Denver Comic Con 2015: Dominion of the Nerd

Panel Name: Nerd Feud with King of the Nerds

Topic: Our time with the contestants of King of the Nerds. 

Featured Guests: Colby Burnett, Amanda Liston, Ben Tully, Heather Wensler, Jacob Rubin, Jonathan Adler, Kaitlin Spak, Lily Rutledge-Ellison, Ori Peri, Thomas Vollum, Todd Landree 

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One Mile High and over Memorial Day weekend, the nerds of the nation gathered to revel in collective and shared passions of the nerdverse in the glorious city of Denver, Colorado.  The fourth annual Denver Comic Con (DCC) hosted a slew of stars and celebrities.  If you were in Denver last weekend you had the chance to meet the original Hulk, Lou Ferrigno, witness Alan Tudyk autograph and give away random crap he had in his satchel, and maybe even snag a picture drooling next to Gwendoline Christie.  What was probably not too high on anybody’s radar (including mine) was that a majority of the cast from the most recent season of King of the Nerds would also be in attendance.  They came to host a variety of panels and partake in some interactive sessions with the con-goers.  Being a fan of the show I thought, “Oh cool.  It’ll be neat to see ‘the nerds’ up close.”  And that was it.  The thought passed as quick as it came.  So you might find it surprising to know that by the end of DCC, my personal highlight was the interaction I had with “the nerds.”  Beyond just generally being awesome, I found there was a deeper meaning in having the nerds present.  Yeah, that’s right – I’m gonna get poetic and shit.  But first!… Let’s talk about how cool being a nerd really is.

“We’re Going to a Van”

My experience with the nerds culminated to a series of encounters with various cast members at different moments of the con.  The first was with Colby.  And the experience was actually that of my brother.  We both are fans of the show and we both rooted pretty damn hard for Colby throughout.  It took me by surprise when Evan (my bro-ham) darted across the trade floor screaming Colby’s name.  I followed while Evan screamed at me, “GET YOUR CAMERA READY!!”  Colby and some of the other fellow nerds had just finished up a nerd war session with the con-goers and were now transporting boxes of what I assume were either weapons of mass nerd-struction or severed heads of fallen nerd enemies.  Nearly grabbing Colby by his whole body, Evan asks, “Can I take a picture with you?!”  Somewhat offput and maybe a bit frightened by the grown ass man that just came charging his way Colby says, “Uhh… We’re going to a van…”  Evan returns with, “Can I walk with you?!”  Colby smiles, shrugs and says, “Sure!”  As I fumble with my phone camera like a paparazzi newb, Evan awkwardly walks next to Colby and his box of heads just smiling, waiting for me to click a few pics.  Colby took it like a champ.  We get the photos and Colby and the nerds move on.

Your Mom Watches Jeopardy

The next interaction was with a big group of the nerds.  I was standing in line with Hush Comic creator/owner power duo, keeping them company while they were waiting to get Amy Acker’s autograph.  I was busy staring and drooling (mostly drooling) at Gwendoline Christie who was signing autographs in the next line, when Adrian – the main reason we were in line in the first place – bolts out from the filing stack of people and heads towards the end of the line.  It takes me and Sherif a minute to realize she’s spotted Colby not too far away.  Here’s a fun fact about Adrian.  She loves Jeopardy.  Maybe more than your mom loves you.  She’d been following Colby since his Jeopardy days.  His role on King of the Nerds was just extra sauce for her.  I watched from afar as Adrian drew information from Colby about his glory run on Jeopardy, picking up pointers on how she too could land a spot on the trivia show.  I think she tried Vulcan mind melding with him at one point.  It was hard to tell from so far away.  Off to the side of the brain session happening were a collection of some of my favorite nerds!  Thomas, Todd, Brian (from season 2), a cardboard cut out of Raychell and (my super favorite) Katie.  They took pictures with everyone from the Hush team.  All of them were incredibly friendly and approachable.  So approachable in fact, that I may have asked Katie to marry me.  As weirded out as she was, she didn’t outright say “no.”  Yeahhh…I think I still have a chance ***Walks away in cool slo-mo but trips on incredibly flat surface anyway***  Point is – these nerds just kept getting cooler.

