Ah, It’s Time for Fan Expo New Orleans

Fan Expo New Orleans, how we missed you.

I was able to go last year for about an hour and a half. Our house was still needing a roof and siding at that time due to Ida. Work was overwhelming because we were still teaching at a different high school than our actual place of work. Weekends were tough to do anything for fun at the time.

Still, I had a blast for the few hours I was there between running errands for minor fixes to the house that my friends and I could do. I got to meet Mark Russell, a comic creator I genuinely admire. His run for the Flintstones is some of the finest writing and use of intellectual property I have seen in a long time. I cherished a book, and I wish he could have signed it. I had read it on one of the subscription sites, so I wanted to buy it from him. His luggage never arrived in New Orleans, so he had nothing to sell.

As always, I saw some great cosplay and met up with some con friends (you know, the people you only see at local cons but with whom you have developed a friendship). I also got to see the panel with the Sons of Anarchy cast, which is always a treat.

This year’s Fan Expo New Orleans is a perfect con for us. I can’t say how much I love Spiderman 2, so I’ll probably be a blathering idiot when I meet the director, Sam Raimi. I saw the film four times in the theater when I didn’t have a lot of disposable income. It’s a gorgeous film and still my favorite superhero movie of all time. Plus, he made sure I didn’t sleep for three days after the first time I saw Evil Dead.

In the books, my two favorite characters were Neville and Ginny, so seeing Matthe Lewis and Bonnie Wright will be a treat. Plus, Anson Mount is a great actor. I was not too fond of Inhumans, but he was much better than the source material. He was utterly captivating every time he was on screen and considering he couldn’t say anything, that was quite a feat.

Most of all, I can’t wait to experience this with my wife and kid. The past three years have been challenging between pandemics, hurricanes, and family members battling cancer. My sister-in-law joked that we had so much still to do that she didn’t know how I would resurrect the blog.

Well, you have to make time for the things that you love. We love New Orleans, and we love comic cons. We love dressing up with our little one and seeing the reaction she gets. She’s an extrovert, so she loves attention. I miss seeing our con friends. I miss buying art and comics from the creators themselves.

I can’t wait to fill that void at Fan Expo New Orleans.