Comic Con 2013

28 07, 13

Oh my word, where to start? Well, the weather was cooler this year than it has been the last couple of years, so we didn’t roast in our leather coats. (Insert mental image of D&McT in leather “brownin” bags like you use for your holiday turkey. There’s a somewhat-related, but true, super-funny anecdote about a Christmas goose that overcooked for hours. The pictures are not for the faint-of-heart.) But, I digress. We just said, “no” to Hall H and Room 20, which contributed to this year’s sanity. I’ve heard some epic tales of amazing surprises that awaited the stout-hearted souls who braved the interminable lines to get it, but we just couldn’t do it this year. Instead, we opted for smaller, more personal panels.

You may not know this, but both Drake and I read Mad Magazine as kids. Go ahead, say it, “That explains a lot.” And we both adored the little incunabula that Sergio Argones drew. So, we lined up to see the Mark & Sergio show. Sergio came out before hand to chat with the fans. How cool is that? As he was standing next to us talking to another fan, when a young boy and his dad approached. The boy was carrying a sheet of card stock with a piece of paper covering the top. When he got to Sergio, he uncovered the card stock to reveal that he was simply a messenger. The sheet was from Nick Meglin and it contained nothing more than a couple of scribbly doodles and a challenge from Nick. Apparently this is a “thing” they do. One of them makes the scribbles and the other has to make a picture out of it. I’m not sure, but perhaps the result is always supposed to be a comic portrait of the two of them. Below is Sergio’s response.

Argones

Argones

Epilogue: during the actual panel, Sergio got to talking about what had really mattered in his career. When he tried to explain how important the fans are to him, he started to choke up with emotion. It was heartwarming to see one of our hero’s softer sides. This is why I brave the lines and the non-parking to go to Comic Con!

We now return you to our regularly scheduled steamy, pithy commentary. I want these wings.

Fairy Wings

You can’t really tell from this pic, but each of the six wing elements is hinged in the middle of her back so they can be arranged separately. They’re made by Fairy Wing Factory.

Okay, this isn’t steampunk, but for all you Whovians out there, I just had to share because this costume is so good.

Novice Hame

I swear it’s going to be steampunk from here on out. I ducked out of Comic Con to visit the Gaslight Gathering Steam Worlds Fair for a few hours on Friday night. I caught Poplock Holmes’ show that was sadly shortened by technical difficulties. It was still good fun.

Run DM Steam

Poplock Holmes

Veronique Chevalier organized a very thoughtful panel on Steampunk as a Super-Culture. Her panelists were Trevor Crafts and Bruce Boxleitner (Lantern City), Thomas Willeford (Brute Force Studios), Paul Guinan (Boilerplate), and Brian Kesinger (Tea Girls and Walking Your Octopus).

Veroniques Panel

Veronique’s Panel

Sorry for the blurry picture. My hands must have been shaking from excitement.

Of course, the big event for the steampunks is the steampunk meetup on the back stairs that includes a massive photo op followed by the Starburner Awards. I’m sure we all save up our best new costumes for this event and here’s the proof.

Mysterious Marine Michelle

I swear I didn’t realize this was Michelle until she took off the scallop breather mask thingy.

We had not one, but two steampunk Batmen.

Batmen

Batmen

I don’t recognize the fellow on the right, but that’s Bob Mogg on the left, astonishing all with his creativity and skill as usual.

Max Metzler, aka Alastar Hyde, had a new hide.

Alastars New Hide

Alastar’s New Hide

Seriously, you didn’t think I was going to let that one slide by did you?

I’m still having nightmares about this one.

Steampunk Raptor

Remember back before all these nifty pictures I mentioned that this event culminates with the Starburner Awards? Or perhaps you missed my previous bloop on the subject, but we won one of the awards for our radio show! Congrats to all this year’s winners:

Jeffrey & Lisa Vaca - Community Support
Anastasia Hunter – Events
Max Metzler - Public Relations
Michelle Scrimpsher – Costuming
Erica "Unwoman" Mulkey – Music
Brian Kesinger – Art
Fred Jeska - Gadgetry

And hats off to the 2013 Starburner Galactic Courier Service inductees:

Daniel Bissonnette
Paul Bailey
Jeb Haught

We hear that there will be more awards and inductees at other events later this year, so keep an ear out for the details.

The last steampunk event of Comic Con was the Steampunk Generations panel organized by Daniel Bissonette. It was a multi-generational look at steampunk’s attraction and direction. The panelists were Hannah Vaca (our very own Gertrude and the voice of Margaret O’Malley), William Swanson, C.J. DeAngelus, Kim Hutsell, and Duane Matthews.

Hannah and Her Brothers

Hannah and her (Steam) Brothers

The highlight for me was when Hannah admitted that her mom, Lisa, is the coolest mom in the world. Now it’s on the Internet; it must be true.

None of us really wanted to admit that Comic Con was over, so we hung in the hall for a while catching up. I’m not sure what these two are up to.

Amethyst + Phineas

Lady Amethyst + Phineas Sinclair