Written by guest writer, G. Posted by Jenn, Media Editor
Caveat 1: I do not read comics– not even in the Sunday paper, which I do not read at all because I am not a subscriber and I don’t enjoy the trip to the corner store. I bought and read comics in my youth. Bought and read and boarded and mylared and boxed. Retirement. TMNT and Miller and Watchmen 1-12. The End.
Caveat 2: I have never been to San Diego. The closest I ever got to anything like Comicpalooza Houston 2011 was Comic Dealer Boothfest 1983 at the St. Clair County Fairgrounds in Belleville, Illinois (disclaimer: that was probably not the real name). I think that’s where I bought my copy of “Spectacular Spider-Man” #17, rationalizing with my pre-adolescent reasoning skills that I had just scored an incredible deal. Maybe one of you can set me straight.
Caveat 3: I took with me to Comicpalooza my pregnant wife, who apparently wanted to “do something different for a change!” I said, “Okay!” She is usually very tired, and was hereafter.
Caveats aside, Comicpalooza was unlike any other comic convention I have ever attended, and exactly what I expected. I loved comics growing up. Comics, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, GURPS, Car Wars, Illuminati, and some game whose name I can’t remember which required players to create clay gladiators of their own design and determine a system whereby they might battle one another for supremacy over the folding card table and the remaining supplies of Cheetos and Pepsi. Axis and Allies and Kingmaker. Fortress America. You name it, and it was developed between 1970 and 1985… I played it. I wanted to draw my own comics, to be penned by my older brother, and to that end purchased, “How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way,“ commencing my self-education in earnest. Ellipses and triangles. My dad told me upon my graduation from high school that if I wanted to draw I should be an Architect, since that’s where the money was, and so here I am. I should have stuck with comics. I wrote a letter once to the creators of a fledgling comic titled “Grips,” and pulled my jaw off the floor when they published its ridiculously verbose criticism across the next two issues rather than edit one word out of my prepubescent diatribe. It only occurred to me in my adult life that perhaps they just wanted to make sure I bought the next two issues — preferably in multiple copies — and that they assumed I was an adult at the time, with copious amounts of free cash to spend on their little, graphic, vulgar, sexually-explicit B/W Indie. Oh wait, is he a star illustrator now? I hope so. He deserves it.
As an adult, I have developed a surely unhealthy (according to my wife) interest in the motivations behind CosPlay, as well as a somewhat healthy (according to my wife, who also plays) interest in pwning noobs in Azeroth. But I don’t have any kids (just yet), and despite playing Magic: The Gathering with my drummer’s kids when they were little enough to both lose easily and cry easily…and despite now having copious amounts of free cash…I have not bought a comic book in more than twenty years.
Back to Comicpalooza Houston 2011. This thing went from a few local creators stuffed into a movie theater lobby in 2008 to national representation across many thousands of square feet of the biggest convention center in town. In three years. While still faithfully representing local comic talent, the convention’s Chairman, John Simons, has added everything under the Sun of Geekdom to create a truly comprehensive 3-day experience for Houston’s geek culture. The creators’ and dealers’ sections of the space were amazing and inspiring, and I confess we spent most of our time at the convention wandering these well-lit alleys, fully absorbed in the quantity and quality of talent on display. I got Scott Beaderstadt to sign my Trollords #1 (2nd Printing…sigh) on Day Two, after I realized he was there on Day One and ran home to rifle through my lonely, dusty comic box.
There were three separate ballrooms for large events. Being huge Battlestar Galactica fans, we attended Edward James Olmos’ press announcement of Olmos Production’s (www.edwardjamesolmos.com) new superhero film, Mettle, in creative development under Bob Layton’s watchful eye. As Adama left the stage, STEVE JACKSON, King Nerd of Steve Jackson Games, jumped up to begin his hour by briefly announcing his company’s release of the “Munchkin Conan Expansion Pack” (yeah, I dunno, but no doubt you do), then spent the next 55 minutes pulling goofy stuff like plushie Cthulu tentacles out of his magic box while SJ Games fanatics oohed and aahed and Steve cracked jokes about how rich he is going to get off the sale of all of these products. Having spent so many hours of my adolescence rolling dice and battling paper car cut-outs, this was a real treat for me. The guy’s a game-making genius, and obviously enjoys the conventions.