In honor of @Colby_Burnett on tonight's @KingofNerdsTBS … saying the best line of his career so far! #nerdsrule pic.twitter.com/XaSygbwpDT

— Hush Comics (@HushComics) February 21, 2015

Hot Amanda

It’s half-way into day two of the con and my legs don’t like me very much at this point.  I reluctantly succumb to their sissy fits and take a seat against a wall in one of the panel halls.  After a few moments I spy two more of “the nerds” walking down the hall.  Like a fifth grader with a crush on his math teacher, I shoot my hand in the air, waving.  Followed up with a “Hi nerds!” once they were in ear shot, I was really surprised when Heather and Jonathan both looked at me, stopped, and proceeded to address me.  THE presiding King of the Nerds stopped to talk to me, one of his underlings!  I don’t even remember what it was was we talked about, but it was magical and awesome!!  They then invited us to attend the Family Feud-style panel session they were having later that day.  They also told us there were more nerds from the show down the hall.  I thought, “Cool!  I’ll go say hi when the whole feet throbbing thing dies down.”  To my continued surprise, Jonathan and Heather RETURNED with said other nerds.  WHAT?!?  Like… don’t you have important, kingly nerd duties to attend to?!?  In that moment I actually debated on whether or not to bow to Jonathan.  How cool are these nerds that they’re willing to gather for a simple group of fans that enjoyed the show?!  But wait people, it gets better.

The other nerds that returned with the King and Heather were Lily and Amanda from this season.  Both of these awesome ladies ranked among my favorites of the season (if not, then of all time) and it was so freaking cool to meet them!  But let’s talk about Amanda for a bit…  You know when you start watching a new show (i.e. King of the Nerds) and how it takes a while to learn everyone’s name?  We’ve all been there.  Well, my brother – the same one that practically attacked Colby – had a nickname for Amanda before he learned her name.  It was simply “the hot one.”  It didn’t take more than halfway through episode 2 for that name to transform into “Hot Amanda.”  After telling Amanda this story and then asking to for a photograph of me hugging her for the sole purpose of making my brother jealous, she one-upped me and suggested that the impact would be much greater if it were a cheek kiss instead of hug.  Done and done.  When I showed Evan the picture I thought he might actually slug me.  Evan and I attended the Family Feud knock off game show event where we and a bunch of other nerd fans got to laugh and learn more about our nerd royalty.  At the end of the event, Evan goes charging through the crowd again (Evan’s good a charging) right at Amanda, desperate for a picture.  After two-hand shoving an old lady and punting a little nerd boy out of the way he reached “hot Amanda.”  As I snap a pic, Amanda recognized me, looks at Evan and asks, “Is this the guy?!?”  Evan answers with, “YES!  I’M HOT AMANDA!!”  It didn’t make sense, but we all got it and Evan ended up with his own cheek kiss.

To be Nerd is to be King

Here’s where I try to bring this somewhat aimless collection of stories a degree of significance.  Upon reflecting on my DCC journey this year, I can honestly say that the interactions I had with “the nerds” was the best part.  Better than telling ALL the artists and collectors to shut up and take my money, better than being close enough to Gwendoline Christie to pass her a basketball (or my beating heart), better than enjoying the phenomenal cosplayers – the highlight of my convention was unequivocally to the King of the Nerds contestants.  That might sound weird, especially since I only had a few encounters with “the nerds” and they probably had no idea I was paying such close attention.  But think of it this way:  how often do you get to hug and talk to famous people (FOR FREE)?!  Some might argue that this group of nerds aren’t “famous,” but that’s not the point!  Here’s a bunch of individuals, that felt so strongly and passionately about being a nerd and loving a thing that they were brave enough to share it with the world from behind a camera and then do it some more in the mile high city for three days.  Not only did they share, but they cared!!  A Care Bear just earned its wings (don’t correct me… just let me have this one).  What I mean by that is in every interaction we had with “the nerds” it always felt sincere.  It felt real!  To think that this band of uber-nerds, who were undoubtedly flocked and charged at all weekend long took time to interact, talk and even kiss fellow nerds is amazing!  The theme of “be nerd, be who you are, be proud” was heavy and apparent in more than one panel session or con-event.  It’s a theme so appropriate for DCC (for any con really).  The King of the Nerds team that visited Denver this year embodied that better than ANY celebrity, movie star or illustrious writer or artist I’ve ever come in contact with.  Granted, that list isn’t too long, but the impression left on me by “the nerds” was in no way, insignificant.  Nerds!  I pledge my aligence to thee!… To thine?  To thone?  to… Oh whatever.  You guys rock.  Thanks for making DCC great!  Oh… And Katie, if you’re reading this, know that my marriage offer still stands.  Ohhh yeah! *** Slo-mo, trip, uncontrollably careen down flight of stairs***

Denver Comic Con 2015 – Max Brooks

Panel Name: Avatar’s Max Brooks

Topic: Creator of World War Z spills his guts about his feelings on the movie, but focuses his time talking about Avatar Press and the new graphic novels he is coming out with (Harlem Hellfighters, Extinction Parade).

Featured Guest: Max Brooks

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Having met Max Brooks at last year’s DCC while getting my copy of World War Z signed, I knew going into this panel that at the very least, he was going to be interesting. I was in for quite a surprise. What I expected to be a pretty basic Q&A with some information about upcoming projects turned out to be a comedy routine that would span the length of his career. We start off with a bit of background but then get right into the good stuff, his feelings on the outcome of the WWZ movie. I hadn’t ever really given it any thought, but he has taken the most basic approach to how he has dealt with it. It is also the same approach he has to teach his children, and according to him, if you make a decision you have to live with the consequences. Having gone to see the movie himself, he was really pleased with the title but more so relieved because they hadn’t butchered his book, they completely ignored it. I wasn’t aware but perhaps the crowd already was, WWZ 2 is in the works and Brooks isn’t involved in any way.

According to Brooks, he was here due to one man: William Christensen of Avatar Press, a man who gives no shits as to whether your book is going to be a major seller. Instead, he is more interested in the expression of an idea and the quality of the product he puts out. Things like high-end paper stock and such are more important to him than to other publishers. Brooks described him as a shoemaker in a world of shoe factories, which, based on everything we heard, is exactly right. It’s nice to know that someone is out there who still cares about the subtleties of making a quality product. Brooks went to Christensen with an idea for a story called Extinction Parade. It’s a story about vampires in a world where there food chain is being taken from them due a zombie apocalypse and the silver-spoon (or whatever type of rich spoon a vampire would be fed from) vampires have to learn to come together as a species to solve this crisis. It’s about learning some hard truths as a species at the top of the food chain and I’m sure has plenty of metaphors that apply to us in today’s society.

He goes on to talk about another of his projects; a project that was released last year actually, called Harlem Hellfighters. Since this is the 100th anniversary of World War I, he talked about a unit that was able to survive all odds when everything was stacked against them. It was at this point in the panel that everyone realized that Brooks really missed out on his true calling, voice work. The man does some pretty good impressions; good enough that I wonder what it would be like to get this guy drunk and strike up a historical conversation.

The Harlem Hellfighters were an all-black squadron in WWI that, as Brooks describes it, were going out to fight for the freedom that they didn’t have for themselves and when they came back from the war, they were going to want that freedom for themselves. So the government set them up to fail at every opportunity. They weren’t even given guns so they had to forge documents in order to arm the squad. They were trying to hold the squad back so much that they even attempted to try and keep them from the war by sending them across seas to dig ditches. Then when that wasn’t sufficient, they were sent away to what was considered the ultimate insult (even by today’s standards); they were given to the French Army.

It was with the French army that this squad really began to shine, even going so far as to win the most prestigious award the French army has. This caused the American government to send a set of instructions for how the French army was supposed to treat them, which as anyone can imagine, was as terribly as possible. Brooks mentioned that it took a hundred years, but a member of the unit (Sgt. Henry Johnson, AKA “Black Death”) is finally being recognized for the Medal of Honor. Also as a teacher, if you adopt Harlem Hellfighters as a historical text for your classroom, he will get on Skype and answer any of your student’s questions.

The brief Q&A consisted of questions such as his research process, which consists of massive amounts of research. He goes very in depth with his research which he says has to go into even more detail when you have to see things such as graphic novels. I never gave it much thought as to how a black male, in the 1910, in Harlem would wear their hair. It is very specific, but he really takes the time to get the little details to match. He even mentions the idea of a laser weapon that was planned for WWZ that never panned out because it ultimately didn’t make much sense to use over a basic .22 rifle.

