Pittsburgh Comicon

When a non-fan thinks about a comic book convention they probably think of a bunch of "geeks" dressed in Spiderman and Captain America costumes spending all their money on comics and figurines. This was not like that at all. My good friend Dave and I went to it Saturday morning. It started off like a comedic version of the twilight zone. We were both psyched up to go and while talking about it almost got lost. Then on the way we saw this strange older woman waiting for her bus and she looked me dead in the eyes and nodded her head at me like she was giving us the ok to go to the comicon. I waved back at her she smiled and we were on our way. The whole trip out we both wondered if that was someone we would see later that day at the comicon....now unless she was the one dressed as Chewbacca we didn't see her again.

Once we got there it was off to the races. We had a few hours to kill before we got to sit in on a Q&A with Brian Bendis, writer of Ultimate Spiderman, Jynx and Powers to name a few. Both Dave and I had our lists ready and were looking at every box of comics we could get our hands on. It took about half an hour before we bought anything but once it started we seemed to by something at each table. I ended the day with Daredevil vol 4 written by Bendis, Astonishing X-men vol 1 by Joss Whedon, Serenity in trade paperback, esential for a Browncoat, Extravers Genesis Jeff Ratliff *indy comic* and a few 25c comics like Teen Titans, Blue Beetle and Star trek all for a $1 or less originally.

In the middle of all that we decided to try and find the gaming room. My goal was to see how long I would last in a tournament there but we arrived to late. We were there early enough to see a few Star Wars fans including two stormtroopers and a guy who hopes to be on Stan Lee's who wants to be a Superhero. I got a picture taken with him and wished him luck so if he wins I expect to be written into issue one somehow.


After that little trip around the back area we came out and did some more shopping and saw the line from Brian Bendis the man we came to see. We both got in line and watched as more ahh....interesting people came by. Then we got to meet him. We had hoped he would be a nice guy and we were not disappointed. He talked to us about comics, the comicon and the death of Hawkeye. I got him to sign my trade of Daredevil and Dave got a picture taken wth him. He was a really nice guy. Not someone who was caught up in his fame among his fans.

Next was eating time. Which turned very interesting. First I learned that my friend Dave is into Alien women. There was a woman dressed as someone from the Star Wars Universe and if she didn't have a boyfriend with a lightsaber and one of her own I think I would have had to get the bus home. There also was the perfect picture for a hooters/star wars ad. Two hooters girls who had been walking around the comicon all day were getting food and were asked if they would pose for the star wars group we were watching while we ate. The two girls posed with the lightsabers and took a few pictures. It was a strange mix but since they were hooters girls everyone was watching.

After the food and hooters girls and the lightsaber battles were over we made our way back to the back end of the tables looking for the Extravers Genesis table. I bought their comic basically cause they were giving away an xbox 360 but it ended up being a very well written thought provoking book, and I didn't win the 360.

It was finally time for the main event. The Bendis Q&A was about 30 minutes away and we headed for the conference room and sat down and began reading comics till he came in. Once the Q&A started you could see that he was just a normal guy who loved hearing what his fans thought and wanted to know about his work. The questions were mostly about the Ultimates but occasionally drifted to things like "the floating head of John Lennon" and the fact that Ultimate Spiderman ages a year every 100 issues. He told stories about how he had to ask for a list of who he could kill in the Avengers Disasmbled, which lead to Hawkeyes death. He also let out a little bit of information on Spiderwoman. He mentioned that the Spiderwoman will be making a return to after the Civil War. He seemed like he could have stood there all day answering questions and talking about how he would like to write his "dark" version of Plastic Man and his Daredevil/Batman crossover book, but the time came and we were told we had to leave so the next presenter could come in. An hour did not seem long enough, but eventually we would have run out of questions, or Civil War would have come out.

So when the talk was over we made our last trip around. We saw many of the "characters" we has seen throughout the day grabbing a few more comics and things and we grabbed a few at the quarter bin. That is where I got issue 2-7 of Darkhawk, which I think was a great deal.

One more comicon was now complete for us anyway and we headed home. Now I have to finish reading my books, and the few more I had left over from my Thursday purchases. See you all later. And if you like my blog or you didn't.......please listen to Dave and I's podcast when we launch it. We are planning on recording tomorrow. It will be all about anything and everything. The first one will focus mostly on the comicon but most of the shows will be wide open. I will have more details when I can. thanks for reading.