Jennifer Susannah Devore's Blog, page 5

SoCal Feb: The Con (and Bikini) Season Cometh

Cheers, kittens! So, last Hallowe'en I claimed I would post no blog until I finished the fourth title in my Savannah of Williamsburg historical-fiction series. (Fifth title altogether, including The Darlings of Orange County)

Well ...ta dah!

Okay, 'tis a first draft; but, if you've penned any 400-page novels lately, you will appreciate the effort. Editing is in full-swing and I hope to have Savannah of Williamsburg: Washington, Wisdom and the West, Virginia 1754 in your curious little hands by Springtime. As my cheerleaders inspire me, "Go, monkey, go!"

Besides finishing my first draft, 'tis February and around here, Februārius means three things: my Viking's birthday and both con, and bikini, seasons begin in earnest (86 degrees today on the sand and WonderCon is high nigh). The earliest blooms of con season (comic book conventions) are beginning to bud. WonderCon (L.A. Convention Ctr. March 25 - 27, 2016) is just over a month away and the thirty-day mark sounds the costuming alarm.

Natch, by now my costume is decided - Marvel Comics' Agent Carter, the ABC/Hayley Atwell version - and all components have, mostly, been collected; but the one-month point is the time to double-check fittings, assess extra accessory needs and attend to such necessities as salon visits.  (One must have bouncy hair at a con!) To boot, I just realized, last night even, that Agent Carter, with her trademark red fedora and navy blue togs does not wear red heels ... she sports blue! Duh! Alarm! Alarm! So, I am now on the hunt for the perfect pair of true-vintage, Post-WWII, blue Mary Janes. I deserve them. I know my value.

Well then, if you've missed the feathery whippings of my espresso-tipped quill, like those above, fret not, kids. I feel the stirrings which move me to post regularly again and now I have the time, sans that which I should be using to edit Savannah IV. Conversely, though I can barely imagine, if you have not missed my musings and me, or just don't care for my style, it's a big Internet. Move along, Sir or Madam. You shan't hurt my feelings.

If you are a geek, and, don't kid yourself, you are if you've continued this far, follow me here and at GoodToBeAGeek.com where, every Con Season (WC & SDCC) I post all the geeky, gooey, con goodness you need, including fabulous costuming pix by my partner-in-crime and our own photographer and costume designer Dr. Lucy of Twisted Pair Photography and Sea Gypsy Designs.

Apropos to the continuation of con season, even if you don't follow my novels or regular posts, be certain to check back this summer for SDCC coverage, including Preview Night! (San Diego Comic-Con, S.D. Convention Ctr. July 21 - 24, 2016). BTW, for devoted readers, yes, I am writing another article for the Official SDCC Souvenir Book! This year's theme? 75 years of Archie Comics. My focus? Betty & Veronica, of course! Who's your fave Riverdale gal? LMK @JennyPopNet!

Abyssinia on the Con Floor, Kids!

 

JennyPop's other Official SDCC Souvenir Book articles on Peanuts, Tarzan, The Simpsons, Hellboy and Catwoman can be found ... here! Read them all or take your pick! Want to read past coverage of WC and SDCC? Just type WonderCon, SDCC or Comic-Con into the search bars at any of her sites!

jennypop.net

goodtobeageek.com (Where I write as Miss Hannah Hart, ghostdame of The Del)

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Get Wiggy With It: Victoria and Albert App

Perchance online games like Zombie Pop or Candy Kill are befuddling to you. Why would someone spend any valuable time poking zombies or slashing gumdrops? Of course, when powdered wigs and the 18thC. come into play, why, that is clearly time well-spent! If one happens to be an historical-fiction novelist, it can even be classified as research. Yes. Research.

So, finally an app for us fashion/history/research dorks! Courtesy of London's Victoria and Albert Museum ... "Design a Wig" app! If you have fifteen minutes, play with it and amusez-vous bien! (If you do not have fifteen minutes for happy silliness, maybe rethink some priorities.)

Enjoy JennyPop's own digital creation: one I imagine our Miss Savannah of Williamsburg (during her Blackbeard-phase) would adore! Ta! Merry Christmas, all!

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@JennyPopNet

Artists Matter: Beyond Batman Booty Shorts, SDCC 2015

Cheers, kittens! Miss Hannah Hart here. Rested and refreshed after one pip of a week at San Diego Comic-Con 2015 (SDCC) with my cohort Dr. Lucy and her trusty, steampunk-driven Canon EOS. Now, a little bluebird at SyFy told me Comic-Con "was a lot less packed and crazy this year". From my end, as a Con floor-worm, I say, "Nay! It was a lot more packed and crazy this year!" Fret not though, dear reader! Dr. Lucy and I endured it all, just for you, and this year, sharpened our focus on what matters most: the artist.

Regardless of what some insiders claim, we mere floor-worms find, year over year, SDCC gets bigger and bigger, creeping incrementally beyond the Convention Center and Gaslamp parameters: what San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer calls the Comic-Con Campus. Like a pair of small Lululemons on a big girl, it keeps expanding until the seams are ready to split and pretty soon all you can see are wide swaths of fleshy bits and strained thread.

As the popularity of SDCC (S.D. Convention Center July 9 - 12, 2015) grows, it remains, especially amongst the uninitiated, a circus, a freakshow, a curiosity to be ogled and disdained, without getting too close: like a strip club in the Bible Belt.

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"Why do you go?"

"How do you stand the crowds?"

"Do you feel silly, dressed like that?"

"How do you even think of a costume?"

���Where do you get clothes like that?���

"Do you have a Peter Pan complex?"

���You must have a lot of free time.���

"I don't understand 90% of what I'm seeing here."

Questions and statements from non-Con-goers�� -similar, BTW, to those from adults confounded by Disneyland without kids-�� range from kind wonderment to unsolicited judgment. In the end, the answer is quite simple. In it's most natural state, it's about the art.

Even inside the Convention Center, amongst the truest believers of geek and art, it can seem Richard Alf���s and Sheldon Dorf���s (Comic-Con���s co-founders) vision and the Comic-Con Int���l (CCI) Mission Statement is fuzzy and fading, like Marty McFly���s photographic image in Back to the Future.

Comic-Con International: San Diego is a nonprofit educational corporation dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular artforms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture.

Through four days of a kidney-crushing, toe-stamping, body-odoured (Not me!), oft sans-pants crowd, the purity of artistic vision can get lost amidst towers of Walking Dead onesies, Star Wars accessories and Doctor Who thigh-highs. Still, if you go beyond the novelties you will see aisles of shoulder-to-shoulder artists patiently selling their wares, branding themselves and exposing their art, bare naked to the world. Though they look like they are ���just sitting there���, trust me, kids, it���s far more taxing than you might realize. If you look closely, maybe you can see the Endor forest for the tees.

It is a tedious, exhausting, heart-baring exercise to hawk one���s art to the public. At worst, one is ignored. At best, someone becomes an instant fan, buys one of everything and follows on every possible social media outlet. These are gems: hard-found, hard-won, hard-kept and rare.

In between, lessons lie waiting, like UXB (unexploded bombs) to strengthen character, build showmanship and test patience and kindness, including being snickered at by herds of hip teens, or, worse yet, dorky teens. Teens can be so very cruel.

