Staff writer Julia Mapilisan along with friends Maryjane Yarbrough and Katarina Allison, attended Portland Comic Con last Saturday.
Portland Comic Con, the final frontier between the majority of society and crazed fanatics. Those who voyage to comic conventions are usually infatuated “Trekkies,” “Whovians” and many more fans of comic books and popular entertainment. Comic Con helps them join together and gawk over their favorite characters.
As one walks into the glorious convention, they are greeted by masses of characters brought to life by fellow cosplay fanatics. Red shirts (those wearing Starfleet uniforms symbolizing death) peacefully walk around and do not have to worry about their usual inevitable fatality. Zombies are disciplined and crave food, not brains. While wearing a costume can be a nice way to bond with others, the paparazzi can be overwhelming. Interruption of a conversation happened often, as many people would be amazed by the vintage Star Trek outfits and the details that adorned the costumes. When people were not striking a pose or taking photos of themselves, they were looking at the wonderful items in the multiple aisles of booths.
The booths lured people in with unique and artistic merchandise. Posters adorned the walls while art, action figures, comic books and many other great souvenirs lined the tables. Rare and vintage items were kept in safe watch of the vendors. Although taking pictures with Master Chief and gaining Sherlock pins was nice, the most enjoyable experience was meeting the celebrities.
The event provided a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet William Shatner, Norman Reedus, Stan Lee, Laurie Holden and many more talented actors and comic book authors. People lined up to get autographs from their idols and later on could get a quick, professional picture.
Marshfield freshman Maryjane Yarbrough, who met Norman Reedus, who plays the character Daryl from the hit TV show “The Walking Dead,” shared her experience.
“He was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Yarbrough said. “Meeting him was exhilarating.”
Reedus was polite to everybody; whenever somebody met him, he tried to have a small conversation with them and high-fived their shaky hands. But getting an autograph and having small talk with him was not all one received from Reedus. Marshfield freshman Katarina Allison described her feelings about the encounter.
“When we were walking up to get the autographs, I looked over and saw how close I was to him, and it kind of just hit me, someone that is on television that I admire is standing a few feet away from me,” Allison said. “I was excited and kind of mind blown.”
After meeting Norman Reedus we walked out of Comic Con with tears of happiness streaming down our faces, hands clutching our precious autographed memorabilia. We thought of the wonderful people we met, how unreal it seemed, and most of all how extremely exhausted we all were.
