Comic-Con Memories…

The annual Comic-Con International invaded the San Diego Convention Center this weekend, flooding the streets with hobbits, stormtroopers and superheroes. Comic-Con is Nirvana (not the band) for geeks, a paradise filled with nerd merchandise, celebrities, artists,
and gorgeous women dressed up as scantily clad anime characters. Simply put: it’s heaven.

I’m of the opinion that if you have any interest in pop culture, you need to get your butt to the San Diego Comic-Con at least once in your life. It’s a rush unlike anything you can experience. And though numerous cons have sprung up across the nation, the San Diego Comic-Con International is still the granddaddy of them all.

I experienced Comic-Com in 2002. My trip grew out of a film that some friends and I made and submitted to the ’02 Lucasfilm “Star Wars” Fanfilm awards. Our film was chosen as a finalist, meaning that, among other things, the finalist filmmakers were invited to participate on a panel discussing hows and whys of “Star War” fanfilm making. Here’s our movie, “Wan-Abi: The Making of a Fanfilm”.

Erik, who directed “Wan-Abi”, and I couldn’t pass up a chance to wreak havoc on a Comic-Con panel. So we packed up Erik’s little grey Dodge Neon and hit the road.

I had many amazing moments during the con, like the panel in which Erik and I participated. While everyone else on the panel took things kind of seriously, we spent most of the hour-long presentation cracking jokes without giving out any words of wisdom whatsoever. The audience probably thought we were complete idiots. I like to think we saved the panel from being too boring.

There were other life-impacting moments to be had, from seeing Mark “Luke Skywalker” Hammill and Stan “Mr. Marvel” Lee onstage together to attending a low-budget film making panel and learning how to blow up a building without blowing up an actual building. Some weren’t so great, like spending two-and-a-half hours waiting in line to get Jason “My Name is Earl” Lee’s autograph, only to leave empty handed because he didn’t show up on time.

To be honest, it’s been the little moments that have stuck with me the longest. Like when I jammed the brake pedal of Erik’s car through the floor looking for the clutch pedal. (I was driving a car with a manual transmission back then.) Another favorite moment was when I saw Phil Lamarr, who worked on “Futurama” and was the voice behind “Samurai Jack”, riding an escalator. He was just chilling and I marveled that famous people (and compared to me, Mr. Lamarr was super-uber famous) were just hobnobbing among the rank and file fanboys.

Yet another happy memory involved meeting stop-motion animation legend Ray Harryhausen. Mr. Harryhausen was just sitting at a booth, with nobody lined up to talk to him. Erik and I gabbed with the great animator for several minutes before he gave us a couple autographs and sent us on our way, high on the idea that we had just conversed with a man whose work had inspired us.

Comic-Con is much bigger now than it was back then. The crowds are crushingly massive. And with a con now just down the road in Salt Lake City, my motivation to get to the San Diego Comic-Con has diminished over time. But when I think back to that trip 13 years ago, I can’t deny that it was one of the happiest weekends of my life. And maybe that should be enough to motivate me to go back. I could use another happy weekend.

EastIdahoNews.com comment boards are a place for open, honest, and civil communication between readers regarding the news of the day and issues facing our communities. We encourage commenters to stay on topic, use positive and constructive language, and be empathetic to the feelings of other commenters. THINK BEFORE YOU POST. Click here for more details on our commenting rules.