Why so certain of the artist���s journey, Miss Hannah?, the dear reader ponders.

Excellent ponder, reader. I know of where I speak in this milieu. Many of you know I scribe, as Jennifer Susannah Devore, a series of historical-fiction titled Savannah of Williamsburg: six books (three published, four written, two more planned, one illustrated version in-process) of pre-Revolutionary, American history with a Beatrix Potter twist, centered on 18thC. Colonial Williamsburg. From the first publication date I hit the mid-Atlantic hard on a six-year branding and promotional tear. Countless book-signing flyers, posters, sales sheets, newspaper clippings, library announcements, photos, letters from readers and book reports from students attest to the artist-mettle tested. Barnes & Noble, Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown, Borders and Waldenbooks (remember them, kids?), museums, libraries and schools all welcomed, or succumbed to, my persistent Savannah Squirrel and her partners in history.

But enough about you, Hannah. What about the artists at Comic-Con?, the kind reader presses.

Excellent press, reader. To wit, little is more draining than self-promotion. Looking your best, having plenty of product ��� always returning home with too much ��� perfecting your presentation and sitting with an immovable smile for hours can be invigorating for the spirit, but brutal on the ego. Watching the author next to you sell yet another, full set of his books can be demoralizing after hours of selling zip. (Plus, he���s not even smiley like you are; he���s an old grump.) Reciting the same spiel ad nauseam can wear on even the most resilient of showmen. Most folks listen politely, but the eyes tell it all. We know when you���re ready to move along and that���s when we cut the spiel short, mostly. Whilst it is fun to meet new people, the nice ones anyway, and talk about ourselves and our art, we try to be cognizant of your attention threshold, keep boredom levels low and, eventually, will magnanimously release you.

���Why did you write this?���

���Do your parents wish you were something else?���

���I hope you do something serious one day with your talent.���

���I don���t want to carry a bag all day. Can I buy your work online?���

���I just got here and don���t want to spend all my money at once.���

Dear artists, hold that smile, say Thank you! with sincerity and keep your posture erect. Confidence starts with a straight back and a high chin.

The thing of it is, kids, every artist you see at Comic-Con, or WonderCon or Barnes & Noble or a street fair, is hoping to find that rare gem whom truly appreciates the art, to share the excitement. The money is nice, really nice; but the appreciation is priceless. To find that gem though, you have to put it all out there for the world to love it, laugh at it or, worst of all, pass it by with nary a glance.

SDCC���s 2015 Artist���s Alley showcased over 200 talents, and the Con floor boasted countless more artists whom purchased booth space to showcase themselves. There were fantasy watercolours of unicorns and dragons, portraiture of Captains Kirk, Spock, Picard and Solo (all as cats), Star Wars novels, Disney comic books, erotica superduper-graphic novels and anything else the creative mind could conjure. As I navigated through DC Comics lingerie and Marvel shotglasses, I rediscovered the backbone of Comic-Con: the individual artist. As I wish I could highlight every artist here, I shall have to allow two to suffice.

Artist Arlyn Pillay is a friendly, soft-spoken, ��berpolite South African-born, Orange County, CA-bred illustrator, seascape painter, portraitist, printmaker, sculptor, ceramicist, musician, writer, art instructor and entrepreneur.

Ogreshop.com is where he keeps his creatures, like Foster���s Home for Imaginary Friends. Cupcake monsters, insecure snowmen, pretty hippies and old pirates I can clearly envision residing in my glove compartment, or my closet, organizing and keeping tidy all the components therein. Tiny, odd, helpful friends.

���He comes from a very personal place,��� Pillay said of his Candycane Snowman, my personal fave. ���When I drew him, I remember feeling how I didn���t fit it, how I never have felt like I really fit in. Many of us feel we don���t fit in anywhere. He has a candycane for a nose but wants the carrot the rabbit is holding. The rabbit is wondering, Will he take it, and be like everyone else? It���s all from a very personal place.���

���Humans were always quite boring to draw and also restricting in their structure,��� Pillay waxes. ���A human has two arms and two legs but a creature from another world could have four arms, six legs, or even twenty eyes, you decide, now how cool is that?��� For some of us, Arlyn, extremely cool.

Meanwhile, over at Meanwhile Studios, animator, illustrator, author, 2x Eisner nominee and Xeric recipient, Troy Little has been busy bringing us cotton candy-coloured joy via Powerpuff Girls, Dexter���s Laboratory, Gumball, Angora Napkin and a bevy of other animated sweets. His latest endeavour? A comic adaptation of the unequaled Hunter S. Thompson���s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. Not so cotton candy, this one.

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Under the bearded, quiet, Obi-wan guidance of editor Denton J. Tipton at IDW Publishing, Mr. Little has taken on the mind-bending task of putting HST���s demons to ink.

���The words are all Hunter Thompson���s,��� Little said at the IDW booth, at SDCC. ���We did not change any of the text. It���s all him.��� So, Hunter diehards and devotees, rest easy.

The equally unequaled Johnny Depp captured HST in such iconic fashion in Terry Gilliam���s film adaptation Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), that it is impossible to read the Little/IDW version without hearing Depp���s frantic, paranoid baritone. Can you hear me?! Depp told Charlie Rose in a film-junket interview at the time, he had sequestered himself in Thompson���s Colorado-ranch basement for five months, to feel what it was like to be Hunter Thompson, making friends with only ���a small, brown spider��� during that period. I wonder, what did Troy Little do to be Hunter; and, did he make any spider friends along the way?

Admittedly, many of us love getting goodies at a con. A large portion of my fun, after writing and costume planning, is shopping. Even so, I try to remember behind every sexy, stilletoed Stormtrooper, every Peanuts phone cover, every Wonder Woman tutu, every pair of Batman booty shorts there is the remnant of an artist���s soul. Without the likes of George Lucas, Charles M. Schulz, Stan Lee, Bob Kane, Tim Burton, Bill Watterson, Walt Disney and all the Arlyn Pillars and Troy Littles, there would be none of the disposable merchandise we so crave.

Why do we crave so much cheap crap? Because at its essence we love the original artist���s concept and want to tell the world just how much, even if it���s just some guy behind our car reading our ���My Other Car is the Millenium Falcon��� bumper sticker. It makes us weirdly proud.

Did Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger ever fathom Batman booty shorts? Who knows? Did Walt Disney ever fathom an empire of character-driven merchandise? Oh, yes. Did Jim Davis ever fathom Garfield everything, everywhere? I don���t know, but I bet he���s okay with it, and he should be. Capitalism and art can live side-by-side very nicely. One might argue it���s all about the Benjamins; after all, short of the odd promotion, few artists give away their creations. Still, before the cabbage flourishes and well after the mass-produced merch putzes out, pop culture, even in its crudest forms, will continue to be about the grey matter, and the artists, matter.

Abyssinia, kids!

Want more SDCC 2015 pix? Dr. Lucy���s Famous Slideshow from Twisted Pair Photography!

Aside: Because in addition to my dedication to the artist, I also strongly believe in La joie de vie avec stuff!, I present the ever-popular, always-anticipated ���Miss Hannah���s Pick o��� the Con���! SDCC 2015? Ewok Hooded Tank and Ewok Purse (see below) from designer Ashley Eckstein���s Her Universe: purveyor of all things fangirl!

