Being that your humble reporter is they guy the Houston Press calls on our specialty geek emergency phone whenever steampunk, zombies, or superheroes need reporting on, it may come as some surprise that this year's Comicpalooza is the first comic book convention that we've ever been to. It's true, but we still had a pretty good idea what we were getting into.
Calling these events comic book conventions is like calling a laptop a word processor. There's a lot more going on here. The world of film, craft, video games, books and pretty much any pop culture geek favorite endeavor is lovingly represented. Comic is just a codeword for fandom, and the conventions reflect that.
We arrived in the early afternoon without much of an itinerary, preferring to just soak up what was going on around us. Right off the bat, it's clear the steampunk movement is gaining even more ground in the comic community. Goggles, brass fixtures, top hats, and comically oversized and accessorized firearms - it's Texas, after all - were everywhere.
A surprise to us was the absolutely huge number of Ghostbusters enthusiasts. There had to be a regular platoon of at least 20 of them, including a guy dressed as Slimer who looked kind of like the Hulk had mistaken his upper torso for a rest stop bathroom. Their proton backs, jumpsuits, and other apparatus were as flawless, and there were even cars customized to look like Ecto-1. It wasn't a '59 Cadillac Miller-Meteor or anything, but it's a hell of a sweeter ride than our '09 Matrix that smells like cheerios.
One of our first stops was to visit the booth of 8th Dimension Comics. 8th Dimension is a new comic shop opening here in town being run by Jeremy and Annie Bulloch. And no, that's not Boba Fett Jeremy Bulloch. He doesn't live in Houston and own a comic book shop, though Peter "Chewbacca" Mayhew is actually a Texas resident these days.
The Bullochs' booth was showcasing a lot of Steve Jackson's hilarious Munchkin card games series. Apparently we had actually just missed Jackson himself, who had stopped by to thank the Bullochs after hearing how fast his merchandise was moving off their shelves. We chatted comics for a while, and Jeremy invited us to come visit the store when it opens on Wednesday, June 1st. Having known the couple for a while, we can definitely say that their knowledge of the comic world is second to none, and that anyone in Houston who wants to find a true geek home can do no better than to make the trek up 290 to see them.
