Brothascomics Baltimore Comic-Con Review
My first comic book convention was in Dayton, Ohio back in
my comic buying heyday. I don’t remember it having a fancy name or logo and I
don’t remember having to pay to get in. I do remember it being a complete
sausage fest with a bunch of comic book long boxes laid out on folding tables
in a crappy ballroom. I was there with a list of missing back issues, looking
through every one of those boxes hoping to fill in the gaps in my X Men
collection. I haven’t been to a lot of conventions since those days, but I know
comic book conventions have had a few upgrades since then.
My Baltimore convention experience is mostly as a spectator
of the now departed Otacon, which left for DC this year. We would camp out in
outdoor seating at one of the restaurants on Pratt Street – the main road
between the convention center and the Inner Harbor - and watch the spectacle
pass before us. In my crowd, I was the only one with any nerd cred, so I would
be identifying (some of) the costumes and everyone else would be not caring. It
was a lot of fun - after hearing one too many “these nerds/freaks” comments and
having one too many beers, I would usually start ranting and irrationally
criticizing my companions for their mainstream interests (“Why you drinking
that water, water nerd?”). Good times.
I’ve known there was a Baltimore Comic-Con, but I never knew
much about it. It’s always been on my, “Someday, I should …” list, and today
was finally the day. I donned my Brothascomics t-shirt, suited up my daughter
in her Batgirl gear and we hit the con with all the speed and endurance of a
7-year old girl – which is to say, not very fast and not for very long.
The Baltimore Convention center is pretty big, with a couple
different buildings spread out over a couple blocks. Once we got inside, we had
to go upstairs to register. I could have asked for directions at this point
from the many people helping out, but I chose to follow people who looked like
they knew where they were going. They didn’t. After actually reading the signs,
we found the exhibit floor a level down in the basement. The exhibit floor was
huge, with lots of vendors – way more than we could get to in the couple hours
we were there. We made a point to stop by the Third Eye Comics booth, which is
our local store in Annapolis. I was halfway motivated to look for a New Teen
Titans trade, but my long box rifling skills are nowhere near what they were
back in the day.
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| I'm sure the Producer could find something in here |
Cosplay at the con was great.
I have tremendous respect for cosplayers and the amount of passion and energy
they put into their craft. As usual, there is that somebody you see right when
you get there that you don’t get a picture of and then never see again – this
time it was a dude in full Aqua-Bro cosplay. Looked great. I did get a picture
of Gambit, one of Brothascomics most loved and hated X Men, and a great Medusa.
Overall, my experience with Baltimore Comic-Con left me
wanting more. I could easily see making it a destination weekend. With all the
elements of comics, sci-fi and fantasy making it into the mainstream, these
conventions have changed – but Baltimore Comic-Con really did feel like an
event for comic book fans, and I was glad to be in the midst of it sharing the
experience with other fans – rather than just watching it go by on the street.
Cheers to Baltimore Comic-Con!!!
Brother Beavis
Contributor BrothasComics
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