Previous picks include Hoodsbee, BeKyoot, WeLoveFine and Kaz Palladino���s Awkward Affections. Are you my next pick of the Con? See you at WonderCon 2016!

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Psst! One more thing! Author Jennifer Susannah Devore made it into the official Comic-Con Souvenir Book again with her article ���Reform, Relapse and What She Wore: 75 years of Catwoman Chic���! Read it here! Have your own book? Flip to page 105!

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Tweet @JennyPopNet #SDCC #cosplay #geek

No Blogs 'til Brooklyn! Happy Hallowe'en, though!

Happy Hallowe'en to all!

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"Where, oh, where have all the Jennifers gone?" I've been asked by a long-time reader, as it regards my dereliction of blogging duties. My latest blogs, it seems, date back to this summer: San Diego Comic-Con 2015. Yet, as I declared to my Viking yesterday, with the ferocity and conviction of Braveheart, "I shall Tweet, but I shall not blog until I finish this damn book!"

Yes, finally on the last chapter of Savannah of Williamsburg IV (working title), I am ��berfocused. (Need to catch up on Savannah of Williamsburg I-III? You still have time.) Nevertheless, my focus does not mean I could snub my fave holiday and let Hallowe'en pass without some form of post. Ergo, I give you Le Grand Citrouille!

This sporty, spooky, Candy Corn-hued V-dub was spotted, par Moi, parked near a Carlsbad, CA beach. Clearly this Qu��b��cois merveilleux shares a Peanuts-love the world over.

Long live The Great Pumpkin! Vive Le Grand Citrouille!

BTW, you can always enjoy JennyPop's fave Hallowe'en post, any year, even this year! "Aren't You A Little Old For Hallowe'en?" A costume recollection and Jenny's fave Hallowe'en TV, film and lit.

@JennyPopNet #WednesdayAddams #cosplay #VW #Halloween

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Dr. Lucy's Famous Slideshow: SDCC 2015

Okay, kittens. Comic-Con is now truly a fait accompli. The turquoise nail polish has finally been removed, my Lucy Van Pelt dress has been laundered and tucked away neatly in the costume trunk, and my official SDCC 2015 Souvenir Book with has been shelved in the office with all previous years' publications.

For those whom attend, the memories of San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), or any Con, never truly fade. Even as years pass, and, perhaps, specifics get cataloged into the wrong Con, the people, adventures, and costumes, never leave our mushy, grey databases. For those whom don't attend, or for those free moments you have and wish to relive it all, I present to you Dr. Lucy's Famous Con Slideshow!

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For more of Dr. Lucy's magical Canon, including past Comic-Cons, WonderCons, Renaissance Faires and even some kick-ass surf-and-skate pix, visit her Flickr page at Twisted Pair Photography.

For more of Moi, Miss Hannah Hart ghostdame of The Del (a.k.a. authoress Jennifer Susannah Devore) please, visit me here:

@JennyPopNet

jenniferdevore.blogspot.com amazon.com/author/jenniferdevore

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Dead Calm and Free Fear: SDCC 2015 Commences

Kids, you've spent time in Vegas and you understand the polar difference between Vegas at nighttime, and Vegas in the daylight. Vegas at nighttime is a wild, weird good time full of sensory overload from which it oft takes a good week to recover. Vegas in the daylight, notably the early-morning, is unnervingly tame. Depending on the state in which the previous night left you, daytime in the desert oasis can prove almost too serene, with nothing to distract you from the headaches, blurry vision and all those pix and oh-so-deep musings you wish you hadn't posted. Except for the inner panic of Who the hell's spurs are these?!, daytime Vegas air is clear, sound levels are blessedly stilled and the culling and deletion of most photos has proved successful, mostly.

Preview Night at SDCC 2015 was essentially early-morning Vegas: placid and tranquil, yet with a whiff of the circus, (and who knows what pix?) to come. Soon, it would be Thursday, Day 1 of 4, and the noise levels would skyrocket, the crowds would bloat, the senses would fry and the silent screams of inner panic, upon seeing lines for Ballroom 20 -William Shatner reading aloud-, and Hall H -AMC's Fear the Walking Dead panel-, would begin to rise in earnest.

San Diego Comic-Con (San Diego Convention Center July 9-12, 2015) is back in town. Whether you're a local Spongebob Crabbypants who shakes his fist at the influx of chubby zombies and slutty Captain Americas, or a grateful business owner whose whole year is saved during this one summer week, Comic-Con is a boon to both the San Diego and state economy: infusing the City with some $135m each year, according to AP.

This year's downtown crowds should bloat the streets, and banks, like a dead whale in the Cabo, summer sun. Fri/Sat/Sun crowds expect to inflate five times the Preview Night/Thursday numbers, according to the hometown rag, S.D. Union-Tribune. Security is also at an all-time high, similar to this year's WonderCon Anaheim in April. A cop on the beat told this little geek security numbers are doubled over last year and law enforcement counts on three incidents per 1,000 people; they are expecting some 300K to pass through the Gaslamp this year. That's a lot of incidents, kids. Hold hands with your loved one and keep the other hand on your bag

Realizing there is more marketing worth in this pop-culture phenom than just inside the convention ctr, preying only on the 130K badge-holding attendees, majors like A&E Networks, NBC, FX and HBO, have installed a plethora of free, off-site activities. Whilst marketing reps will not give solid figures, many will admit, including an ad sales chap at Robert Rodriguez' El Rey Networks, that many companies make more money via their social outlets (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) than they do via traditional distribution. If they can tap into the fandom inside and out at something like Comic-Con, whatever they spend on a pop-up installation, the better.

For those whom enjoy the overall spectacle, but aren't determined enough for Badge Quest or fiscally carefree enough for the $50/day badges, fans can spend five whole days at what San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer calls "the Comic-Con Campus". The un-Badged can enjoy everything from Battleborn laser tag (2K Games), to Heroes Reborn virtual reality (NBC), to Assassin's Creed obstacle course (Ubisoft) and, best of all, a Beagle puppy petting zoo, promoted by The Peanuts Movie. (Animals all very well cared-for, I trust; and, moreover, not from a real-life Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, I trust.)

One does not need a coveted badge to nab free swag either. Everywhere a geek turns in the Gaslamp District, on the Convention Ctr periphery, he or she will find some form of proffered freebie: Sharknado 3 foam-jaws; Sanrio fans; Viking-horn cups from the fierce Norlanders at The History Channel and A&E Networks. "May the Norse Be With You"

If you were blithely vanquished by Badge Quest 2015, fret not; there's plenty to short-circuit your senses throughout the Comic-Con Campus and the Gaslamp. Be sharp, have fun, watch for rogue zombies and keep the very wee ones clear of any gratuitously gruesome and gore-laden installs. Stop posting everything observation and look up from your phone once in a while to truly absorb it all. Keep eye for gratis graft and peripheral plunder and, please, kids, beware of sharks dancing badly in shiny mini-skirts offering free foam fangs. Worst. Sharks. Ever.

