And yet another D*Con report by BlackoutNights

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

And yet another D*Con report

POSTED BY: BLACKOUTNIGHTS
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 8, 2004 08:07
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VIEWED: 568
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Wednesday, September 8, 2004 8:07 AM

This report is a bit different. You have been warned.

I've been going to Dragon Con for since I was a wee lad of...oh 12 or 13. It's always been fun. See, I was one of those freaky comic book nerds in high school. Yeah, the guy who sat in the back of class with the messed up hair who the girls seemed to like all-right but was too dense to know when they were flirting with him. That was me. I remember one guy in 7th grade condemning me for reading a comic book before class. "I didn't even read those when I was a kid," he said. I looked up briefly and informed him he was still a kid, then went back to reading whatever it was at the time. Probably Marvel's "Secret Wars".

Anyhow, back in those days before the dawn of time, the D*Con was much smaller. I think it was called something else too, like the Fantasy Con or something like that. I'd try to trade comics with the dealers, and being a kid couldn't understand why they wouldn't want to trade a newer comic that had just hit the market for an older, beat-up piece of crap. *shrug* I, of course, possessed the piece of crap. So sue me. There weren't a whole lot of guests either, I think like the biggest name they had one year was Marc Singer. Voltron was hot shit. But I digress...

Years later, I had left the comic scene, but my friend James got into it and started collecting. Because of him, I got back into collecting in the early 90's. I spent a fortune and now have mostly worthless boxes sitting around waiting to catch fire (I do have a few prizes). Still, it was fun. James and I would go to the conventions and shop around for good deals and trades.

Then we stopped going for a while, and cranked back up again last year. Neither of us really collects anymore, except for like rare silver age books or sometimes something from the 70's. I was quite surprised when I learned the Firefly guests were going to be there this year. "Sure, I guess a quality show like that is bound to have a few fans, thank God. They did choose to make a movie, after all."

Friday was undoable. I've got commitments to keep and a job to do. Saturday, James and I arrived around 9:45 a.m. in downtown Atlanta from north Georgia. (By the way, if you've read this far, thanks). Now, last year the parade went into the Marriott, or Hyatt or whatever hotel it is by going underneath the large overhang. So, we hung out on the steps by one of these gigantic lion-statue thingies. There were a crowd of folks there, but they left at one point and disappeared down a side-street. "Maybe we should follow them," I told James. "Nah, you know how many times I've followed the crowd and gone nowhere," he says. So...30 minutes later there's no parade and it turns out we missed it. Great.

But that's OK because I'm going to see the Firefly panel later in the day. At least, that's what I thought. For some reason or other, I had it in my mind that it started at 1 p.m., so I missed it because it started at 11:30 a.m. (I know, what kind of a report is this, right?)

I did get to meet the BDH's later that day. Really cool folks. Unfortunately, as typical whenever I meet someone I admire, my mind goes blank, I have no idea what's happening and whatever comes out of my mouth makes no sense at all. I'm sure Jewel, Nathan and Adam must have thought, "What the hell is the matter with this guy?" But at least they were polite. Same thing happened when I met Stone Gossard, dammit. So, I have no news to report of anything they said, at least on Saturday. Later that day, I grabbed a stogie (my newest tradition begun in 2003) from the newsstand in the mall and smoked it up. James also bought me a beer for my birthday which was really cool. (Cheers!)

Sunday I flew solo. Met the guy at the Firefly booth in charge of the movie web site. (Sorry dude, I forget your name). Good job on the postcards, guys. I've gotta say, the fan promotion is stellar! Kudos, guys and gals. Then I went downstairs and again met Nathan. I was really impressed he remembered me — though thinking about it now, that might not be such a good thing after all...hmmmm. Anyhow, got my mug snapped with our Cap'n and will probably send it over sometime in the next few days to the movie site to get 500 points. So then, for the curious, you'll know who I am. I might post a link and edit this post when I do, but don't bet your ass on it.

I actually made the Sunday Firefly panel. Got there early after having a couple of brews in the pub (I use that term loosely) upstairs. Some girl sat next to me, and I tried to make idle chit-chat which she, of course, did her best to ignore. I finally got the hint and shut-up. Nathan and Jewel were hilarious. Loved the stormtrooper bit hauling them off, really entertaining. For once, I didn't fall asleep during a panel. (Usually, those things are great places to get a few zzzz's in with the lights off).

The one thing I really remember from the panel was someone commenting on how the crew seem to follow Nathan, and Nathan takes the lead even in real life. Nathan and Jewel acknowledged that seems to be th case, and Nathan took advantage of it and started telling Jewel to do stuff like tell stories, and pick members of the audience to ask questions...which Jewel did.

From there, it was back upstairs for another cold beer. And yes, that was me that drank the last of the keg of Samuel Adams, thank you very much. Then I went and tried a role-playing game, got killed, and went back home.

So...you made it to the end of my wordy post? Thanks. I think I've got a real fan.

If you print it out, I'll autograph it for you.

...but it'll cost you $20.

"Art is Ego. Art is, "I think this is good, therefore I'm going to present it to you." That is Ego. This is the Id. If I don't walk out on stage thinking I'm the baddest mother-fucker of all time, then I'm a charlatan. And it doesn't matter if you think I am, or he thinks I am, or she thinks I am—fuck you all, man. I don't give a fuck what you think. You're either in, or you're out, and I'm playing to the in."—Greg Dulli of The Twilight Singers.

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