and also answered questions by many fans. I found it astonishing that two of the first questions came from aerospace engineers inspired to work on the space program by Star Trek. The line between science and fiction is much finer than I ever would have imagined.

The whole ComicCon experience was focused on finding your people and following your dreams. This rang especially true following our family discussion earlier in the week about how people working sometime find their jobs lacking in fun, reward, or challenge. Some of the people at ComicCon found ways to work their passions into their lives, for the improvement of themselves and the happiness of others. Returning to the mundane on Monday was much harder than I had imagined.