Check back here for full SDCC 2015 coverage, pix by our own Dr. Lucy and floor Tweets @JennyPopNet and @GoodToBeAGeek! If you���re at the Con, keep eye for goodtobeageek.com���s Hannah Hart and Dr. Lucy dressed as Peanuts girls Lucy Van Pelt and Peppermint Patty this year. What���s true is true, Chuck!

Abyssinia on the Con floor , cats!

Oh, BTW, yes ... author Jennifer Susannah Devore made it into the official SDCC Souvenir Book again! 75 years of Catwoman chic! Check back for a reprint, here on GoodToBeAGeek!

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SDCC 2015 Savvy: Quality Shoes, Good Manners and MySchedule App

If you've been suffering through San Diego's muggy, monsoonal vestiges this past week (Gracias, Hurricane Carlos), have patience; the discomfort is nearing its end. Although, today doled out some Virginia-style, late-afternoon, wicked summer thunderstorms. Of course, it's actually been better along the water, kids: currently 79 at Lindbergh Field with 73% humidity.

If you were smart, or dead, you could be haunting the Hotel del Coronado with Dr. Lucy and Moi. It's just kicky! Pools, beaches, bars, boutiques. Then again, we can't all be jazzy ghostdames living in a seaside, Victorian hotel. Now, for you other San Diego locals, and anyone headed to America's Finest City next week for San Diego Comic-Con 2015 (SDCC), fret not; our own Anchorman Ron Burgundy swears the 90-degree days with 90% humidity are all but gone and promises a dry high of just 74, along the water. (Adios, Carlos!)

SDCC (S.D. Convention Center, July 9-12, 2015) is back and if you're one of the lucky mooks with a badge, wilkommen! The annual Badge Quest is a hard-fought battle of Kroth. Year after year complaints get louder and stronger about the bonkers mindf@#& involved with gaining entry. To be fair to Comic-Con Int'l (CCI), they can't help being the prettiest girl at the country club dance and they seem to make great effort to ensure a fair event for all. After all, they must not only accommodate the masses, but the San Diego Fire Marshal. A string bikini can only hold so much flesh: ditto for the S.D. Convention Center.

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To make Badge Quest even more soul-sucking, at least for you East Coasters, it always commences during the darkest days of Winter. Pre-reg is the earliest opportunity to purchase a badge, usually early-February, but only if you're in the system, having purchased a badge the previous year. (See how the nasty cycle starts right away?) If you lucked into a purchased-badge the previous year (comps do not qualify), then on the anointed morning, commencing at 7:00am, you log into a "waiting room" and stay there until 9:00am, staring at your screen like a mad click-monkey willing a pellet to drop. Eventually, 9:00am rolls around and the waiting room opens, leading you into a queue, where you will wait some more, to, possibly, purchase badges.

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Without fail, as you watch a maddening, blue circle spin on your page -If the blue circle is spinning, your page is updating. Do not refresh!- each day of the Con sells out, one-by-one, until CCI thanks you for your participation and apologizes for any inconvenience. It all happened so quickly: thirty minutes, tops. You were so optimistic, so excited, in such a good mood for so early in the morning. You close your browser, step away from your laptop, your head hung low and shoulders drooped like Charlie Brown and spend the rest of the day in a rather chuffed mood. It's always a Saturday, too, just to ruin your whole weekend.

Chin up, cats! Pre-reg was just a bonus try! There's still the main buy-in! Open-reg comes a few weeks later, again on a Saturday at 7:00am. Sure, they say you can log in as late as 8:59am and what time you log in does not affect your placement in queue; but why test it? Twenty minutes later, like a really bad date, Lady Fortuna has had her way with you. It's even worse than last time; it all happened so fast.

Quickly you realize just because you have an awesome idea for a costume, means f*&%-all. By breakfast, it's pretty clear unless something miraculous happens, you're not going to Comic-Con and you spend the rest of that weekend binge-watching Firefly and Helix and playing marathon-sessions of Zelda, Borderlands, and Skyrim. Some of you might even contemplate, as you slump and pout on that leather sofa all day and night, fueled sadly by nothing but Swedish Fish and Stone IPA, Where can I buy scalped badges? Don't do it, kittens! Play fair. It's bad sportsmanship at best and a waste of your money at worst.

Okay, you didn't get an SDCC badge, but, as Dr. Sheldon Cooper assuages, before he runs to his room to cry, "It���s okay. You know, th-there���s always WonderCon in Anaheim, you know? Th-that���s just as good. Excuse me."

So, you go to WonderCon Anaheim (WCA) in April: easy-peasy badge-buy, fairly-priced hotel rooms aplenty, simple parking and there's always an outlet available to charge your phone. Plus ... it's across the street from Disneyland! (Note: WonderCon 2016, March 25-27, will be at the L.A. Convention Center. There might be available outlets; but, trust me, there's nothing magical across the street from there.)

WCA is like going on summer vacation to visit relatives on a ranch in Montana; even so, your best friend is going to Hawai'i, sans relatives, and staying at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa. Sure Montana is lovely and you're having a better summer than that schmuck who has to spend all summer helping his Dad landscape the backyard. Nevertheless, Montana is no beachfront Hyatt in Hawai'i. As you grow up, kids, you'll realize very little beats a beachfront Hyatt in Hawai'i. Montana is a diversion and WonderCon is a diversion. All you know is, whilst someone else might be having less fun than you, someone else is definitely having more fun than you. Yet, wait ... there's still one last opportunity!

Usually in early-May, CCI offers a last-chance-suckers registration, wherein all the returned badges purchased in the first two rounds are up for grabs again. You know what, though? Speaking of schmucks, you're not getting one of those, either. You've got a better chance of being shark nosh on the Outer Banks than nabbing an SDCC badge. By late-May, that fat Warner Bros. chicken with the pearls has hit her high note and it's all over. Definitively, you are not going to Comic-Con, which means you're not getting a pre-reg opportunity next year, which means you're at the mercy of Lady Fortuna all over again.

Now, if you are one of the lucky inchworms whom actually nabbed a badge, Huzzah! Fair Lady Fortuna favours you! If you were judicious enough to merit a press or a professional pass, well done, you! No luck needed on your part; your wise career choices and skill sets have earned you perks. However, if you are semi-charmed and bluebirds alighted on your windowsill one sunny morning with badges, including Preview Night stickers, kindly keep the Disney magic to yourself and know that most Con-goers, and all Wanna-goers, do not like you.

For the 160K geeks who will attend SDCC 2015, all your efforts will prove worth it. Perusing the program schedule, it appears more chockablock than usual with not just garden variety celebs and industry grey matter, but downright legends. Keep eye for the likes of Stan Lee, David Hasselhoff, Kathy Bates, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Seth MacFarlane, Joss Whedon, Will Wheaton and more. (Kids, do not mix up their names. There is no Joss Wheaton or Will Whedon.) Moreover, if you happen to be a Thursday badge-holder, get in line early at Ballroom 20, where the inimitable William Shatner will be reading excerpts from his new book, The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, from 10:45am - 11:45 am.

Aside: I once bought tickets to see Leonard Nimoy read a short story at The Getty Center and was sorely disappointed to learn he'd been bumped by John Lithgow. (Sorry, Mr. Lithgow. We are talking Spock.) Lo and behold, instead of reading, Mr. Nimoy attended as a guest and plopped down right in front of me! You know what? You can read my Nimoy-sighting later when you've finished this piece.

