Confessions of a Comics Virgin

So - yeah. Jason at Comic Con

Before the New York Comic Con, I'd never opened a comic book in my life. In fact, we were two days into the event before I had my comic book cherry popped by the first issue of the Dark Tower series. I'm a huge Stephen King fan, and I absolutely loved the books. It seemed the logical choice. And it's good! The art is really fantastic and the mood of the work fits with its origins. I do find the brevity of the comic book format a little off-putting, but that may be because I'm just used to the novels. Overall, I'd say I like the whole comic book thing.

If I'm completely honest, though, I don't really understand the enthusiasm generated by all this. Of course, I get excited over announcements for things like the iPhone or the Canon 1D Mark III, which many of the people at the NY Comic Con would yawn at. It's all about what you're "into." For me, spandex and wigs just don't work. And, believe me, there was a lot of both at the convention.

As someone with an outside perspective, I will say that you comic book fans have a bum rap. There exists the perception that you're all a bunch of geeks with no social skills, poor hygiene and an encyclopedic knowledge of everything related to your favorite comic books, right down to the minutiae. Okay, so the latter really IS the case. But everyone seemed very friendly-even the panelists mostly-and, frankly, there were some full-blown HOTTIES walking around that place. And everyone there appeared to have showered recently. Bonus!

But I digress.

I was sent to the New York Comic Con to provide some photographic coverage of the event, and I got a nice little introduction to your world. I even got a copy of the first issue of Dark Tower signed by Peter David, and an assortment of other titles.

Anyway ... I'm sure you're more interested in the photos from the convention than in my "outsider's viewpoint," so without further ado: