first of all, i am not a comic dude. i had a short career as a collector in elementary school. my neighborhood gang used to go to the drugstore (People's), gaffle comics and Now & Laters, never read them, lookup price guides in the back of mags, trade them, and generally forget about em... my comic career ended when an older dude from the neighborhood pulled off a super-lopsided trade with me (he took my Punisher mini-series for a beat up copy of Ironman #100).

anyway, i am always down to go checkout subcultures, the nerdier... the better. and what's nerdier than Comicon?

before heading to Javitz center, you always got to stop by Manganaro's Heroboy for some big ass italian subs...

so when i first get there, i see a dude in a spiderman suit. i'm thinking "wow, that's cool, some dude is geared up as spidey, head to toe". A couple more steps in, I saw like 3 more spideys... they're everywhere... spideys are kinda the tools of comicon.

on the other end of the nerdus spectrum... these guys are the studs of comicon... they even have their own meeting place....

you decide.

i think this was a special premium event. pay extra and get your picture taken with a harem of Return of the Jedi Leahs. i won't lie, i was feeling it.

new Hellboy movie coming out...

a common scene at comicon: 2 dudes in full costume recognize the realness of each other's costume, so they take a picture together. they don't even talk to each other. it just happens. seriously, you see this everywhere. it's like woodman doing a live mash-up ceci peniston and tone loc.

again, you decide.

they had a huge section for Magic players. can someone explain to me what's going on. i tried watching for a minute, but nothing registered. just a bunch of dudes cupping cards and moving fake gems on a board.

another comicon phenomenon: swords. there were dudes walking around with swords on their back. there's even sword dealers. the one in the picture sold swords and bongs. as i was taking flicks of his setup, he was giving the ice grill and trying to read my retail badge. dude, don't worry, we won't steal your idea here....

another sword dealer. check the body expression of the dude... which sword shall i wield?

did i mention it was crowded as hell? the convention took up the biggest hall in the Javitz center and the place was packed. there were 30 minute lines for the ATM, and dudes were in massive lines with stacks of comics to be signed... i was only there for a little over an hour and only caught about a eighth of the show...

life size hulk sculpture was pretty badass...

part 2 coming...