WizardWorld Chicago ComicCon Diary, Day 2

It took me 34 years (on the nose, it turns out) to get to my first real comic-book convention, the WizardWorld Chicago ComicCon. In tow was my 6-year-old son Riley, my cousin (and former Film Yap webmaster) Mike Rippy, and his 3-year-old daughter Grace. We arrived on Day 2 of the Con, when the festivities were really ramping up, and decided to do a running diary of our first day's experiences.

11:15 am: Arrive at the Stephens Convention Center. Guests are beginning to trickle in, and our first encounter with a costume was a Star Wars Sandtrooper (sans helmet; he was carrying it rather than wearing it). There was no line at the press booth, so we nabbed our wristbands and sauntered into the lobby area waiting for noon to hit and the doors to open.

11:26 am: Apparently, we got too close to the door and we were told we had to stand back. Also, press does not enter here; only exhibitors are allowed to enter in the MAIN ENTRANCE, regardless of the sign that says "Wristbands Only." It's a fire hazard, you know.

11:30 am: After doing loops around the lobby — hoping to not inadvertently cause the deaths by fire of thousands of people by standing in the wrong place — we notice a large crowd of at least 200 people standing in line for admission. In a slight panic, we go back to the yellow-shirted guards keeping the con from burning down and ask them where the press goes in. They stare back at us, glassy-eyed, not sure of how to respond, and finally direct us to Hall D, where the throng of rabid congoers is loitering.

11:35 am: Thinking this must not be right, we go back to the press booth and ask them where we go in. Do we have to stand in line with everyone else, or can we use our wristbands to go in where it says "Wristbands Only"? More vacant looks, and we're directed to a guy sitting in front of a laptop. After 30 seconds of ignoring us, Riley bumps his booth and he finally looks up. "Where do the press go in? Can we go in over there?" He looks back and forth, then back at me.

"Did you try to get in there?" he says.

"Yes, they said I couldn't enter until noon, but that I didn't go in there."

"Well, then you can't get in there."

We walk off, and Mike says, "That's just what they need running that. A jerk."

11:40 am: People in costume begin arriving, most notably a guy dressed as Spider-Man and another as the Scarlet Spider. Riley stares but recoils at the suggestion of taking a picture with him. Grace does, though, as do I, and Riley stares but still doesn't get a picture.

11:46 am: A woman walks by telling everyone they have to stand amongst the sea of moviegoers. We run back to the press booth and ask again exactly where in the hell we're supposed to enter. They look around again, one walks off to ask, then returns and says only "Well, you don't have to go in now."

11:49 am: We stop the woman shooing the conventiongoers to Hall D and ask her where the press goes into this thing, and she says, "You go in right there, and the kids obviously can too," pointing at the main entrance with the large "Wristbands Only" sign. Meanwhile, costumed crusaders are all over — Magneto and Mystique, people dressed as Ghostbusters, the Joker and Harley Quinn among them. Brian Knobbs, a pro wrestler who was part of the tag team the Nasty Boys, casually passes by me. Riley finally musters the courage to get his picture with the Spider-Men, who crouch next to him and hold up their hands doing the web-shooter thing. Riley did the same, but committed the geek faux pas of not extending his thumb.

Noon: People start going into the convention, and we sneak over to the main entrance, where we're stopped by a yellowshirt, who tells us we cannot enter here. We protest, saying the woman that was walking around told us to go in here. Another yellowshirt swoops in to back up his colleague, and we repeat our protest. He says, "Well, go ask the security guy. He'll know." We do, he directs us to yet another yellowshirt who casually waves us in, and the show is on.

12:15 pm: Riley's eyes are like saucers as we navigate an endless ocean of action figures, T-shirts (including a mountainous display of shirts from Stylin' Online), swords, posters and accessories out the wazoo. Before our trip, he "earned" a cool $60 to spend at the con from his various grandparents performing hard labor like picking up sticks in the yard and sweeping off the deck. He was chomping at the bit to buy something awesome. At the top of his list was 1) an "Assassin's Creed" figure (he started playing that on the sly at his Grammie and Grampie's house some time back), or 2) Lion-O's glove from "Thundercats" (in addition to a 20 spot, his Papaw had bought him a new Sword of Omens just yesterday, which instantly made me envious, as I've wanted one of those literally since I was his age). Completely transfixed by the cornucopia of avarice before him, he digs through Captain Americas, Iron Men, Spider-Men, Wolverines and slasher-movie figures, before carefully eyeing the "HALO" collection and reluctantly moving on.

