by Connie Armijo, Reporter

So the first day was exactly what I expected. There were tons of people lined up and waiting anxiously to get in. I remember seeing all of the little kids excited and possibly not knowing what to expect behind the comic con walls. Most of these kids were probably attending their first convention. I remember talking to a little boy and asking him if he was ready to see a bunch of superheroes and buy some awesome stuff with his dad (who is clearly a super fan as well) and he just gave me the biggest missing tooth smile… So freakin’ cute!

To be honest I really don’t remember much of the first day. By 4 o’clock I had already had quite a few beers in me because I was trying to stay awake and alert simply because I hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before and had been on a plane all day previously. Note to self: Bring way more stuff to do on the four hour flight because I might be sitting alone the whole time. Really the first thing that I can remember seeing, and forgive me, but the Wonder Woman they have hired for the convention? In case anybody is unaware and is blind or has never read a Wonder Woman comic she is curvy. She is a real woman. When I go to conventions and I see it cosplayers that are clearly hired for the event I want to want to take pictures of them or with them and being that Wonder Woman is my favorite it would’ve been nice to get one but sadly skinny twig Wonder Woman did not impress me. She was very out of place.

The ComicsOnline Podcast panel was super fun even though it was very short. We usually podcast for about 90 minutes and this panel was only half that. Even so, I was very happy with the way that it turned out. I was really nervous, because some of us aren’t really people persons (okay, maybe just me),  and I had to sit in front a bunch of people I didn’t know. We talked about Nelly, The Walking Dead and touched on The Sixth Gun panel on Saturday. Oh, and did I mention we talked about Nelly. What did that guy even sing? The crowd was amazing simply because they actually showed up. I like the questions even though some of them seemed like it was just a talk but it kept us and the crowd entertained. That was pretty much the end to our night, and thank God.  I was so tired, and I was destined to chip a tooth later that night–that was very important and I couldn’t miss out on that. Yeah that totally happened.

Day 2 was instantly better because I had a little bit more sleep and decided to not drink at all until later that night. First of all I know this has nothing to do with anything comic related however, we went to Pappy’s BBQ before we went to the con, and oh my GOSH! Just go, don’t even question it, just go. Any who, we walk into the convention and I already notice there is 3 times more people 10 times more cosplayers. Which, to me, is a big part of a good convention experience. People want to see people dressed up. They could be really good, or they could be really bad. Regardless it’s always fun and entertaining.

Now I’m about to go on a rant about these conventions that I always have because I just quite don’t understand why it is the way it is. Let me just point out that this would be the first time I would see Stan Lee in person. I’ve been way too busy with work and life during previous opportunities and have just never had the chance. And when I say see him I mean literally just get a glimpse of him… Don’t judge me.  I was going to make sure that I would see him this time. And after waiting for what probably was an hour in this crowd, I finally got my glimpse of him. I’m not going to lie… I cried a little. And as I stood there enjoying this unicorn moment and looking at all of these fans waiting to meet him and get his autograph I noticed the giant yellow signs at the corner of each booth saying basically “No photos allowed”.

Every time I see the sign it angers me. People come to these convention and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in a lifetime on books, movies, TV shows, toys, action figures, clothing, pencils, stickers… Because they are fans. These celebrities would not be where they are today if it wasn’t for the fans. We can’t take a picture from 30 feet away? We have to spend 50 dollars for a signature. And we do it because we’re fans. To me that’s a pretty cool opportunity, but also very sad.

Unfortunately I couldn’t stand in line to get a signature from Stan this time because I was on a mission to find THE comic book for my boyfriend’s collection. I found the silver age Avengers #4. I was pretty happy I actually found it.

So the final thing that we did was The Sixth Gun panel. Now let me just start off by saying that these guys are absolutely incredible. Brian and Cullen were both very nice and fun to be around. The panel actually went really well, people asked questions and they gave answers, but my favorite part of the entire panel was the very last few minutes. Being an artist myself, it’s very inspirational to hear success stories. They talked about “wannabes”. I myself work in another artistic industry.  In tattooing, many people want to make a career out of it but never will because they don’t dedicate themselves and  just don’t take the time necessary to cultivate the level of skill required to be a professional. It is way more common to find these “wannabes” than  someone that lives and breathes what they want to do for a living everyday for the rest of their life. Cullen Bunn said it perfectly and forgive my memory if my recollection isn’t perfect: “If you want to be a writer then write at least 30 minutes a day. People say ‘Life gets in the way,’ but the truth is that if you can’t sit down for 30 minutes a day and do what you basically claim you are and what you love to do such as be a writer, artist, creator… whatever! You are wannabe.” Those words are absolutely 100% true. I related a lot to Brian specifically because we are both artists. He is obviously way higher up the chain of success than I am but we are both devoted professional artists. Art is our life–our everything. We put our emotions and imagination into our drawings.

I could go on for hours about how much these two men inspired me. If I want something bad enough only I can make it happen. I’m tearing up now just speaking these words to myself. Anyone that knows me knows that I’m a very emotional person. That panel MADE this convention for me. I feel like there’s always one of those moments for everyone at events like Wizard World. That was mine. I wish Cullen and Brian nothing but the best of luck in life. May the force be with you… Always.

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