If you can't make it to Captain Kirk's dramatic reading, there's plenty of geeky goodness in which to soak your soul. For example:

Peanuts 65th Anniversary Panel: Thursday July 9, 2015 11:00am - 12:00pm, Room 5AB
DC Comics Too Tough Trivia: Catwoman, Joker and Robin 75th Anniv. Edition:��Thursday July 9, 2015 3:15pm - 4:15pm, Room 6DE
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!:��Friday July 10, 2015 7:15pm - 8:15pm, Room 6A
AMC's Fear the Walking Dead: Friday July 10, 2015 1:00pm - 2:00pm, Hall H
Disney Animators: The Power of 2D: Friday July 10, 2015 1:30pm - 2:00pm, Room 24ABC
Bob's Burgers : Friday July 10, 2015 4:00pm - 5:00pm,��Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront
IDW: The Best Panel in Recorded History: Friday July 10, 2015 4:00pm - 5:00pm,��Room 4
Orphan Black: BBCAmerica Official Panel: Friday July 10, 2015 5:45pm - 6:45pm,��Room 6BCF
The Last Man on Earth : Saturday July 11, 2015 10:00am - 11:00am,��Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront
The Simpsons : Saturday July 11, 2015 12:00pm - 12:45pm,��Ballroom 20
12 Monkeys : Saturday July 11, 2015 12:00pm - 1:00pm,��Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront
Adobe Photoshop: Enabling the 3D Printing Revolution: Saturday July 11, 2015 3:00pm - 4:00pm,��Room 30CDE
The Muppet Show Coming to ABC: Saturday July 11, 2015 3:00pm - 4:00pm, Room 6A
A Song of Fire and Ice: Game of Thrones Fan Discussion: Saturday July 11, 2015 4:00pm - 5:00pm,��Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library (off-site)
Emily the Strange Panel Experience: Sunday July 12, 2015 10:00am - 11:00am,��Room 32AB
Only What's Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts: Sunday July 12, 2015 10:00am - 11:00am,��Room 29AB

That's just an amuse-bouche for your salivary glands. If I could post the whole schedule for you, I'd be working for Comic-Com Int'l. CCI has made it superduper easy for you to find and attend whatever panel or presentation your heart desires. Once you've decided upon your must-sees, take advantage of Comic-Con's "MySchedule" and the "Official Comic-Con Mobile App": app avail for iOS and Android. These are efficient options if you have more than two or three must-sees.

First thing first: create a MySchedule account.

Next, browse the SDCC online schedule. Each event title has a nifty pop-up: hover over the title, then click "Add to MySchedule". Once you've finished browsing all four days, or just the days that apply to you, everything you've clicked will be listed in your private, MySchedule-account. Print it via any format you like and share with friends, con-partners and colleagues, or taunt those whom couldn't get into SDCC.

Finally, download the free Comic-Con Mobile App. It can synch MySchedule with your device's calendar software and enable searches within your list by artist, writer, show, actor, keyword, etc. Voila! You have a personalized schedule and can make the most of your precious con time.

If you're of an inquiring mind, add the Comic-Con How-To Series to MySchedule: programs every day on topics from writing a fairy tale, creating a comic strip, publishing a graphic novel or just learning the basics of artistry theft and copyright law. To boot, Comic-Con Film School 101 is back: 4 days of filmmaking foundation. (It's not a $70K M.F.A. from Chapman University's Dodge Film School, but it's a very nice introduction to H-town, conceptually. Grad level classes on starvation not included, in either film school.)

With only a week to go, it's time to sew those last buttons, make any last-minute copies of your artwork, overnight an emergency order of business cards and get your hair did. The weather should cooperate; of course, it usually does here. The Gaslamp vendors, restauranteurs and barkeeps are waiting for you, some with a sock full of nickels. Be savvy about drink "deals", "official" Comic-Con merchandise (avail only in the Conv. Ctr.) and please, please, please don't drink and drive or get into a car with someone who's "just buzzed". Taxis, Uber (see discount below), Lyft and all forms of San Diego public transportation (Coaster, Sprinter, NCTD, trolleys and Amtrak) are everywhere for the picking. Walk if you have to. It's a lovely town for walking. Make it back home, kids.

Wear good shoes. 'Tis much smarter to find a gently used, quality pair of Born boots or Via Spiga spikes at a thrift store or on eBay, than to buy cheaper, brand-new, poorly-cobbled, garbage shoes at some discount retailer. Be savvy, kittens. It's all about surviving with style. SWS!

If you don't have a hotel, yet, good luck. If you live locally, or are staying with local fam and friends and someone in the house really loves you, ask them to drive you to the Con; but let them drop you a few blocks out so they don't get trapped too deep in the maelstrom of traffic. The extra walk won't kill you; you'll be walking all day anyway. However, if you really love them, let them stay comfy at home and get an Uber with this sweet Uber offer, just for Con-goers, from the folks at SDCC Unofficial Blog.

The whole key to this con business is fun. When you're on the floor, try to remember "Hannah's Good Mannahs":

Don't let others trip on your cape; don't accidentally, or purposefully, stab anyone with your GOT sword; be nice about peoples' cosplay, even if it's all wrong; keep your snark and your hands to yourself; don't touch the girls; no cutting the line at Hall H; be nice to yourself and drink lots of water; share your snacks and water; keep a close eye on your friends' belongings if, in a haze, they wander after Adrianne Curry; take your bags and feet off a chair and make room for somebody to sit down in the food court; and make the words please, thank you, you're welcome and pardon me, your default lexiCon. If a dude with a gargantuan cardboard and metal costume needs help getting through a doorway, help him. Ladies, if someone's petticoats and corset make for a difficult time in the lavvy, offer to hold her bag, or help in any way you can, but be sure to wash your hands afterwards. If you see a toddler crying, maybe give him one of your new toys. (No, jk. Just smile and slowly back away from the screaming child.) Apropos, you might recall my SDCC 2014 post on common con courtesy: Boobs Are Not Bunnies.

Most importantly, once you're in the Con and get your swag bag, open your Official 2015 SDCC Souvenir Book and look for the longest name in there: Jennifer Susannah Devore. Odds are good "she" made it into the book again, but nobody knows for sure: this time, with a Catwoman 75th anniversary fashion retrospective. Past years��� books have included her articles on Peanuts, Tarzan, Bongo/Simpsons Comics and Hellboy. If she does make it in this year, send her a nice Tweet��@JennyPopNet and tell her Congrats! Crossed fingers, jelly beans!

Abyssinia on the floor at SDCC, cats!

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Check back here for SDCC 2015 coverage, pix by Dr. Lucy and floor Tweets @JennyPopNet and @GoodToBeAGeek! If you're at the Con, keep eye for goodtobeageek.com's Hannah Hart and Dr. Lucy (a.k.a. Jennifer Susannah Devore and her cohort Eslilay Evoreday) dressed as Peanuts girls Lucy Van Pelt and Peppermint Patty this year. What's true is true, Chuck!

