30 days of birthday - Day 1: June's NaBloPoMo, comic cons and everything else...

Ah, the joy of writing prompts, morning pages and that sudden burst of inspiration that sends me reeling into a creative expanse that knows no bounds. When such hurricanes touch down and take me away, blogging is sometimes where I momentarily land.

I'll be celebrating my birthday every day this month. Really, it's the usual high octane hi-jinks.  No additives, no artificial colors or preservatives. I am 100% pure fun.

I'm also finding different ways to wear myself out physically on a daily basis (God, I love boxing...) and I'll be eating clean for the foreseeable future, because my body is so unbelievably happy when I do.

Today finds me at the Philly Comic Con with MPB -- a nerd prom of epic proportions. (He's working -- I'm the one that's goofing off.) Not surprisingly, they're expecting a jillion people. Comic cons are more popular than ever, and with more and more comic books and graphic novels becoming blockbuster Hollywood movies (The Avengers, anyone?) and TV shows (The Walking Dead, anyone?), it's only a matter of time until the rest of the world shows up. At this point, the entertainment industry tends to use them as a kind of pop culture barometer.

The Javits Center is too small for the New York Comic Con. Yes, that's right -- you heard me correctly: over 675,000 square feet isn't enough space for their weeklong comic book geekfest fandom cosplay shenanigans. They blew it out at 116,000 attendees, with scalpers selling passes in the street for several hundred dollars a pop. The San Diego Comic Con is even worse. It's pretty much understood that it's impossible to get tickets. Consider this: last year's event was sold out -- over 130,000 tickets, gone in less than 90 minutes -- more than 5 months in advance. 

It's not just the east coast or the west coast, either. There's comic cons in lots of other cities, too. Philly is no slouch -- and neither is Chicago. 

So yeah, comic cons are kind of a big deal.

While the publishing world can't stop whining about how nobody's buying books anymore, comic books and graphic novels seem to be exploding all over every genre there is, with more on the way all the time. 

Think about it: for days on end, you can dress up like your favorite superhero or whatever, get original artwork from your favorite graphic novel or visual artist, get an autograph or take a picture with the star of a cult horror movie or tv show, see movie and tv premieres before anyone else does and on and on it goes. If you're a gamer, this place is just this side of heaven. 

I'll find Darth Vader later. Right about now is the time for me to carpe some diem: run a few miles (the Westin is so dope!), find a shot of wheatgrass, get lost in beautiful art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and write, write, write.