There were a few other questions asked including mine – which let me know that I am in fact the spitting image of American Sniper, Chris Kyle – and that there are many more WWZ short stories that haven’t made their way to the public. I hope I planted the seed that an ultimate edition of WWZ is something he should get working on.

“So did ya cringe?”

After the panel, I went up to the Avatar booth to get a book signed. I ended up getting both volumes of Extinction Parade, Harlem Hellfighters and a spare copy of the Zombie Survival Guide. I only wanted the Zombie Survival Guide signed but he didn’t give me a choice; “You paid for all for all of them, so I will sign all of them.” He is the most gracious of the celebrities that attend the con, he is more than happy to sign everything and take pictures. All of it for free. His inscriptions are all personal as all the other people in front of me had something unique written in their book. Hands down, this guy made my weekend at the con worth it. If you ever get the chance to meet him, I highly suggest you do so, and if you haven’t read any of his books, you need to get on that, too.

Denver Comic Con 2015 – Women in the Geek Industry

Panel Name: Women in the Geek Industry

Topic: Five women who work in the field of Geek discuss their various positions and how they broke into the industry.

Featured Guests: Bonnie Burton, Jen Timms, Taffeta Darling, Tiffany Wangerin, and Maureen Elsberry with moderation by Kirei.

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As soon as the panel began and this group of lively outspoken women started joking about who’d been drinking wine, who’d been drinking whiskey, and whether or not the panel would be at its best if the imbibing continued I knew I was at home. The jokes continued on for a few minutes before introductions came, and when they did I was kind of blown away at these women’s amazing resumes. First off, there was Bonnie Burton. She worked for LucasFilm on various Star Wars projects until the Disney take over a few years back. Now she is mostly a freelance writer and author, and she hosts the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club. Second was Maureen Elsbury, who is a professional UFO and paranormal researcher as well as a journalist on the subject, and the co-host of Spacing Out. Third was Taffeta Darling, a professional cosplayer and producer and host of The Fangirls of Dallas. Fourth was Jen Timms, a video game producer for United Front and Games, and fifth was Tiffany Wangerin, a professional cosplayer and co-host of the Sheekery Podcast with panel moderator Kirei.

Clockwise from Top Left: Maureen Elsberry, Tafetta Darling, Jen Timms, Tiffany Wangerin, and Bonnie Burton

Once introductions were out of the way the main focus in the panel was the various fields you can get into in the geek industry and how accessible that dream is for women these days. It’s not specifically that the dream is easier for women (I’ll get to that later) but breaking into the geek industry is so much more possible now because of the popularity in do-it-yourself mediums. Bonnie said that one of the best ways to start a career is to be a freelance writer. Anyone is capable of staring a blog at this day and age, and if you work at it and focus and promote yourself appropriately, people will start to take notice. You can go from having your one blog to being a contributing writer for other sites and blogs and really just launch from there. Tafetta touched on how anyone can make a podcast these days. You can do it yourself or with a few friends, but all that matters is that the chance to get your voice and opinions out there is within all of our grasps. The most important part in getting out there these days is the confidence to just do it.

However, women are more welcome in the geek industry now, but there is still a long road ahead. Geek is still a male dominated field. For example, Maureen made a point to acknowledge that she is the only female host on the show Spacing Out. There is no road paved in gold for women in any industry, and the geek one is no different. All of these women found success because they are strong, intelligent, and refused to be put down in a male dominated field.

One of the most incredible parts of this panel was the camaraderie between these women. Even though only two of them worked together and they mostly did not know one another there was an undeniable feeling that they were all in this together. There was something so incredibly empowering about being able to sit in on this panel and I walked out of it with a super feminist high. I am so glad I was able to attend the Women in the Geek Industry panel; it was so inspiring. It was wonderful to see how many other people attended as well, both men and women. All five women were so badass, smart, and funny that I wanted to be just like them. And wasn’t that ultimately the goal of their panel? It wasn’t necessarily supposed to be super educational and a how-to on success. It was supposed to help women of all ages find confidence in their goals and dreams so they could leave the room thinking “I want to be just like them, and I will be.”