Another huge showcase space featured constant rotations of exhibition events, ranging from Jarrod Kirkpatrick attempting to break the world record for Tatami-mat cutting with a Japanese broadsword (failed, but gorgeously), to a full-sized roller derby event, to Houston’s own Doomsday Wrestling comedy wrestling matches in a miniature ring with truly witty commentary. We sat down to watch the Kosher Killer (a stereotypical New York Jew) defeat the Russian Bear (stereotypically “Better Dead Than Red”, as we used to say) in three rounds of beautifully choreographed (or was it?) hilarity. Another Houston group, MechCorps, had installed a dozen of their custom Mech Warrior pods in this space– for a few bucks, you could battle your friends in a highly-advanced, fully-modified version of MechWarrior 4 from the comfort of your own hermetically-sealed cockpit. These guys were great, dressed in full uniform and clearly dedicated to their respective Clans. If you live in the area of Track21 Indoor Carting and love this giant robot-battling game as much as I do, you’d be a fool not to check them out at their website. They also kindly informed me you can get the game “free to play” from www.mektek.net. Exciting. Exciting!!!
Add to all of this mayhem a dozen Panel Rooms on hourly rotation for three full days, closing-time themed dance parties every night, and a pair of SoyJoy ambassadors at the top of the escalator giving out record numbers of free SoyJoy bars to you (no matter how many times you rode the escalator back down for more), and you presumably have all the makings for a Major Event, right? Right… and wrong. Unfortunately, the very nature of the convention center layout, combined with the density of the Program handout, made it difficult to really immerse ourselves in the capital C: Culture– which seemed to be forever sealed behind the 12 uninviting Panel Room Doors. It might have been easier for those who were already ”really into it” (read: CosPlayers). Yes, I witnessed the uninhibited glory of “America’s Premiere J-Pop Group”, Happy Project from Oklahoma City, as they laid waste to Ballroom Number Three before a few dozen fans, clad in their Sailor Moon suits (I think?) and sporting delightfully bogus Japanese accents. I defy anyone to say any American J-Pop group is more premiere . But what of the “Crossplay” panel, which promised the normally untouchable redemption of the ultimate lesson on how to cross-gender Cosplay? No, I don’t know how to wear sheer hose over my genetically-oppressed hairy legs. Who can help me? Oh…someone behind that darkened door, with the inexplicably blacked-out glass porthole? No…thanks, though. And if you wanted to join a room full of Twilight-The-Movie-haters as they mustered their collective witticisms to make irrelevant the Team Edward vs. Team Jacob argument once and for all, forget it. The line was out the door of the too-small room.
Having never attended such an event — as I clearly pointed out above — I can say with all sincerity that I loved it. A popular bumper sticker down here reads, “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could.” And Comicpalooza represented, for me, a nerdy extension of that ideal. I really enjoyed seeing local artists, performers, cosplayers, and panel hosts in the mix. The team behind this Con has clearly provided the space for regional representation, but has taken a previously purely local event and turned it into something with national implications. Adama, Sam Merlotte from True Blood, Marina Sirtis from Star Trek, Chewie, Boba Fett, and Meaghan Rath from Being Human were all there. Inexplicably, it seems to me, given how young this event really is. The guy and his team have obviously worked their butts off. Being an outsider, I only have one idea for next year: hire Ambassadors. Like SoyJoy. Get some people on the floor whose entire purpose is to promote the next round of panel discussions. Honestly, we just did not know where to go, and the closed-door nature of the Panel Rooms was simply too intimidating. For us.
I am reminded of my first visit three years ago to the virgin Free Press Houston SummerFest, sporting 15 dollar tickets and headlined by Broken Social Scene. We shamefully nabbed dozens of free beers by pretending to put our beer tickets in the jar at one of the bar tables. The second year of that show saw The Flaming Lips headlining. This year, it was Weezer. No doubt in a few years this show will be Houston‘s version of Coachella, with the same heat but without the road trip required to make the ACL Festival in Austin. And without the pretense of South by Southwest, also in Austin. I have the same high hopes for Comicapalooza Houston. Texas’ own San Diego ComicCon. And us Texans have John Simons to thank for it.
PS– here’s a picture of my lovely wife with Superman. The dude really looked like Superman.
