CHRIS PAUGH IS A NERD
By Chris Paugh
When I was five years
old my family moved from Cleveland, Ohio to a place called Rivesville, West
Virginia. We lived in a two family home with a shared basement. The move must
have been particularly difficult for one parent or the other because with two exceptions most of what I remember about that year is their fighting. The shared basement
I mentioned before, quickly became my favorite hiding place to get away from
the grown up’s squabbling. It was in that basement that I stumbled upon what I
still consider the greatest find of my life: A stack of damp comic books with
rusty staples. The neighbors had apparently packed them away just a little bit
too close to our side of the basement.
Later that year as
the battle of Mom and Dad raged on they sought counseling. I was dragged along and had decided on the
way there that I did not want to talk to a stranger about my parents fighting.
My parents went in by
themselves to begin. Eventually, I was asked to come into the room.
I remained silent and
stared away from their voices. That is until the Counselor left the room and
returned with the second greatest thing I had ever seen at that point in my
young life: a plastic Adam West Batman costume in my size. I finally broke
silence.
“But it’s not
Halloween.” I said.
“It doesn’t have to
be. “ The councilor answered and my eyes lit up.
I wore that Batman
costume the rest of the summer. It made me be sneaky enough to get away to the
basement to read the neighbor’s entire box of comics.
My parents still got
divorced.
I was only six years
old and had already set a precedent for the following decade and a half of my
life. I was the weird distracted kid in the basement reading comics dressed as
Batman. It’s funny how often I find myself today being the weird distracted comedian telling jokes
in a bar basement dressed in a Batman T-Shirt.
This summer I
attended the Wizard World Comic book and pop culture convention at the Greater
Columbus Convention Center. The last time I attended a comicon was in 2008.
That year I met Jason Mewes and inadvertently started a long standing feud with
Lou Ferrigno. He knows what he did.
This time around I
went with my 12 year old son. Part of his birthday present this year was that
he got dressed up as Carl Grimes from The Walking Dead and we had our picture
taken with the actor who portrays Carl Grimes on television. I’m confidently awaiting my Coolest Dad Ever
Award.
This brings to my
favorite part of Comic book conventions: Cosplayers. Cosplay is a hybrid of
role playing and performance art where in the subject dresses in a costume that
represents a popular (or niche) character or concept. Most cosplayers are the
nicest people you can meet. They take pride in the costumes they make and
always have a second to take a picture with a fan of their character .They have
an eye for detail that borders on the kind of obsession I can respect as a
comedian.
Just walking through
the corridor to the convention floor is enough to overwhelm you with a sense of
community. Before we had even entered the convention we took pictures with Iron
Man, Supergirl and The Doctor. (Doctor Who). The only time I was concerned as a
parent was one point when my son and I passed a girl in a Sailor Moon outfit
that I am pretty sure jump started my son’s puberty by a year.
The celebrity
presence at Comic Book conventions is always wide range. This year the most
popular autograph booths belonged to cast members of AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Darryl, Merryl, Carl and the old guy were all available at a price for signings
and photography. Darryl had the biggest line which I imagined making Sean Astin
(who was not far away) jealous for no real reason other than I liked the idea
of Darryl shooting a hobbit with his crossbow.
By way of people who
have actually participated in the comic book industry; the great Stan Lee was
also in attendance. Stan boasted a decent line but while I love and respect
Stan: you’re probably more special at this point in fandom if you haven’t met the
man.
Not far from Stan Lee
sat William Shatner. His autographs are a bit pricier but I understand they
come with reasonable air fare to anywhere in the continental US. I saw a Storm Trooper in his line and called
security. I don’t trust the Star Wars crowd anywhere near the captain. Not
after last time.
Another highlight for
my son and I as Doctor Who nerds was the crazy amount of people dressed as the
Tenth and Eleventh regenerations of the Doctor. One guy couldn't have looked
more like the Tenth Doctor- David Tennant until he started to talk. That’s when
I realized that Americans who Cosplay as British characters should probably
take a diction class or just not even try the accent. “Hullo, I’m the
Doctah.” You ruined it man. You ruined
it.
Overall , the
convention was a blast. I will definitely attend next year but I’m thinking
maybe this time I get a two day pass. One day to go with my son and the other
day to look for the Sailor Moon girl from this year. If you’re out there find
me on the internet Sailor Moon.
