The Geek Beat: The Unofficial Girl's Guide to Comic Con

But I will say this -- this is a big year for us, ladies. After the outcry over the LA Times piece, the Hall H schedule changes required by New Moon, and a panel devoted purely to kickass chicks*, this is the year you should make yourselves heard. We need to make sure Hollywood and the media know us as actual consumers and fans, and not just bits of sexy cosplay candy or fangirls googling Robert Pattinson.

The way to do that is to queue up for every panel that catches your eye (from the huge to the obscure), to line up for autograph signings, to battle for swag, and to spend obscene amounts of money with the vendors. Buy lots of comic books. Sigh loudly when the t-shirt vendors don't have small sizes (and I do every freaking year), buy the smallest they have, and show them that sometimes a lady likes to wear something with Iron Man or The Flash on it. I have the genuine and naive belief that if enough of us buy medium Wolverine t-shirts, they'll finally make one in small so I can stop wearing Wolverine mini-dresses.



Now, I know there are girls who will be new to this. Maybe you're there for New Moon, or maybe you're going along with a brother, a boyfriend, or a husband, and you are reading this saying "Elisabeth, no! I need you to tell me what to see! You need to tell me what comics to buy!" Well, I'm not going to do that. (Although I do think you should buy Preacher and Y: The Last Man.) I want you to be proactive. I want you to scan that schedule and find things that appeal to you, and I want you to go into that dealer room and scan those tables and boxes for something you like. Don't be afraid. Start at the big, flashy booths for Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse. Pick up the little postcards and samples. Look for the ones you recognize from the big screen. Pick up the ones you don't and read the back covers. Flip through them. Find one you think sounds interesting and just buy it. This is how we all start, and this is how I want you to start. (Also, I want you to pack lots of water and granola bars. You'll get sick without them. Trust me.)



And do you want to know something really crazy? ComicCon is exactly how I started. In 2006, on a 300-inspired whim, my sister and I took off for San Diego for the very first time. We had only a vague idea of what it was like, we only knew that it was "like, really big," and that we'd kicked ourselves for missing it during the Lord of the Rings years. It's still a very painful blur of sore feet, poverty, hunger, terror, and food poisoning -- but it's also the first time we saw Actual Hollywood Actors, bought comic books outside of eBay, saw movie clips people "back home" hadn't even heard of, and realized other people wore movie-inspired costumes besides us. But most importantly, it's the first time I actually wrote anything beyond painstaking essays on Geoffery Chaucer. One of my friends (now long gone -- but if you're out there, hi and thanks) told me that the one thing I could bring him was to write something about the con and publish it. Sure, fine, whatever, I said. Somehow, I wound up agreeing to write up whatever film bits I saw for FilmIck, and got so carried away with the assignment that I wrote about everything, from the free t-shirts to the movie trailers. When it went online, and people liked it, I thought that writing about "movies and things" would make a pretty cool hobby. Maybe it could even be a job.

So as I'm having panic attacks about screwed up flights, finances, and how I can best represent all of you at home, it's kind of cool to sit back and realize that I'm going back to where it all began. Even better, I know there's a legion of kickass girls who could be (or have been) sucked into the madness just as much as I was, and who I'll get to work with, read, or watch someday. So get out there ladies, and have a fantastic time. Do your own thing. Let your geek flag fly.

* Yes, I know this Wonder Woman panel isn't the first of its kind, but this year it stars Sigourney Weaver! My hero and yours! It feels like a landmark. And I'll be covering it for you!