One afternoon at Comic Con 2009

Teeming with Comic Con attendees…this at Fifth Avenue looking north…on their way to the Con and back again.

The line into the convention center never faltered…like automatons, they marched to their fate.

What can I say? He was cute…and was wearing a charming ‘steam punk’ outfit. I’m sure it meant more to him than it did to me.

This quartet does ‘Twilight Experiences’ and are from Las Vegas. Book them for your next event: www.TheHillywoodShow.com

Snow White Does San Diego (with apologies to Debbie Does Dallas.)

Truly, the only normal people I came across all day. Fresh from the farm. Really.

Except for the kids…and there were more than you would imagine…oftentimes completely bored or screaming or eating or wandering away from their parents/guardians/cousins/baby-sitters (do you know where your children were on Friday, July 24th?)

O.K., she collects buttons…on her bosom. It was a tricky shot as I didn’t want to appear that interested when I approached her to ‘photograph’ her buttons. Oh, dear.

And then I noticed the bags, and they were fabulous and IMMENSE. This one from Mattel was a ‘small’ but as you’ll see below, they were for the most part, all ‘X-Large’ (as is most of America…supersize me!) But I loved them and want to do it for our business too!

These bags were all filled to the brim with bounty/booty/crap. The ‘cholos’ who were guarding them thought I was a ‘rad fag’ for wanting to photo the bags and not their ‘streetness’. Guess I showed them what it means to be fabulously uninterested in their machismo.

And then the costumes…these three men hesitated when I asked them to stand closer together so I could get them all in the shot until I assured them that I still consider them ‘men’ for being that close to each other. Is it really 2009?

I asked these sweet girls to give me a little ‘sugar’–oops, that sure turned their smiles upside down! I had to explain that I thought they were really cute, which I did, and that they seemed to be having the time of their lives, which they were, and that was what I’d meant by ‘sugar’, you know sweet, and innocent and loving life. They hugged me afterwards.

Thankfully, I was able to end my day in front of this striking Superman, whom I thought was the best ersatz Superman I had seen since Christopher Reeve. (I was lucky enough to have met Christopher Reeve shortly after the premier of his Superman, in Chicago at a launch party for a coffee-table book “LIFE Goes to the Movies.”) This one was surrounded by a gaggle of adoring fans. Include me in their number!

Robert Patrick