Con-flicted: My Trip to Baltimore Comic-Con 2013

I go to Baltimore Comic-Con every year. This is nothing new for me. Still, something about this year’s show left me unfulfilled. I wanted to have some great two-part post like I did when I met Stan Lee. At the very least, I wanted to have a bunch of great cosplay pics to mock. Neither of those happened. I saw no real “stars”. Plus, I’ve been watching Heroes of Cosplay lately, and it has given me a new appreciation for cosplayers. It’s all about having fun and being comfortable in a skin, so why should I knock that? This is all a long winded way to say nothing at all.

I missed Saturday this year, as I had to go to CPR training at work. From Twitter friends, I heard that it was a crowded madhouse. From people on the floor, however, they told me that the crowds did not lead to dollars. Apparently sales were slow, and the crowd seemed sparse to me on Sunday. It’s nice that the show is gaining a higher profile, but with that comes all the stuff that shouldn’t be at a comic convention. For example, Geico had a gaming booth where they were giving away prizes and rate quotes. Next to them, someone was giving away a car. This is how it starts. In a few years, Hollywood’s gonna come a-knockin’.

I’m kinda disgruntled when it comes to comics lately, as you could tell from recent posts on the medium. I’m just tired of spending money for stuff I’ve read before, but it’s not driving me into the arms of indie creators, either. I’ve been burned too much by them. So, I’m really on the fence with comics right now, meaning this wasn’t the best venue for me in my current state of mind. I went with a list of things I needed, but I found very little of it. As odd as this may sound, I didn’t feel like there were very many comic vendors this year. Sure, you could buy t-shirts and action figures, but some of the regular comic vendors were clearly absent. Kind of odd for comics to be in short supply at a comic convention. Don’t get me wrong – there were comic vendors, but not as many as I’ve seen in the past.And there were no deals to be had. I expected to go wild in dollar boxes, but all the stuff I needed was either cover price or above.

I really wanted to see some cool cosplay, but I got there just as the costume contest was starting. It was planned to be 3 hours, and I didn’t want to miss out on prime floor time. Still, I got to see some pretty cool characters on the floor. Since “cosplay=/= consent”, I actually asked everyone if I could take their pic. Wanna see some pics? Sure ya do!

Usually they have to kick me out as the lights are being turned off, but I ended up leaving with hours to spare. Hell, I even left with money in my pocket! Something about it just didn’t click. I probably should’ve sat this year out, but I’m a sucker for tradition. Here’s my meager haul:

So, at the end of the day, it was the Baltimore Comic-Con. I’m sure a bunch of people had fun, but I wasn’t one of them. I can’t put my finger on why, but it is what it is. I’m hoping that this weekend’s Retro Con makes up for it, as I’ll get to meet a ton of my Twitter pals! Will YOU be at Retro Con? Let me know in the comments!