Family Day!
I really enjoy family day. Not only because I get to enjoy the convention with my wife and kids, but because I get to see so many other families enjoying all the nerdy fanfare.
This family day started with, as usual, a little shopping. Shopping for us means scoping out all the possibilities so that we can return towards the end of the day with an informed choice of what we want. By the end of the day we had bought some magnets in the theme of Hamilton the Musical (another family favorite of ours). My son bought seven Lego figures and an Apocalypse circa 1994. My daughter bought a Tortoro wallet. My wife and I bought some prints in the style of an Edgar Alan Poe record album cover and an Adam West.
Of course, anything we tried to do was not only slowed by the traffic (the con seems to get bigger each year) but also by all the fellow fans who wanted the kiddos to stop and take a picture. This was no annoyance as both we were proud of their costumes.
Of course, as you can tell from the gallery below, I did my fair share of stopping families to take their pictures.
In our adventures, we visited Burt Ward and got him to sign a picture personalized for the kids. Ward was just as pleasant to visit as Adam West. He greeted the kids with a smile, told Sabrina he liked her hair, and even asked them if they had any questions. Cade asked him what it was like to be Robin and Ward answered “It was an adventure. I got to climb buildings, ride in the Batmobile and the Batboat and the Batcopter, and solve crimes.” Cade told him that his favorite quote from the series was “Holy cat! It’s a cat!” I followed with the quote that West told me to convey to him. “‘Good grammar is essential, Robin!'” He was a little less than amused. But I had fulfilled what West had gleefully asked me to do. We parted ways and I felt a sense of accomplishment. If the rumors are true, this is West and Ward’s last tour of comic cons. Even if not, as we saw with the beloved Darwyn Cooke, who was also supposed to attend Motor City, there may not be a next time.
We were dragging by about 2pm. Kids who wanted to participate in the costume contest had to preregister this year. So our kids were not scheduled to participate (although the 501st Legion, impressed with their costumes, still hooked them up with a little gift). Thus I didn’t attend the costume contest this year and instead headed over to the booth of David and Meredith Finch. This husband and wife team from Wonder Woman was signing autographs and talking to fans. I waited for my turn in line and finally got a chance to speak with them as they graciously signed my comic book.
They expressed their surprise and sadness at the sudden passing of Darwyn Cooke. I explained that I would have to cancel our interview we had scheduled. Having kids of their own they were completely understanding. When the kids have hit the wall, it’s best to call it a day. But before I left we talked about our shared experience of working collaboratively with our spouses on creative projects. We both agreed that doing so allows us to highlight each other’s strengths and any small creative conflict that arises always results in a better creative piece once that conflict is resolved. It was a nice talk and a nice way to end the weekend.
Family day. I’m not sure if the other cons all end with a family day. But they should.
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