Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 23, 2022 | 3 comments

Cosplaypalooza! It’s Day 3 of San Diego Comic-Con, so we bring you PART 3 of the celebrated Mr. K’s groovy con scrapbook…

By PAUL KUPPERBERG

In days of old, cosplaying fans at comic cons would usually dress up for the duration of the scheduled costume parade in which they were competing and then spend the rest of the show in mufti. But these days, cosplay is the thing, and a surprisingly large number of attendees spend their days in costume, ranging from the casual-cosplayer in a Captain America t-shirt, facemask, and scaled down shield to the hardcore players in giant electronic robots.

I don’t do costumes. I’ve always been too self-conscious about the real me to be able to pretend to be someone else (except once, at a licensing show where I could be Captain Kirk; that was kinda cool). Even as a kid, I would try and get away with the bare minimum of a “costume” for Halloween, but I’ve come to appreciate cosplayers, not so much even for their costume-making skills (not to say there aren’t some incredible craftspeople out there), but for their love of comics and dedication to bringing these characters to life. I did the same thing with the same love and attention to detail when I was a fan, only I didn’t work in fabric and molded plastic, but with words on paper in fanzines.

I especially enjoy taking pictures with cosplayers dressed as characters I’ve written or edited (and I apologize in advance for not having gotten the “secret identities” of all these talented people for the shoutouts they deserve). I get an interesting variety of looks when I approach someone dressed as Supergirl or Green Lantern and say, “Hi! I used to write you! Would you mind taking a picture?” The best is when they’re not really paying attention—most do scores of selfies a day with randos like me—but later get in touch when they’ve seen the photos posted on social media to say some (mostly politer) version of, “I thought you were just some old guy!”

Here then, MY COMIC-CON SCRAPBOOK — PART 3: COSPLAY EDITION:

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New York Comic Con (2011). With Power Girl, a la Wally Wood.

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New York Comic Con (2011). Kara (Supergirl) Zor-El, the way Otto Binder and Al Plastino imagined her!

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New York Comic Con (2011). Not to stretch a point, but this guy really nailed Plastic Man!

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Planet Comicon, Kansas City (2011). I have met many a Wonder Women in my convention travels, but this young woman was by far the tallest because, as she pointed out, “Have you ever seen a short Amazon?”

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New Jersey Comic Expo (2011). In a recent column, I spoke of my love for Captain Action, the 1960s action figure from Ideal Toys that accessorized with superhero costumes from Superman to the Phantom. Imagine having to go to New Joisey to finally meet the guy, a few of whose adventures I had penned for Moonstone Comics a couple of years earlier.

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Planet Comicon, Kansas City (2011). Ray rheese, Rooby Roo!

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Baltimore Comic-Con (2013). Jeepers, Green Lantern! Of all days, I picked that one to leave my power battery at home!

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Terrificon, Connecticut (2013). Life imitating art, by Impulse.

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Terrificon (2014). With Wonder Woman, a la Darwyn Cooke.

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Terrificon (2014). Two old colleagues finally, uh… caught up with me at this show. Master Jailer and, of course, Vigilante (that’s Rich Davis lurking under that mask), who was still holding a grudge for something I’d written 25 years earlier in Vigilante #50.

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Terrificon (2015). A most regal Mera, years before cosplayers were cosplaying Mera.

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Terrificon (2016). The family that Flashes together… wait, that doesn’t sound right. Anyway, I love these guys!

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East Coast Comicon (2016). Wayne Boring’s Superman, brought to life.

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MORE

–– PAUL KUPPERBERG: My Comic Con Scrapbook — PART 1. Click here.

–– PAUL KUPPERBERG: My Comic Con Scrapbook — PART 2. Click here.

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Sure, you know PAUL KUPPERBERG as the prolific writer of over a thousand comic books for such characters and series as Superman, Aquaman, Doom Patrol, Vigilante, Life with Archie, Bart Simpson, Scooby-Doo, and dozens more for DC Comics, Archie Comics, Bongo Comics, and others, and that he is also the creator of the series Arion, Lord of Atlantis, Checkmate and Takion, and is a former editor for DC, Weekly World News, and WWE Kids Magazine. But Paul is also the author of numerous books, including the superhero novel JSA: Ragnarok and the comics industry-based murder mystery, The Same Old Story, not to mention (but we will anyway) Paul Kupperberg’s Illustrated Guide to Writing Comics, I Never Write for the Money, But I Always Turn in the Manuscript for a Check, Direct Comments: Comic Book Creators in their Own Words, The Unpublished Comic Book Scripts of Paul Kupperberg and Son of the Unpublished Comic Book Scripts of Paul Kupperberg. You can follow Paul at PaulKupperberg.com and at Crazy8Press.com.