I'm not judging you freaks AT ALL

My Nemesis points out this article on costuming and cosplay from SDCC from The Star. Not sure WHICH The Star, but one of them.

These part is..um..nice:

From which we can draw only one conclusion: some people have way too much time on their hands.

I mean this in the nicest possible way. Over the past four days, I have met some of the friendliest, most intelligent and good-hearted folks I have ever seen gathered together at one time in one place.

I respect and admire their dedication, their passion, their enthusiasm, their fellowship, their uncanny ability to withstand intense temperatures ...

This less so:

But if I see one more "adult" dressed up like a kid in a costume, cape or catsuit, I will be tempted to rip it off and smother them with it.

Fun may be fun, but enough is enough. It was amusing for a day or so, then repetitious, but when I started to notice their ranks being infiltrated by some of those creepy "furry" people – you know, the ones who get off on dressing up as plush toys and rubbing up against each other ...

Uh oh. Scary furries!

I guess any fringe behaviour attracts its share of excess. But halfway through the weekend I found myself longing for a real conversation with someone – anyone – whose voice wasn't muffled by a mask or helmet.

I exaggerate, of course. Comic-Con has its share of socially acceptable, normally dressed, perfectly presentable genre enthusiasts.

Ha ha. Don't worry not all these nerds are freaks other normal people. Ami goes and makes some good points regarding mainstream media's need to report on some "fringe" activity like its new and the "normal" people need to be informed. Others in the comments make the normal remarks about the difference in how nerd/geek fandom is treated by the media vs. sports fandom. About how little real difference there is between the two...

Which is wrong. There's a HUGE difference between them. Nerd fandom doesn't regularly light cities on fire and riot when their fandom loses and/or wins...

New Comics Day 7/30

I'm slightly annoyed that my comics shop got shorted on a few smaller press books. Mostly on issue #2 of Comic Book Comic. Luckily I was able to get a Van Lente fix with the start of his next Power Pack mini; Skrulls vs. Power Pack. Those mean ol' Skrulls have set-up the Pack as criminals as part of some plan for Earth dominating. Of course they miss the 5th Pack member, Franklin "Smarty Pants" Richards. I also like how Van Lente makes the Skrulls part of the Patchworld coalition, having them qualify since they're home world was destroyed by Galactus....

This week also has a new X-Men: First Class with the X-Men and their new ally, Aaron Stack continuing their fight against the Magma Men. You know, as much as I enjoyed Nextwave I really do miss THIS version of Machine Man. The unsure, existentialist who is trying to find his place in the world...

Also out is the finale to The Dresden Files. And the important fact to understand this issue? Hags = Stupid. Harry = Smart. And it looks like future issues will follow the Anita Blake way of adapting the novels more directly. Though hopefully, unlike THOSE adaptations, the comic version of Storm Front won't, you know, suck the ass...

A new issue of Knights of the Dinner Table. The strips are mostly about the various Knights, Black Hands and others at the big gaming con. Plus some strips showing off an earlier paint ball war in Boise. Spoony's column is still there (I forget when the last one will run, but it should be soon I think). This one is his review of Indiana Jones & The Crystal Skull. Brian's Small Press Picks column has a review for the ps238 RPG that uses the HERO system. Which if its out, I totally want to get...

And in the current Dynamo5 Scrap and Vigil team-up for a night of villain beating. Which leads to Scrap realizing that Tower City NEEDS a super-hero team. Faerber also has an editorial describing how the Nieceza run on New Warriors influence him. I know Faerber already wrote an attempted NW relaunch back in '99, but I soooo wish he had been picked to try again for volume 4. Instead of the hack they've got now...

For some reason the new Blue Beetle has Rogers listed on the cover on the writer, even though this is Sturgess' first issue. And I've got to say, so far, my worries about him are very much unfounded. He seems to have captured the feel of the title right off the bat. I especially love the Title Fight between two minor villains to see who will get to be the new Hell Hound, one of the low-tier baddies sacrificed in the fairly terrible Salvation Run...

And we finish with the first issue for Reign in Hell. Its..interesting so far. But the last time Giffen was given a chance to do a "war" epic using a fringe area of super-hero universe and a mess of b-listers and lower I got Annihilation. SO I'm very much willing to see where this goes. If nothing else the first issue has Shadow Pact, Satannus, Linda Danvers, Zatarra and Dr. Occult among others...

SuperFic character idea

Sgt. Nikki Furry, a female soldier who dresses in a bear costume and leads a group of mercenary cyborg howler monkeys...

[Poll #1232625]