Normally I would write a review on fitness or a few exercises I really enjoy hell even give you a scoop on a product I've used but today is about being a total geek. In making this exception it's clear to say that this was one of the best experiences of my life. This event was in Spokane, WA which is about 45 min. from where I live here in Hayden, ID so it was not too far away. For me it was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that I chose to experience and bought a ticket back in I think June or May. I've never been to a Comic Convention and always heard how awesome they are in some areas around the country like Comic Con and Wizard Cons. It's a bit hard to describe and the venue was rather big but the series of booths and celebs was actually fairly small but on the other hand there was a ton of great collectibles, classic/modern comics ranging from $1-$1000 for a single copy, toys, games, artistic pictures from illustrators displayed to me there was magic in the room itself.
When I first got into the room the first thing I saw was the 1966 Batmobile from the campy TV show back in the 60's which is considered one of the greatest iconic cars of the last century. I looked at it and I was just breath taken by it because as a kid my mom taped the reruns and I got to watch a few episodes plus having the movie now on Blu-Ray made it that much more exciting. Despite the campy jokes and the weird costumes and the colorful words for punches they used, the batmobile was the greatest symbol of the Caped Crusader. The guy at his table asked if I wanted a picture with it, I hesitated because I thought it be rather expensive like 50-60 bucks but it was far less so I jumped on it (not literally). Not only did I get my picture taken but I got to sit in the damn thing and it was one of the most electrifying experiences ever, I played it cool but inside I was screaming "Holy shit, I'm in this freaking car, this is so awesome." Talk about your introduction to a Comic Convention.
After my little run with the car (again not literally), I started making my way around the series of booths containing practically everything from collectable toys to very rare comic books and even saw the Delorean Car from the Back To Future movies, wish I took a picture but something inside of me compelled to say no (I wanted to punch myself). People from all walks of life were sharing their artwork on display and not just of comic book characters but those from sports, TV shows, movies and other areas of the media. There was even a booth of fans that were Trekkies of Klingon donating their stuff to Hospice which was really cool in my mind and they were nice people despite giving me a small hard time because I wasn't a trekkie, I'm a born and bred Star Wars geek dammit. The T-shirts they sold were amazing and not just your typical run of the mill comic and nerd shirts, some of these shirts lit up in the dark when music hit, I thought about buying one but they were around 40-50 bucks and I was on a budget. So all in all these booths all had something awesome to display, even some of the very racy stuff that had a burlesque theme to it but I'll let it leave to the imagination. Pretty cool though if I say so myself.
The celebs they had there were awesome. I first got my ticket because it said Stan Lee was going to be there but it turned out he was only there the first two days and I went on the third because that was all I could afford at the time. That was disappointing but some of the others made up for it, even William Shatner Captain Kirk himself was going to be there but like Stan was there only the first two days and I kept thinking to myself "God Dammit stop torturing me you bastards" but again some of the others made up for it. There was Denise Crosby of Star Trek lore and starred as the mom of Pet Semetary, a legendary horror movie (got to shake her hand when I went up to say hi), Dirk Benedict who starred on The A-Team and a couple others but the ones I really got to see were the voices of Winnie The Pooh and Goofy of the last 25+ years so that was a treat and it was incredibly awesome when I met Bill Farmer AKA Goofy and he did the voice when I shook his hand. These two cats alone have over 500 Voice roles added to their resume that have been featured in Video Games, Disney films, DC Animation, iconic Disney TV shows such as Darkwing Duck and The Rescue Rangers and many others. I was just in awe and they were very nice guys.
The artists at this place were people I've never heard of and only known about their artwork because of the comics I've read or whatever but these men and women did some incredible pieces and I just happened to buy about 3 pieces of their work that I thought were just powerfully done. One was a picture of The Avengers that is just beautifully crafted and the guy even let me have an autograph as a bonus for buying it from him that was really cool of him. Another was from an artist named David Wong and it was a last piece in his book that you can take a picture out. It was an incredible and awesome looking picture of Spider-Man and it is a true treasure to hold. I interacted with him the most because he had this great sense of humor and energy to him that was just fun to listen to. He's 49 and looks 33 and was pretty built for a small guy so we had a small chat about weights and out past of lifting. Great guy and his work is just beautifully made. The one piece of Artwork I did get that just drew me to it the moment I saw it was a picture of Deadpool in a San Jose Sharks uniform particularly the uniform of Sharks captain Joe Thornton number 19. It was great interacting with these guys and although some were tired as hell because of the travel and getting their stuff going, I did my best to give them acknowledgement and giving them some positive energy sent their way.
When it comes to Comic Convention, the real fun is not just seeing the artists, celebs or people wo ran the booths and their glory put on display; it's normal everyday people who go and dress up and put on some crazy ass costume that you can't help but take a picture of. They call this Cosplay, these young men and women had incredible and quite frankly very beautiful get-ups so I took plenty of pictures of different people but my personal favorite is the one you'll see here in a sec. There were people dressed as the Avengers, Nick Fury, a Knight, a sexy Alice, Harley Quinn, The Riddler, Joker, Punisher, Green Arrow I can go on and on but you get the picture. I don't think I saw a bad costume on anyone, even the little kids had great costumes but the one I should've taken a picture of was of this guy dressed in full gear like Yogurt from Spaceballs he was just awesome in that thing. There was even a young lady maybe in her mid-late 20's who dressed as Ariel from the Little Mermaid with the outfit and the Red Hair she was gorgeous and to go with it she had a bad ass tattoo of Darth Vader on her right arm. So the one pic I'll put up for you guys is of the Captain America & The Punisher fighting. These two guys were just awesome and nice guys too.
So to put an end to this long ass article; it was an experience I'll never forget and although I went alone I didn't feel alone because interacting with the people there made me feel great and happy because there was no judgment, just plain fun being around different people of different backgrounds sharing a common bond of being at a place we all enjoyed and having a great time. Talking to David Wong was just awesome, he told a few stories that were just hilarious and he took the time out of his time being there listening to me and my little story of bending bars, lifting heavy stuff and he connected with me on that and sure he may not remember the conversation or me at all if I saw him again but it felt great just to be apart of that. I showed him a couple pictures of my bends and he wanted to shake my hand for my accomplishment and that felt really good to me. It really was one of those once-lifetime things I chose to do for myself because I never got to do stuff like that when I was a kid, sure I went to things like wrestling matches, Disney On Ice, Sharks games, Baseball games and even went to the Sony building in San Francisco where it was a Video Game type of convention but never a Comic Convention so it was a lot of fun and I would go to more of these if I had an opportunity.
I may be 30 but when it comes to stuff like this, I'm like a little kid again and just eager to make the best of it all because although thousands of people go to these things every year, even more never get a chance to go even once so I made a choice to do it. If there's something you love and you had an opportunity to go somewhere where it not only displayed it but gave you added inspiration to add to your craft than do it and never for a second let that excitement leave you because it's not everyday you get a chance to have that. You guys are awesome and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read this, it was long but it was well worth the write up because I wanted to share my experience with you because you give me the inspiration to write cool stuff like this or anything else I write. Have a blast, make everyday exciting and welcome to a new week, be awesome and love one another.
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