12:25 pm: "Ghostbusters" figures gives us our first real taste of temptation. The price tag, though, proves a stopper: $400 for a set of 12-inch figures (a nice set, but not something we were even close to able to afford), with an 8-inch set just below it with each Ghostbuster, including a Venkman piece (complete with Slimer) that gave Riley real pause. Though Dad appreciated it more than him, the Walter Peck figure (which comes with the Containment Unit)? Not so much. Still, at $35 a Ghostbuster, he passed for the moment.

12:30 pm: A guy in a really wicked-looking Moon Knight costume saunters by. I'm not quick enough with the camera to get a shot, though. Our attention is snatched up by a 15-inch Lion-O figure that comes with both a Sword of Omens and the claw that cost $40. We also encounter a Batman figure from the "Arkham Asylum" video game to which Riley gives a second look.

12:35 pm: Jackpot, kind of, as Riley finds some smaller "Assassin's Creed" figures, though not one of the main character. At $15 each, they're affordable, but I'm still confident he can find his real score, so I invoke the terms of our previous agreement: We walk all around the place, see what's there, then we think about buying. He protests: "But Dad, I can live with those!"

12:33 pm: Riley grabs another "HALO" figure and says "Oh, Dad! I want this one!" I look at it. $15 says the price tag ... and the other tag says "Wal-Mart: $9.97." We pass on it.

12:40 pm: Mike and Grace, who had separated from us briefly, meet back up with us and request a quick break for some grub. Just in time. I borrowed some of Riley's cash since I had none of my own; this is important for later.

12:42 pm: While we're in line for our food, the PA system reminds us that the Lou Ferrigno Q&A starts at 1 p.m. That was one of the panels we'd hoped to attend, so we paid for our $6 slice of pizza and scarfed it down, Riley protesting the whole time: "OK, we can buy the 'Assassin's Creed' guys when we're done, right?" I half-heartedly nod: "After the Hulk thing," I said. Riley sulked while we Hulked.

1:03 pm: We were a little late getting into the Ferrigno Q&A, so we sat in the back. Grace is instantly bored to tears and starts rolling around on her dad's lap and asking him random questions over his protests that she listen. Riley feigns interest.

1:08 pm: "Dad, when is this going to be over?"

1:25 pm: I make the decision to ask a question. The hall is relatively full, but the line for questions is short, which is to say no one is at the microphone. I grab Riley and jump up, nosing up to the mic and waiting for my turn to talk. "Can you talk about your involvement in the TV movies in the '80s?," I ask. "How was it revisiting the Hulk character, and how did you feel about them expanding other Marvel characters into the show's ethos?" (Note: This was the question I intended to ask. I think my actual words were mostly a garbled collection of ahhs, ers and "Remember when you fought that redneck Hulk who tried to replicate your accident? THAT WAS AWESOME!")

1:26 pm: Lou, who you all know is deaf, somehow answers my question, but answers as if I were asking about the new Hulk movie, not the TV movies. I regroup, though, as he asks about the second part of my question: "How did you feel about them introducing characters like Daredevil and Thor into the TV movies?" By the way, he thought it was great and went on to talk about how New World Pictures produced the TV movies, then talked more about the Eric Bana/Edward Norton movies and the upcoming "Avengers" flick.

1:43 pm: "One more question!"; "Daddy, I have to go potty."

1:50 pm: After the Ferrigno Q&A, I was excited to see to the pro wrestling panel, which was in the same room beginning at 2 p.m. By this time the strain from Riley not being able to buy his figures was making him bleed from the ears, and Grace's eyes were strangely glazed over, as if she were ready to start speaking in tongues. Still, we persevered.

1:55 pm: The guy who moderated the Ferrigno Q&A comes back in and introduces himself as The Guy Who Won Season 2 of Stan Lee's "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" (a show, by the way, I, a legitimate superhero freak, endured for exactly 2/3 of an episode). He also says he's moderating the pro wrestling panel, but that the wrestlers were busy at their booths and really, who's going to turn down $20 a signature to come talk about wrestling for free? (Note: I'm paraphrasing). So, he says, there may or may not be a pro wrestling panel, but until then, let's talk about wrestling. He pulls out the talking points he studied up on this morning his vast knowledge of pro wrestling history to talk about how wrestling was once regional but now isn't because the WWE has bought out everyone and homogenized the product. (Again, I'm paraphrasing.) He then asks people who their favorite wrestlers are, stumbles over a few names, makes a few jokes. Riley tries to start a "C. M. Punk" chant at my behest and very nearly succeeds. (Note: C.M. Punk is soon to be the next big thing in wrestling, a really smart wrestler who uses inside knowledge of the sport that makes the Internet fans who think they have this whole thing figured out geek out. Riley is enamored with him, as am I; it made me smile when the night before we left for Chicago, Riley asked if we'd be able to go to C. M. Punk's house since he is from Chicago.)

