Archive for ‘Comics’
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I’m happy to say (I think) that I am officially too old to go dog-piling into a hotel room with five or six of my closest friends. My back can’t handle floors the way it used to, and I need space to spread out.
I’d love to hear some of your favorite “crammed in a hotel room at a con” stories that anyone might care to share!
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This was mentioned in the comments a couple of strips ago, so I think it’s funny–but a lot of the good costumes always seem to lose to someone with a skimpy outfit and plenty o’ cleavage. Poor Miyoko is a victim of it this time! She was robbed, right?
Let us shift to Skip for but a moment, to see what he’s up to.
If you’ve ever been to San Diego before, you know that some of the vendors have huge displays–giant statues, robots, big television screens, giant Lego constructions, and so forth. If you happen to be one of those people who like taking pictures of said item, you are going to have to fight a sea of humanity to get close enough to get a shot without 500 bozos in the frame. And some of them won’t ever get out of the way, lingering in front of the piece for seemingly ever. The Ecto-1 and Odin’s Throne at the Marvel booth are great examples of this.
So here, friends, I give you Skip’s answer to those people.
Nice strategic placement of Skip’s badge in panel 4 btw, Stan!
Not being a cosplayer myself, I always wonder what kinds of reactions people in costume have when they see other people in similar costumes. Is it kind of like getting caught wearing the same dress as someone else at a party? Or is it just assumed that there are going to be a bunch of Harley Quinns, Lara Crofts, and Boba Fetts at the con? And, do they silently compare their costumes to others dressed as the same character? Kind of like “my costume is WAY better than his?” Or “shit, I need to step it up–she looks much better than I do in this getup!”
Inquiring minds want to know. Heck, I’m going to ask my favorite cosplayer, Amber of amberunmasked.com, these exact questions. Here’s what she had to say:
“Unfortunately, costuming does feel very competitive. I think most people want to be unique unless it makes sense to be in a group like the Stormtroopers. But when I’m Wonder Woman, sure, I want to be the only one. Luckily, it’s rare for two costumes to look exactly alike unless they’re store bought; mine are my own original versions so unless someone really goes out of their way to copy my design, no one will have the same version I do. There are popular characters that you can’t expect to be the only one. With Firestar, I was really glad to be the only one and still be recognizable.
I think everyone compares the quality of their craftsmanship when they see another costume, whether it’s the same character or not. I know so many extremely talented people because of the superhero costuming forum and I feel like I’m still a noob because all I do is sew blocks of spandex together when there are folks sculpting clay and casting molds to create the same quality of costume made in Hollywood. I definitely get jealous but if I know the person or know anything about how the suit was made, then I take it for inspiration. What really bothers me is when I see pretty girls in store bought and bad outfits getting tons of attention because simply because there’s short shirts and cleavage involved. There are plenty of costumes that warrant photographing but they might be modest.
Sometimes I’m not silent at all. I want to know how someone made their suit so I ask. Then I’m annoyed if I find out they didn’t and had it custom created and paid hundreds for it; I find it annoying because I feel like I’ll never be able to afford anything like that or have the skills to make it.”
Thanks, Amber! You RoXXor!
At last we get to see Miyoko’s costume–Lara Croft. Not the most original costume, I realize, but Croft is still one that garners a lot of stares from the unwashed convention masses, particularly if the costume-ee wears it well. And Miyoko certainly does.
And just in case you were wondering, the dude in Panel 3 isn’t copping a real feel–his hand is further away than it looks. He’s mocking it, as many fanboys are wont to do. 
Isn’t there a comedian out there whose material includes that “what man can watch a woman eating a banana and NOT think about a blowjob?”
At least until that whole biting the banana bit.
Stan had a lot of fun with the Con concession stand–nothing like cheese-filled fried Twinkies, chocolate pork rinds, and aged dried hot dogs to get my tummy tingling. I try hard when I am set up a con to try to avoid the concession stands at most costs, particularly if there are ample restaurants in the area–at San Diego this year I’d take the quick walk to Subway for a Turkey sandwich rather than dropping ten bucks on something I will regret eating later.
A free SubCulture: the TPB for the first person who can tell me where Arthur’s and Jason’s quotes are from.
I have tons of friends who are artists in the industry, and I like to make a point of asking them what some of their most unusual sketch requests have been for that particular show over a few drinks. You’d be amazed at some of the things that people ask for. I don’t exactly remember where the “Power Girl in glue” joke started, but I can’t take credit for it–I know it came up in one of these aforementioned conversations, but as a joke to laugh about rather than an actual request.
Stan can probably shed more light on this one, and hopefully David Dwonch will pop in this week too. He has one I know you all MUST hear.
Here’s another brief take at those borderline-criminal anime statues that we see in the back of Previews every month. We’ve already addressed in a previous strip that Arthur has a weakness for these statues. And if you have ever been to Comic-Con, you’ll see that there are TONS of these kinds of things for sale all over the place, from a number of vendors.
How do I feel about these things? For the most part, they are pretty harmless. In fact, I think Kotobukiya, in particular, puts out some pretty nice stuff (I actually own this one). There are a few, however, that are pretty strange.
I know that everyone has a fetish or a weakness, and power to them as far as I am concerned. But there are some pretty risque ones out there, with panty shots, over-the-top cleavage, in French maid outfits and carrying giant phallus-symbolic guns that I think are rather, well, troubling. And hey, if you have a couple of these, good news for you! We all like high-quality cheesecake!
But how my twisted brain works is that surely there are people somewhere who have ROOMS filled with this kind of semi-soft porn (HA! I made a pun!) statuary. The imagery makes me giggle, just a little.
And maybe Stan can read some of the fine print for us–I’m old and my eyes are going!
One of these days we’ll have to take a look at Arthur’s room. I’m curious what he has in there!
