Salt Lake Comic Con 2013 Recap (3 Days Of Stan Lee, Q & Cosplay Galore)
The Fans
If you believe everything you read on the internet, here is how a conversation with a female comic book fan is supposed to go: (Girl in a Marvel Comics shirt walks up to a fat virgin guy wearing a bathrobe and Spiderman underoos.) Guy: Ew, look at the slut trying to pretend she's a real geek! What a poser! Girl: Excuse me? Guy: You're a girl. Girls don't like comics and girls don't play games and girls only pretend to do so to get hot boyfriends like me. Girl: I am a real fan. I know more than you. I can name all of the characters on my shirt and what issue they originally came out in and you live in your parents' basement with your collection of action figures. Guy: Nuh-uh! LOOK AT ME! I HAVE A PEE-PEE AND A PLASTIC LIGHTSABER! HAHAHA! GIRLS SUCK! Yes, that's overgeneralizing, but I read notalwaysright.com a lot and if there's one set in a comic book store, they all seem to follow this pattern. (The same is also true for stories about people running into gays.) While standing in line with me, one person gleefully looked forward to the number of guys who would tell her she wasn't a real fan and who would try to out-geek her. To this person and people everywhere, I say, LIFE DOES NOT IMITATE HUMOR WEBSITES. She did get to out-geek someone. It was while we were talking to a booth operator and he commented that Manu Bennett, the Voice of Smaug, was there as a special guest. This person and I (my friend, not the booth guy) are a dangerous combination. We went on a Ghost Tour bus in Dublin last year and kept correcting the tour guide from the front row of seats, sometimes in creepy unison. We were snarky, we were well-researched and we were annoying Yankees in Ireland. So yeah, when told about Manu Bennett, we did the unison "NO HE'S NOT" to the assertion that anyone but Benedict Cumberbatch was the Voice of Smaug. Other than that, the con was lacking in the kind of douchebags that the internet claims you should find anywhere that geeks congregate. It's true that some guys either stared in admiration at my rack or were really slow readers when they took a look at my Darth Vader Was Framed shirt. (I'm a little well-endowed, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that some guys in their 20's read at a 2nd-grade level.) This was a con where I saw a lot of families. There was a River Song with Dalek children. A mom in a Wonder Woman outfit held a baby in a Superman onesie. Here are my favorite fun-for-the-whole-family pictures: Here's my only real beef with the fans. At the William Shatner presentation, there was a line for the Q&A. There were a couple of teenagers, two middle-aged women who wanted him to say catchphrases and a cute Irish man who got a fist-bump for his nation. There was also a group of three little girls dressed as My Little Pony characters--I heard them referred to as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were next in line when the moderator said we had to wrap it up and let the fans in for the Stan Lee show. Really, SLC? It's so important for you to have a geekgasm when William Shatner says "Denny Crane" to you that you wouldn't let three little girls go first? For that, I say, "For shame."
That's Kaki pronounced like the pants, thank you very much, my family nickname and writing name. I am a Red Sox-loving, Doctor Who-quoting, Shaara-reading walking string quartet of a Mormon writer from Boston. I currently work 40 hours at a stressful desk job with a salary that lets me pick up and travel to places like Ireland or Philadelphia. I have no husband or kids, but I have five nephews to keep me entertained. When not writing, working or eating too much Indian food, I'm always looking for something new to learn, whether it's French or family history.
If you believe everything you read on the internet, here is how a conversation with a female comic book fan is supposed to go: (Girl in a Marvel Comics shirt walks up to a fat virgin guy wearing a bathrobe and Spiderman underoos.) Guy: Ew, look at the slut trying to pretend she's a real geek! What a poser! Girl: Excuse me? Guy: You're a girl. Girls don't like comics and girls don't play games and girls only pretend to do so to get hot boyfriends like me. Girl: I am a real fan. I know more than you. I can name all of the characters on my shirt and what issue they originally came out in and you live in your parents' basement with your collection of action figures. Guy: Nuh-uh! LOOK AT ME! I HAVE A PEE-PEE AND A PLASTIC LIGHTSABER! HAHAHA! GIRLS SUCK! Yes, that's overgeneralizing, but I read notalwaysright.com a lot and if there's one set in a comic book store, they all seem to follow this pattern. (The same is also true for stories about people running into gays.) While standing in line with me, one person gleefully looked forward to the number of guys who would tell her she wasn't a real fan and who would try to out-geek her. To this person and people everywhere, I say, LIFE DOES NOT IMITATE HUMOR WEBSITES. She did get to out-geek someone. It was while we were talking to a booth operator and he commented that Manu Bennett, the Voice of Smaug, was there as a special guest. This person and I (my friend, not the booth guy) are a dangerous combination. We went on a Ghost Tour bus in Dublin last year and kept correcting the tour guide from the front row of seats, sometimes in creepy unison. We were snarky, we were well-researched and we were annoying Yankees in Ireland. So yeah, when told about Manu Bennett, we did the unison "NO HE'S NOT" to the assertion that anyone but Benedict Cumberbatch was the Voice of Smaug. Other than that, the con was lacking in the kind of douchebags that the internet claims you should find anywhere that geeks congregate. It's true that some guys either stared in admiration at my rack or were really slow readers when they took a look at my Darth Vader Was Framed shirt. (I'm a little well-endowed, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that some guys in their 20's read at a 2nd-grade level.) This was a con where I saw a lot of families. There was a River Song with Dalek children. A mom in a Wonder Woman outfit held a baby in a Superman onesie. Here are my favorite fun-for-the-whole-family pictures: 
Here's my only real beef with the fans. At the William Shatner presentation, there was a line for the Q&A. There were a couple of teenagers, two middle-aged women who wanted him to say catchphrases and a cute Irish man who got a fist-bump for his nation. There was also a group of three little girls dressed as My Little Pony characters--I heard them referred to as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were next in line when the moderator said we had to wrap it up and let the fans in for the Stan Lee show. Really, SLC? It's so important for you to have a geekgasm when William Shatner says "Denny Crane" to you that you wouldn't let three little girls go first? For that, I say, "For shame."