Blood of the Muse: December 2009

2009 San Diego Comic Con: A Day in Pictures

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Photos courtesy of Larry Berger

It's been about five months since the 2009 San Diego Comic Convention. It's also been about five months since my son was born. These two blessed events coincided this year, which explains why I'm only now posting my photo essay on the show. File this under the better late than never category. Writing takes longer when you have to do it between dirty diapers.

The first thing that strikes you about Comic-Con: the overwhelming crowds. Massive, teeming hordes of humanity hanging out of every orifice in the San Diego Convention Center. It's like a geek enema. Not only would these people sell their own mother into slavery to get in to the convention, they actually have a line for those people. (In my defense, Mom fetched an above market price.)

But selling one's mother into slavery is quite tame when you consider the alternative. This girl looks like she went all Texas Chainsaw Massacre on her family to get a pass to the show. Either that or Jackson Pollock did her makeup.

It seems like they have a line for everything here. Even a line to take a picture of the girls who dress up in risque Disney costumes. Maybe that makes sense, because anyone who's gone to a Disney theme park will tell you that Disney is synonymous with crowds of people.

Now these girls don't look so risque from the front side, but, believe me, the back side is pure Fantasy Land. It's a small thong after all. Walt Disney must be rolling around in his freezer somewhere.

And because I know this is not nearly enough of the Disney princesses, here's another shot to make the world an even happier place.

Costumes are a big deal at Comic-Con. A really big deal. It's the perfect opportunity to let your inner nerd flag fly. And what better way to do this than to dress up as your favorite [fill-in-the-blank]. Sure, some characters are better represented than others. Superman. Batman. Princess Leia in her slave attire.

Or Princess Leia in her slave attire.

Or maybe Princess Leia kicking it old school style, two Little Debbie HoneyBuns strapped to the side of her head.

Seriously enough Princess Leia costumes, there is only so much Star Wars geekery I can take. Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope to find something non-Star Wars related.

Ah, the Watchmen. Wholesome, family entertainment. If your family is incredibly twisted. Now those are some timely costumes, rather forward thinking especially with the DVD release upcoming at this point. And completely unrelated to anything Star Wars.

Wait...is that a Star Wars nerd that snuck into the frame. Does George Lucas's empire know no bounds. Oh the humanity!

That's better. Good old-fashion supervillains. It's always refreshing when people do something a bit different. A bit out of the box. Of course, you may have to explain to people who you are dressed up as. But it could be worse.

You could be dressed up as a cyborg rodent. The nightmare of pest control specialists everywhere. Seems like overkill to have to enlist Robocop to take care of your rodent problems. Not surprisingly, Robocop was absent from the show, hence the infestation.

There's been a fair amount of Star Wars photos to this point, and since I don't want to alienate the Trekkies in my audience who pooh-pooh at Star Wars, I thought now would be the perfect time for a Star Trek rebuttal. So how 'bout some Klingons?

Or maybe Lieutenant Commander Data Brent Spiner looking quite enthusiastic to be there. Or maybe he's just in character. Wow, what a method actor. That's some dedication to his craft.

Forget New Generation, though. How about some old school Star Trek? How about getting your Gene Roddenberry on? How about Lieutenant Uhura Nichelle Nichols looking fabulous at 76. What? Not enough? Then I have one word for you.

Spock!

Well, actually, old Spock now. Time marches on and Leonard Nimoy's job has been offshored to a younger Spock 2.0 actor. Another casualty of a depressed economy. Things are bad when the original Star Trek actors can't get work! I know I'll keep praying that William Shatner stays employed.

One person not having a hard time getting work is Anna Paquin. First she was the Rogue in the X-Men movies and now she's playing Sookie Stackhouse in HBO's True Blood. That's a resume that'll guarantee a return invite to next year's convention. And the year after that.

But Anna wasn't the only actor out promoting. Genre mainstays were out in force during the convention, promoting their latest film and television projects. Some of them even being good.

Julie Benz who plays Rita, the wife of serial killer/family man Dexter Morgan in Showtime's Dexter, was out promoting Boondock Saints 2.

Julie wasn't the only one out promoting Boondock Saints 2. Sean Patrick Flanery also was patrolling the convention floor. Thankfully, he wasn't strapped. I hope.

Fans of NBC's Chuck must of been thrilled as just about the entire cast showed up on the floor. Yvonne Strahovski was easily one of the most popular as evidenced by the copious amounts of nerd drool that followed in her path. (Mental note to myself: next year--rain slicker).

And if that wasn't enough in the nerd drool department. The host of G4's Attack of the Show Olivia Munn took time out between her multiple costume changes to sign issues of Playboy. Talk about throwing meat to a pack of starving lions. It was like Scanners--heads literally exploded!

But as sexy as that was, nothing could top the pure sex appeal of the Mythbusters, Adam and Jaime. Unfortunately, nothing was blown up during their appearance. A fact that sent many convention goers home with tears in their eyes.

For me though, the best thing about San Diego Comic-Con is getting to meet the authors. And score some free books! Authors like Harry Connolly signing an ARC of his new novel Child of Fire.

Another great book that was freely offered was The Mirrored Heavens personalized by author David J. Williams. Really, what can be better than authors signing free books? It's like Christmas in July.