Why go to Salt Lake Comic Con?

As I was getting ready to go to the Salt Lake Comic Con on Saturday, for my third day in a row of art, cosplay and just general geekery, my wife, a proclaimed not-geek, asked me why I go to Comic Con. See, most of our friends were going or had gone last weekend, so she was wondering if she had missed something when she spent a day there last year.

Here is my answer:

My normal life consists of going to work then going to class, and as much as I love my job and my professors, I often find myself trying to figure out how to stay awake long enough to get to the end of the day, when I then have the rest of my grown up responsibilities with hopefully a few minutes to watch a film trailer or turn on a video game before passing out and starting the whole thing all over again. A normal life yes, but I'm a geek and thus I've seen better.

Geekery in it's general sense is all about some sort of fantasy, weather it's flying the Millennium Falcon into the heart of the Death Star or saving the princess from the fire breathing dragon, it's about leaving the real world to be something different, something impossible in the real world. The term used is escapism, and while I know that they're are wonderful things in the real world and one should never sacrifice the real for the fantasy, it's still nice to go somewhere where the hero wins and the villains are vanquished.

Comic Con is a celebration of this concept. It's the celebration of a thousand different worlds, full of heroes, villains, dragons, Wookies, firebenders, Na'Vi, mutants, Klingons, ponies with hearts on their flanks, princesses and an infinite number of other possibilities. Comic Con allows me to step away from my routine and for a little while celebrate the things I gain inspiration, hope and joy from (And yes, before you ask I get the same things from General Conference but that doesn't mean I can't get them from a multiple of sources).

So if you're wondering, yes, do go. Beware the crowds (my fellow Mormon Geeks writers have been and will be talking about them, and I agree this last time they were kind of ridiculous), go prepared, and have fun!

Oh, are you sad that it's over and you'll have to wait a year to go? Don't be, that gives you plenty of time to get excited and perfect that gender switched Elsa costume you've been dreaming about.

-JOE

P.S. Here are a TON of photos I took of my Salt Lake Comic Con experience. Enjoy!

Me and my buddy Paul showing off our new Avatar art, plus his Avatar cosplay! 

Someone call Azkabaan! (BTW: His picture actually moved)

My buddy Chad as Cesar from The Hunger Games. This man is usually bald and has a beard, he had me completely fooled. 

Weta Workshop's dragon they brought to Comic Con- the eyes opened and closed! 

Me and Harry Dresden-the skull and blasting rod were signed by Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files!

My niece would be so jealous! 

Gollum and I are in love. 

Me with two of my favorite bad guys-but who's blood is on the bat?!

Me with the homoculous Lust!

They're men in tight TIGHT tights!

Mormon Geeks forever! 

Round 1: FIGHT!!!

This guy was looking for trouble all day- he found me!

Queen Regina- holding her very tempting apple. 

Evermore-so exciting to have a new theme park in Utah!