Comic Con...or More Geeks than you can Shake a Stick At

Comic Con was more than I could have imagined. With 100,000 visitors over the space of four days...plus the "sneak preview" evening there is enough to see without the added bonus of the booths in the dealers rooms. Every day has a full schedule of drop in conferences ranging from how-to's of the comic world to meetings with artists, writers and directors. Television stations and movie studios rollout there new offerings to see how they fly with the masses and of course, the big comic companies are there in full force to show what's new and hip in the world of four color print.

In a word: Overwhelming.

Navigating this world alone would have been hard enough but add a small infant to the mix and one might have a recipe for disaster. I came into it knowing that I wasn't going to push Maia too far...knowing that would mean that I might miss out on some of the things I wanted to do. It did. I didn't hit all the panels I was interested in or meet all the cool people who were there (most disappointing was missing Henry Rollins, but oh well, the breakfast took a bit longer than anticipated). All in all, I did get to see what was most important to me and I did have a very cool brush with greatness.

Joss Whedon held my baby. Joss, because we're on a first name basis after all, is the creator of many a cult classic from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to the grossly underrated "Firefly". John and I are Firefly fans. We even make those who have not seen it watch it. Our DVD's have made the rounds. We might not be completely fanatical--like my sister Aribelle--but we dig it, you know? We were hanging out by the Browncoat (as card carrying members of the fan base like to be known) fan booth waiting to meet with said sister--who is so deeply involved I'm surprised she isn't tattooed--when word went out that Joss was circling the booth. Well. This was the day when Maia was wearing her Kaylee costume, from the Firefly show. Soon we spotted him. A group descended for pictures. I sat down to get a bottle ready. I waited for the crowd to disperse some. I grabbed the baby and made my move.

The conversation, as it were went something along the lines of me stating that I didn't normally accost people, but would he be so kind as to take a picture with my Kaylee baby?

Joss: Is she really a Kaylee?
Me: Her name is Maia, but she's wearing a Kaylee costume...

I thought we would pose together, but being a dad himself, he has no fears of babies so before I knew it I was handing her over to essentially a stranger for pictures she will only look at with slight embarrassment when she gets older. But, she is so cute!! I figure, these photos are really for us anyway at this point.

The best part was when Maia had her bout of baby gas as she was being held, and Joss-the-dad kicked in by mentioning that she was making a poo. Great conversation. He then decided that yes, she was the cutest thing ever and wanted to hang with her for the rest of the con...so he turned away and walked a few steps before smiling and handing her back. Very fun.

Joss with Maia

So that sums up Maia's first brush with the famous. Her other encounters that weekend were in rooms with dozens, if not hundreds of other people, but I'm glad I went and got to hear some of my favorite people speak. Ray Bradbury is still the funniest man on any panel and still sharp as a tack. His advise on writing? It should feel like sex. I can see that...I'd rather understand writing as sex than childbirth...but I think publishing is like childbirth. At least the writing is fun.

I would do Comic Con again...but next year I'm rooting for AirVenture in Oshkosh WI. John and I need to switch off big conventions and he gets his next year. Of course, there is always something for the both of us. We did end up buying art the Comic Con. German advertising lithographs from the 20's. Yeah, we have interesting taste. All in all, given all I experienced in San Diego, I still think my favorite part of the entire week was the room fairies. With that, I must go and get some more sleep.