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IDW & SDCAG: Historic, Visionary, Hoppy

Cheers, kittens! It's me, Miss Hannah Hart, ghostdame of The Del. As the SoCal comic convention season is in full-swing (You remember Wednesday's Wild WonderCon, don't you?), Dr. Lucy and I are getting ready for San Diego Comic-Con 2015 (SDCC) and, in that process, partaking in a wee bit o' pre-con cavorting. Fortunately for us, Yours Truly has contacts; they might be in books, they might be in comics, they might be in beer. You don't know. In any event, as a ghost, I could totally get into whatever event I wanted anyway. Lucy, too.

So, as it pertains to our most recent pre-conning, I have a query for you. What do the Library of Congress, IDW Publishing and San Diego Comic Art Gallery have in common? A vision of posterity, crackerjack curators, an historic backyard and a brewery within walking-distance. Two of these pip organizations have set up shop in a gloriously gorgeous San Diego community and, happily for all, they're both sitting pretty next to Stone Brewing beer garden.

Comics bulwark IDW, founded in 1999 by Ted Adams and Robbie Robbins, has grown so big in its britches, those britches have been let out to accommodate an 18K+ sq. ft. workspace in the posh yet chill, waterside neighbourhood of Point Loma. Think Range Rover-meets-Roxy, Brooks Bros-meets-Billabong, Nautica-meets-No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem. Situated serenely along the San Diego Bay and America's Cup Harbor, housed in one of the original barracks at the Naval Training Center (NTC) at Liberty Station, the cavernous, 1921 Spanish Colonial Revival edifice makes great digs for a Vans-and-RayBans kind of entity like IDW.

If you know my back-story, you know I was kicking around when the NTC was first built. Hoofin', flirtin' and jazzin' down in the Gaslamp and out by the seaside at The Hotel Del Coronado. Ushered in by Prohibition, 1920s San Diego was two-parts business, one-part good times. In 1921, the NTC commenced construction and by 1923 began rustling to life as a hive of naval activity. Having just come out of WWI, protection along the Pacific, offensive and defensive, seemed a good idea. Initially a training base for one-sixth of the U.S. Naval fleet, the compound soon came to house military classrooms, residential quarters, tactical training fields and everything the Pacific fleet needed to prepare for come what may. Come it did. By WWII's peak years, the NTC was home to more than 33K sailors. (I can't say the wartime Betties of San Diego had a problem with that!)

Today, the NTC is a far cry from its initial intentions. By the 1990s, Liberty Station was maneuvering away from military endeavours and into real estate. Now, it functions as a center for the arts, entertainment and business: retail, churches, beauty and wellness, hotels (Marriott, Hilton), golf (Loma Golf Club), leased office space, banking (Navy Federal Credit Union, natch), fitness, dining, culture, museums and so much more. What your great-grandfather saw as a campus for national secrecy and necessary aggression, you may now see as a weekend destination for Starbucks and SDCAG, SoCal Fly Fishing Outfitters and Capoeira Brasil, or California Ballet and Sushi Mura. Cap off your jaunty day with a pint at Stone Brewing and a run for Longboard Chips and New Zealand water at Trader Joe's, and you've got the new normal at Liberty Station. It's like Sarah Jessica Parker took great-grandfather's Naval-issue peacoat and stuck a giant, pink, silk rose on the lapel. The original bones are still there, but now it goes better with a Zara cocktail dress than a mop and bucket, you know, for dancing and swabbing decks whilst belting out Fred Astaire-style nautical chanties with your fellow sailors.

That's a nice story, but what about IDW, Hannah?, you gently prod. To continue ...

Notable as the fourth-largest comic book publisher in America (Disney Comics, The X-Files, Orphan Black, My Little Pony, etc.) IDW carries comic gold in its inimitable portfolio: twenty-five Eisner and Harvey Awards, more than eighty NYT Best-sellers, hundreds of freelance artists around the globe and, solely in 2014, more than 700 unique, analog and digital, titles. Additionally IDW dabbles in tabletop and hobby games, stickers, posters and other collectible merchandise. With all this street cred, not to mention being Liberty Station's largest tenant, you'd think they must be a bit haughty and unapproachable, like Hillary Clinton or that big German girl who works at Ruby's on the pier. Yet, no.

IDW is about as mellow and laid-back a group of folk you'll meet in publishing. If IDW was a Muppet, it would Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. (Sam the Eagle would not approve of hot yoga being taught on-grounds.) If IDW was a time of day, it would be Happy Hour: affable, a good value and always ready to tell a tall tale. Like any good tale, there need to be visual aids; and that's how San Diego Comic Art Gallery (SDCAG) adds to the party.

Installed on the bottom floor of IDW's digs, in Barracks 3, the SDCAG opened to the public June 5th, 2015: "designed to educate and engage the local San Diego community and the region of Southern California with the sequential comic book and graphic arts". Owned-and-operated by IDW, the gallery houses an analog, research library (appt. only), artist-in-residence program (coming soon) and, for you Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) aficionados, the Eastman Studio: a permanent installment of TMNT co-creator/artist Kevin Eastman's home studio and personal memorabilia collection. Throughout the year, SDCAG will install exhibits featuring a bevy of artists knee-deep in comic lore. The inaugural exhibit? Kevin Eastman and his TMNT.

With San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) just around the corner, geographically and temporally, (San Diego Convention Center, July 9-12, 2015) IDW/SDCAG have positioned themselves smartly for a pop-culture, coming-out carousal. As the cosplayed hordes descend upon America's Finest City, they shall find that besides The Old Globe, S.D. Air and Space Museum, S.D. Museum of Art, S.D. Natural History Museum and Hooters (For a lot of you mooks it's the closest you're going to get to San Diego boob.), the S.D. Comic Art Gallery will serve many of your artistic, and geeky, needs. To serve those more primal needs in Maslow's Hierarchy, SDCAG is fortuitously located right next door to Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens: an 11K+ sq. ft., glass-stone-and-wood re-purpose of what used to be the NTC mess hall. Hello, sailor! Buy a girl a stout and some crispy Brussels sprouts?

On June 4, 2015, the night before their grand opening, IDW/SDCAG held a VIP event, to present the art gallery on a more intimate level to those closest to the effort. That night, along with M��nage �� Trois and J. Lohr wines, an oh-so-hoppy IPA flowed generously, provided by Stone. It's just good fence-building, proffering beer to the new guy on the block.

Whether it's an Arrogant Bastard, a Double Bastard, a Crazy Ivan or a Border Psycho, a quaff of Stone is always a great mingling lubricant. So, just in time for San Diego's greatest mingling event, IDW/SDCAG and Stone Brewing Liberty Station are celebrating con-season with Hop-Con 3.0, the w00tstout Festival: "Our annual celebration of nth-degree beer geekery".

Launching Wednesday, July 8, 2015 (same night as SDCC Preview Night), if you jelly beans can swing $40-$100/person, you can drink-and-geek with Aisha Tyler, Wil Wheaton, Kevin Eastman and the upper echelon of Stone brewerdom. To boot, you can be of the first to imbibe the "2015 Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout". Want more special beer? According to an inside source, there might be a Kevin Eastman/Kris Ketcham collaboration beer which might be called "Twisted Turtle w00tstout". (Call 619-269-2100 for more info. on advance tix and event specifics.)

But, Hannah. what about the Library of Congress?, you ask wearily and patiently. Allow me to elucidate�� ...

