New York ComicCon

On October 5th, 2012, my oldest son Ashton turned 13. That's right, I'm a parent to a teenager.

The reality seems a little bit off here. I still consider us to be parents of toddlers, rookies in the parenting world. But apparently, that is not the case. It sneaks up on you. We've seen Ashton every day, it's not like he was a sweet, loving little boy one day and then BAM... teenager. He's been changing little-by-little all year long. If we're being honest, then I have to say I've considered him a teenager for the last six months.

But what do you get a teenager for his birthday? Toys are not his thing anymore. There's only so much video game playing I can handle. And he is well supplied with music and iTunes gift cards.

When we asked Ashton what he wanted for his birthday, there were two things. The first was a pair of noise canceling (daddy yelling negating) headphones. The second was toys from the movie Aliens.

Ashton's turning into something of a collector in his own right. Loving the movie Aliens so much that he's begun seeking out merchandise from it. Whether it was accidental or a direct influence, his tastes turn away from current day obsessions and his loves are from the past. Alien, Predator, Terminator, James Bond, and other things hold his attention. So when he says he wants Alien toys for his birthday, Lorie and I sigh heavily. This is not a quick run to Target.

The other factor in here is how hard he worked this last summer. He decided he wanted to earn extra money and in May asked me for permission to mow other people's lawns. He made business cards and walked the neighborhood looking for business. He only locked down two customers, but between the two of them he was able to build up quite a bank account. He was allowed to use a portion of that money on fun stuff. His first choice was Nerf weaponry. I turned that down, as there's only so any Nerf guns we can store in the house and the back yard.

So... a good way to meet both the needs of allowing him to spend some hard-earned cash and to give him a memorable birthday treat was to take him to the New York ComicCon.

We got up at 4 A.M. on a Friday, drove the five hours to the Javitz center in New York, spent all day at the convention, met my sister for a chat over appetizers (I'm not allowed to say where we ate), and then we headed home. Quite the day.



The Empire State Building off in the distance.




We both loved seeing all the costumes there.




Aquaman was being proudly featured at the DC booth.



Ashton got to see the cargo loader from Aliens up close and personal.




We were exhausted at lunch. Sitting in a corner on the floor. My back was giving me problems all day.



I scored a retro-cloth Mego like pair of figures of the Six Million Dollar Man and Bigfoot.



Found the Human Torch Hot Wheels car from the seventies. For some reason, I'm a sucker for the super-hero Hot Wheels and Corgi cars.



And Scooby Doo. I finally have my Mystery Machine!


Aquaman. On a 1965 Ford Ranchero? Eh. I'll take it.



Found this Aquaman poster in a pile of old things. Love it.



I finally got to meet Rob Kelly in person. Operator of the Aquaman shrine and co-creator of the Ace Kelly webcomic. He had packaged together his first storyline and was selling it in a tabloid-sized comic, a nod to the tabloid sized comics of the 1970's.



The only t-shirt I bought at the convention. Proudly displaying my love of things from my childhood, things with super-heroes on them, and things that make me look goofier than normal.



This was a classic moment. We had walked about eight blocks back to the parking garage from the convention center. We plunked down in a Subway and awaited my sister and nephew. We were exhausted, but we agreed that all the pain and stress was worth it. We had a blast.

This isn't the first time I've been to the convention in New York City. It's the fourth. The first time was about twenty years ago. Side-by-side with my buddy Mario. I was dressed as Aquaman, he was dolled up as Green Lantern. We actually got pulled over by the cops while dressed like this.



























Thanks,
DCD

---Folks, a quick post edit to answer Steve's questions.  First of all, here's proof about Ashton's experience with the Aliens loader:

You can see from his expression that he had no intention of playing along or appear as if he was enjoying himself.  Disaffected teenager.

As for Steve's question about other pictures of cosplayers.... ermmm...  uh....

It seems as if I was actually embarrassed to take people's pictures.  I'm ashamed to say it.  Obviously they dress up at conventions to get attention, I just felt a little too creepy in asking them to stand and get a picture.  The few pictures of cosplayers I did get were blurry and crappy.  I tried to get a picture of a wonderful Scarlet Witch, but she walked off.  I was too slow for female Thor and female Loki.

I desperately wanted a picture of one Magneto costume.  A hand sewn red and purple costume with cape and helmet that lovingly depicted the Silver Age Magneto.  I really liked the guy.  But I shamed myself because the ONLY reason I wanted his picture was because his giant, geeky nose was poking out of his plastic helmet in the most ridiculous way.  I didn't want to make fun of him for that.

... it was great though.

The ONE dude I talked to was the Aquaman up above.  And only because he actually had stuffed fish toys floating over his shoulders.  As you can see, the picture was blurry, and I definitely offended his two female companions.

"Oh!  Sorry!  You guys look okay too.  Go ahead and get in the picture."

Sigh.

Next year, Steve you're coming with us and manning the camera.