Comic Con: Day of the Stars

Man I’m so glad the semester is almost over. In just a few months I’ll be walking down that stage as a college graduate accepting my degree. School is much, but it’s a much well worth it. Let me take a seat at this free computer so I can make a few printouts and check my socials. So as I’m briefly scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed I see an advertisement for Greensboro Comic Con tickets. Wow, I didn’t even know we had Comic Con in Greensboro. I’ve always wanted to go, maybe this is a sign that I should go, let me do some homework.

So I click on the Eventy link that takes me to the Comic Con website and I find the tickets. What? Only 40 for admission, yep I’m going, but I gotta hit up the crew first and see if they wanna come with. Let me send this to the group chat.

Joe(me): Yo fellas, they got Comic Con tickets on sale, are y’all tryna go?

Jordyn: Heck yeah, I’m down.

Taj: Yo I’m in there like Swimwear.

Joe(me): Ight, it’s a done deal. I’m grabbing everybody a ticket and we’ll meet up at the Marriott hotel downtown.

Taj: Bet.

Jordyn: Bet.

Saturday, January 12. Months ago I bought a Black Panther mask that I wanted to wear to the movie for when Avengers: Endgame comes out, but today I’m gonna wear it as part of my ensemble for my first Comic Con ever. Here comes Taj and Jordyn in Taj’s car picking me up for the con. “Yo, son what’s good?” Taj calls out with the window rolled down. “Sup, Milkdud” Jordyn adds. I can already see both of them dressed from head to toe in their Marvel heroes cosplay just like me. Jordyn is wearing his Thor infinity war costume complete with a storm breaker axe and Taj is dressed like Killmonger from Black Panther, complete with the denim jacket that Michael B. Jordan wore in the beginning of the movie.

“So y’all ready for this con?” Taj asked excitedly. “I know I am. I can’t believe I’m actually going to one for the first time. I’ve always wanted to go and never thought I’d get the chance to make it.” I confess from the backseat. “It’s mad fun.” Jordyn begins. “Just wait, you gonna end up seeing every character from every one of your favorite franchises there Joe.”. Now I’m even more excited to get up in this convention and nerd out.

We pull up to the Marriott hotel downtown and the first thing we see is a bunch of people dressed in their cosplay attires ready for the convention.”Uh oh, I say excitedly, we’re on cosplay ground now. The first thing I see is a bunch of kids dressed like characters from anime, Marvel, DC, and Star Wars making their way into the parking lot of the Marriott. What I also notice is there is almost nowhere for us to park. Yep this is definitely gonna be mind blowing.

Finally find a public parking spot less than a block over and hop out the car. “Let’s get up in this joint and geek out” Taj commences. We get to the entrance to be scanned in and given our guest passes and what do we see? Geeks and nerds just like us flooding the packed hotel lobby. There were friend groups, couples, and whole families dressed to impress in their gear and props. “Yo, look at that?” Jordyn called out. I looked to my right and saw a girl dressed up as Padme Amadalla from Star Wars and I approached. “Hey, your Padme cosplay is so dope, can I get a pic with you?” I asked eagerly. “Absolutely!” The nice girl replied. “Here, I’ll take the pic with my phone.” Taj suggested.

And now we’ve been here for hours. All day long we’ve geeked out and met so many incredible cosplayers and like minded nerds who we’ve taken pictures with, but have also wanted to take pictures with us. At the end of it all there was one thing left to do. “Yo, we all have to get a picture together to mark this in the archives of our history in geeking out.” Jordyn suggested. “No doubt.” Me and Taj add at the same time. “Hey!” Taj stopped a cute girl who was cosplaying as Captain Marvel. “Can you snap this photo of us for me please?” “Sure thing.” The girl replied. “I’d love to take a pic of my fellow Avengers and get one with all three of you afterwards.” “Sounds good to me.” I concluded. This was truly one of the most epic days ever and I can’t wait for more times like it.

~Based on a true story.