In 1800, amidst legislation which would move our new country's capital from the progressively sophisticated Philadelphia to the swampy backwoods of Washington, America's second president John Adams (1797-1801) understood the dire need for a local, congressional reading room, research facilities and library for this new nation. Moving merrily along its way, August 1814 saw Adams' library come to a fiery end as the British set our Capitol aflame. (Good thing we're all friends now.) Upon this news, then-retired, third president Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809), and Adams' BFF, proffered his precious, voluminous, private library at Monticello as a replacement. Jefferson's collection and all that would be added to it over the years would become America's library: the Library of Congress.

Visionary like Jefferson and Adams, IDW/SDCAG understand that, even though the comic arts seem all too present and contemporary, at times even fleeting, wondering when this wild, geek, pop-culture rocket will free-fall back to Earth, history always needs a paper trail, even digital history. When tomorrow arrives, mankind always thanks those whom were ambitious enough to preserve the past. (Plus, if you've been watching Wayward Pines, you'll know that even in the year 4065, First Generation will need something to read. Why not Jem and the Holograms or Mr. Peabody & Sherman? Although, I would suggest against 30 Days of Night and Rot & Ruin. Those might be too realistic in WP.)

Adams, Jefferson, IDW and SDCAG also know America needs just the right word-nerd to curate the past and present, for the future. John James Beckley served as the first Librarian of Congress (1802-1807) under the Jefferson administration. In keeping with a national level of know-how, Harry L. Katz, former Head Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Library of Congress, will serve as the first curator of SDCAG. He now calls San Diego home. (Psst, Harry. The Starbucks at Liberty Station is a beautiful and breezy switch from the one you're probably used to at Seward Square. Still, it's hard to beat the small, window-table facing the streetlight on Penn. Ave., on a snowy D.C. morning. Enjoy our palm trees and ocean air, good sir!) Oh, breweries within walking distance of the LOC? A couple of Gordon Biersch, Capital City Brewing Co. and District Chophouse and Brewery. Yeah, D.C. is a far better walking-town than San Diego.

Kids, here's an insider's tip: San Diego is one hell of a town and you'll never grasp it in one long weekend. You can try though! Start by getting up early; you can sleep when you get home. Then, grab a quad shot over ice at Starbucks or Peet's and hit the terra-cotta tiles heading in any direction! If you're in town for Comic-Con, out for a sunny getaway from Beantown or the Big Apple, or if you're just a local doof like Lucy and Moi looking for more stimuli than Big Steve's Comic Kitchen can give you, drop by the SDCAG, year-round. When you're done, treat yourself to a tantalizing brew in Stone's sunny, stony, garden bistro. It's your summer, kittens; do something fun with it.

Abyssinia at Comic-Con, kids!

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Aside: A v special Thank You! to Denton Tipton and Rosalind Morehead at IDW, and Gary Sassaman at CCI, for a wonderful SDCAG opening event! Cheers to all!

Check back here for my SDCC 2015 coverage, floor Tweets @JennyPopNet and @GoodToBeAGeek! and ... see if I get into this year's Souvenir Book again with my Catwoman article.

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Hannah���s other fave places to haunt online?

JennyPop.net jenniferdevore.blogspot.com and amazon.com/author/jenniferdevore

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Wednesday's Bad Night: WonderCon Anaheim 2015

After-hours at any comic convention can get weird. Saturday night at WonderCon 2015 found our Wednesday Addams in quite the weird situation, indeed.

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Sure, her doll, Marie Antoinette, has no head, but she's always had legs. So, as Wednesday sat at Mix Bar in the Anaheim Hilton, imbibing with good friends and fam, and felt a sudden thunk land on her boots, she realized la pauvre Marie's legs had dropped right out from under her petticoats.

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What to do? Fixez ses jambes, bien-sûr!

 

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C'est ca. La Reine Antoinette, elle n'a plus des jambes.

Special thanks to fellow Spooky Girl Beki Lane, of friendship and Rotten Tomatoes notoriety, for having the wherewithal to set down her G and T, grab her phone and chronicle the step-by-step demise of La Reine Antoinette's metal-hinged legs.

 

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Cheers and Follow @JennyPopNet

Maybe I Need Coffee: WonderCon Anaheim 2015

 

 

Like Waldo, something was missing, or at least hiding adeptly, this year at WonderCon Anaheim (WCA, Anaheim Convention Center April 3-5, 2015). Maybe something was amiss on the con floor: no behemoth media structures; no celeb sightings; no multi-screen overload; no roaming camera crews from the big-news outlets. Maybe something was amiss outside: no hordes of the gawking, general public, curious shutterbugs or looky-loos. Then again, maybe nothing was amiss and I misread the whole situation. Whatever occurred, as satisfying as WCA2K15 eventually turned out to be, something intangible was mislaid; and its absence left an energy-void, and not just for Yours Truly.

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"You know, I'm just not feeling it out there," a steampunk pirate/photographer was overheard lamenting on the con floor Saturday morning. "Maybe I need coffee, or a shot, but it's kind of dead."

"Yes! A shot! Rum!" his pretty steampunk piratess concurred. "I'm not feeling it either."

"I go to both Comic-Con and WonderCon every year," a guest of the Anaheim Hilton stated Saturday night during an elevator ride down to the hotel's Mix Bar. "I usually prefer WonderCon, 'cause it's so much easier to deal with. But it's almost too mellow this year."

Though the energy levels would pick up by Sunday afternoon, the last day, WCA2K15 had a perceptibly slow start, like that quiet auntie who doesn't like to talk politics, religion or the Great Pumpkin at Thanksgiving, but eventually loosens her corset (What? Your aunties don't wear corsets?) and calls out Grandpa after a few glasses of absinthe. (What? No absinthe either? Your family sounds boring.) Maybe attendees needed some absinthe; maybe they needed to loosen their corsets; maybe they just needed to talk politics, religion and the Great Pumpkin.

“They’ve never done this before, with the barricades,” stated a local couple from Orange, standing in line at the Anaheim Hilton Starbucks, waiting sadistically to pay $26 for two Frappuccinos. “We come every year, just to hang out in front and take pictures, talk to the cosplayers. It’s a blast! We’re just going to go ahead and go home though.”

Psst, local couple. Wouldn’t it make more sense to go to an off-property Sbux somewhere else and save the hotel premium? IDK. I would.

[image error]Indeed, there were new security measures this year, new barricades. Well, not really barricades: just paper signs in metal stands and a few kindly guards casually checking badges. Still, the heightened security imagery kept out most folks sans badges. Where mortals and muggles could once roam, ogle and shutterbug to their hearts’ content, the space was now reserved for badge-holders only. Though only a small stretch was blocked, a winding swath of concrete around the main entrance to the convention center, there was enough elbow room, compared to previous years, to note the omission.

The first sentry I happened upon was a stern fellow in a yellow tee bearing the Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC) logo, the crowd management company charged with monitoring WCA. Posted at a barricade between the Hilton food-court entrance and the convention center steps, I asked about the very paper sign he oversaw. He said he was not allowed to answer any specific security questions, but suggested I find a manager in a CSC blue tee. That I did.