2:03 pm: The Guy Who Won... steps out to try to wrangle the wrestlers and the crowd starts getting restless. On the way out the door, he tells a guy with salt-and-pepper hair in a Green Lantern costume to start singing campfire songs.

2:06 pm: Green Lantern gets up in front of the crowd and, in a noble effort to keep us entertained, leads us in a recital of the Green Lantern oath. When he finishes, he creeps back to his seat only to be accosted by a guy in an Aquaman costume who greets his Justice League colleague. After 30 seconds, they both sit down and people start leaving. Mike and Grace are thinking about heading back to the hotel for a nap, so we decide to torpedo this panel and get Riley's shopping out of the way.

2:09 pm: We head back down the escalator to the main hall. I'm trying to convince Riley to buy the Venkman figure or maybe the Lion-O, but he's steadfast in buying his third-tier figures from the video game he's been playing. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Torrie Wilson, aka the Wrestlers, saunter past us. I geek out for a moment, then remember Bruti's recent arrest for having cocaine at the tollbooth where he worked, and keep on walking.

2:11 pm: Riley hasn't stopped talking about the "Assassin's Creed" guys he was going to buy since about 2:01 p.m., and I again try to reason with him. "Let's go find the real guy you want, so you don't waste your money." His shoulders drop and he starts to protest when I stop in front of a rack of toys. He starts whining about how he still wants those guys. This lasts for about 15 seconds before I give him the shifting eyes: first him, then the "Assassin's Creed" figure he'd been looking for. He looks at me, then at the figure, then back at me in a moment of sudden realization that he just found what he was looking for. He grabs it and paws it hungrily, his hands shaking slightly. I casually pull out my wallet and hand him a twenty and a five (yes, this figure was $25).

2:15 pm: Riley still has money left and is itching to part with it. "What do you want to get?" I ask. "The Peter Venkman? The Lion-O?" Riley decides on the Venkman.

2:20 pm: We can't find the Venkman with the Slimer, but we look at a variety of Voltrons, G. I. Joes, Thundercats and other figures before he changes his mind and decides he wants the "Batman: Arkham Asylum" game. I look around trying to remember which of the dozens of booths we saw it at.

2:23 pm: We find it! It's the armored Batman, which is basically a costume upgrade you get through the game. The guy running the booth immediately tells us that there's another one there too, one holding a Batarang. Riley decides on that, and the guy quickly asks if he likes Thor. Riley looks at him as if he were asking him if he liked candy or breathing. Turns out the guy has these big Thor and Loki figures on sale for $18 a piece (they're legitimately $20-$25 a piece at comic shops). The Batman runs $25, but he'll give us all three of them for $50. Riley looks at me hopefully. I have exactly $25 in cash, but I remember I owe him $9 for food, which leaves about $16 unaccounted for. I shrug my shoulders. "What the heck. It's a good deal." I break out my credit card. The guy's card machine malfunctions, giving Riley the chance to eyeball these silly little Star Wars pens. The guy tells him to take one on the house, and he picks out a Luke Skywalker one. Score!

2:30 pm: We head for the door, but not before we see guys dressed as Bane and Deadpool. Riley bravely asks Deadpool if he can take a picture with him. He says yes, and this guy (who is at least 6'7" and rail-thin) awkwardly squats down in his Spandex, pulls out his prop Uzis and holds them up next to Riley as I snap the pic.

2:32 pm: As we're exiting, I spot a guy as dressed as the "Assassin's Creed" dude talking to a guy dressed as Velasquez from "Aliens." (Oddly, this is not the first character cross-dressing we saw; about 15 minutes earlier, a somewhat portly guy was dressed up in full Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman regalia). I point him out and Riley almost has a heart attack. He walks up to "Ezio" and asks if he can take a picture with him. The guy is unprepared for this and says "Uh ... sure." He has trouble popping out his wrist blades but finally does as Riley sits there transfixed. I get the pic and we take off.

2:43 pm: We stop off at McDonald's for a bathroom break and spot another guy dressed as Deadpool riding a motorcycle. He's not wearing his mask for two reasons: 1) safety, and 2) the level of awesomeness from that act might make the Earth fall out of its axis or explode altogether.