The most visible part of San Diego Comic-Con – and the hardest part to explain to non-geeks – is the costumes. I was trying to explain to a friend who had never been to any con before (talk about sink or swim, your first public geek experience being SDCC) that Comic-Con is like the prom, and everyone who dresses up is totally Prom King and Queen of their own personal universe. People who maybe are too shy, or just not attention-seekers normally can dress up as a kick-ass superhero and feel like a rockstar all day at con. All day people want to take pictures of you, tell you how awesome your costume is, tell you how much they love your character (and the more obscure, the better accolades). I have never dressed up for a con, but I have hit more than a few halloweens in NYC dressed up as Lara Croft, Dark Phoenix, assorted Jedi, and a few vampires, and it is kind of a heady experience. I can only imagine to do it at a con is even better.

But yours truly was working, so no costume for me. I did get some free time to walk around and take some pictures, however, and I have to say, there were plenty of people taking posed pictures of the costumes, so I made it my mission to catch some superheroes in more mundane situations, and some low-budget costumes that were more heart than flash…

Whoops…She-Hulk lets her hair down.

‎”Let’s see, have I got everything…key to Fortress of Solitude, change of clothes for secret identity, PowerPoint presentation. peanut butter sandwiches for lunch…” *

Ok, Ok, not really a costume, but I wanted to put this on here for all the librarians and english teachers out there, you totally need to wear this to your first day of school this fall!

Props to the Star Wars booth for putting in the life-size Action Figure set…Boba Fett sold separately.

Extra credit for dressing up your Rascal © scooter!

Perfect father & daughter con outing. Lil’ supergirl-in-training!

I’ve been happy to see a big uptick in “Crossplay” – aka girls feminizing male characters in a really cool way. I’ve seen a female Han Solo, Hal Jordan, plus Ms. Indiana Jones above…

Like I said in my first Comic-Con post, I was hoping to see some Orbit Books costumes, but the Yen Press kids totally carried the day. We’re going to be at NYC Comic-Con in October…we may have to do a contest to see how many potential Alexia Tarabottis and Durzo Blints there are out there!

Coming next: Part 3: Geeky Tattoos of Comic-Con!

(* caption courtesy of Scott Snowden on my facebook page)