Past the paper barricade with my three-day badge and amidst the palm trees and badge-holding Harley Quinns, Chewies and hot Scooby-Doos (Note: I was previously unaware "hot Scooby-Doo" was a thing. Who knew?), I tracked down a CSC manager. He was tolerant enough to stop and entertain a quick series of questions.

Were there certain concerns for this year’s con? Was there any information that more security was needed? Being such a pop-culture venue, had there been any terrorist threats?

“Nope," he said succinctly. "This is just the security this year,” proffering no further details.

His companion though, a hearty and happy yellow-teed guard who usually works Angel Stadium, and who looked like a bodyguard in a Guy Ritchie film, elucidated with a wide, wonky smile and added, “Changes with the wind. Could change tomorrow!” Yellow-tee also admitted there had been concerns of “possible protesters interfering with people who paid good money to be here.”

[image error]Sure enough, “possible protesters” were there, as they are at every con, just outside the barricades, making life quasi-uncomfortable for con-goers and hotel guests alike. In their short-sleeve, missionary shirts and black ties, lofting on high their giant yellow-and-black signs, the protesters warn of impending eternities in hell for sporting steampunk Star Wars and trading Pokémon cards. They do interfere and are mildly annoying, but are easily ignored, unless you're stuck at a very long light or trolley crossing outside their bigger haunt: San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC, San Diego Convention Center July 9-12, 2015 ).

Behind the barricades and smiling Yellow Shirts, WCA continues to grow, in popularity and scope. Still, whether intentionally less frantic or just organically more mellow, it remains the easy-peasy training wheels for those headed to San Diego in July, as well as those unfortunate enough to nab a coveted SDCC badge.

Comic-Con International (CCI) organizers may not wish for WCA to reach the frenzy of SDCC. Maybe it never will have the same cache and, frankly, that is rather relaxing to rely upon each year. As opposed to the "Comic-Con or Bust!", lottery-style mind$%*# of getting into SDCC, one can still attend WCA on the fly and even grab a reasonably priced, last-minute hotel room. (Note: badges must be purchased online, no door-sales, and Saturdays and Three-days do sell out relatively quickly, but over period of weeks.)

Finally inside WonderCon and on the main floor, the atmos was more market faire than entertainment convention, with more Star Trek dog-accessories and anime erotica art than interactive gaming booths and video displays. The day was starting to look up, though, with a general buzz beginning to tickle my brain. An impromptu interview with the kindly and winged Kaleigh Kailani at Shapr News certainly set things apace. Cheers, Miss Kaleigh!

If the floor was mostly merchandise and an overpriced, crappy food court, upstairs, and in the major halls, WonderCon was all big com. BBCAmerica, TNT, Crackle and FOX all offered special screenings this year: Orphan Black, The Last Ship, Dead Rising: Watchtower and Gotham, respectively. Throw in the "WonderCon Anaheim Int'l. Children's Film Festival" and a three-day anime festival featuring "some of the best in Japanese animation" and there were never enough hours in the day to view and do to your heart's desire.

Panels were numerous and dotted with the media giants, even if most of those giants left their beanstalks and booths in San Diego storage, just waiting for July to put out the really good stuff. Panels ran the gamut from American Dad to Walt Disney Animation Studios Kids' Workshop; from Whovian Costuming for Beginners to Star Wars Goes Steampunk; from Science in Science Fiction to Fairy Dust: LGBTQ Disney Fandom. Of course, if simply watching content is not enough for you, whereas you'd rather argue with anyone around, pointing out every technical and historical inaccuracy you note, then Rotten Tomatoes has the perfect panel for you: Your Opinion Sucks!

Back on the main floor, away from the nerd-packed ballrooms and academic panels, cosplay seemed a victim of this year's mellow vibe. Whilst there was the usual overkill of handsome Doctor Whos and off-the-rack Lolitas, it seemed far fewer folks dressed this year. WonderCon looked a lot like Preview Night at SDCC: more professionals and their families than fervent fans. Even our diligent Dr. Lucy (GoodToBeAGeek.com's official, SoCal-con photog) and her trusty Canon EOS found pickings few and far between.

In the end, did the new barricades keep out some fun? Probably not. Did Jebus protesters kill the vibe? Probably not. Did Easter Sunday step on the gestalt? Actually, no. Sunday was the busiest day of all. Seems plenty of families planned a WonderEaster. If nothing else, the best part of any con can be the Meet & Geeks and surprises, with old friends and new acquaintances, after the con doors close. The official-hotel bars (Hilton's Mix Bar, being this girl's haunt) and nearby Downtown Disney, Disneyland Resort and Anaheim Gardenwalk are perfect caps to any WCA day. To boot, it's all walking-distance so everybody's safe to enjoy their adult beverages of choice.

Maybe early-April in Anaheim will never have the same energy as mid-July in San Diego. Maybe CCI doesn't intend WCA to be another SDCC; really, what could be? Whatever was in the air this year, WCA was decidedly more chill, but that's not a bad thing. Conventions can be exhausting, expensive and physically painful, depending on your costume and/or shoes of choice.

Funny enough, each con starts the same way, for Moi anyway. As I realize the cabbage I'll spend could get me a lovely weekend in Dublin, as I swath my eye makeup in the hotel mirror, as I wait in line for my badge and study all the other dorks around me I wonder, What is wrong with these people? Look at them. Look at me. What is wrong with me? My parents spent a lot of money on my upbringing. Shouldn't I be Attorney General by now? Maybe I've outgrown this.

Then, after three days and nights of dressing, shopping, chatting, journaling, photographing, imbibing and laughing, each con ends the same way. As I peel off my boots and wipe off the eye shadow, as I slide business cards, flyers and show-guides into my journal, as I carefully fold my costume to send it to the cleaners, as I check the room one last time for phone chargers and Piglet -my plush who travels with me everywhere and who has been mailed back to me by more than one hotel- I look around the empty room and think, That was so much fun! I love these folk! I can't wait to start on my next costume! Boo, I can't believe I have to wait another year.

Well, at least for now I only have to wait three months for San Diego Comic-Con!

Abyssinia at Comic-Con, kids!

(Cross your fingers I get into the SDCC Souvenir Book again; this would be #5 for me! This year's theme? 75th anniversary of Catwoman.)

Post Script: So, if you've read my coverage for a few years, you'll know I choose a fave vendor each con. This year's WCA is Hoodsbee and BrickBrick. Cheers to the mirthful purveyors, Han (Solo?), Miguel, Eric and Stan! Now, whilst I didn't buy any Brick Brick gear, it does look rather inventive: designing and crafting your own caps with a patented brick work system. Besides, the owner is a BFF of the Hoodsbee crew and shared a booth; so I was happy to include him here.

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Hoodsbee is the home of "The Hoodie That Becomes a Friend". When you're ready to take it off just roll it, tuck it and snap it. Voila! You've got yourself a plush, a pillow, a friend! Hoodsbee currently proffers a Sanrio-licensed, limited-edition, numbered, Hello Kitty hoodie in shocking pink or black; natch, I chose pink. Number 171/1808 in fact. If Kitty isn't your cup o' cuppa, Hoodsbee offers a selection of other characters. "Mimi the Curious Fox" is my other fave, she "loves to hike up hills" and "pick flowers for her friends". How could I not love Mimi?

Cheers and Follow @JennyPopNet