Nerd Prom 2005

The annual San Diego Comic Con is the biggest comic book convention in the world. It's been running since the early 1970s and has grown every year. It used to be called the San Diego Comic Con. A few years ago, they renamed it Comic Con International, to better reflect its enormity. But now a new nickname for it has become quite popular.

"Nerd Prom."

What a great nickname. NERD PROM. It brings up visions of dateless nerds wearing ill-fitting suits with clip-on ties, trying to pin corsages to pocket protectors, awkwardly slow dancing to They Might Be Giants, and gathering up at the cheap motel for an after-party of Dungeons and Dragons. That's pretty close to what Comic Con is really like.

When I was a kid, I went to my first Comic Con - bought tons of comic books and toys, met a bunch of my favorite comic book creators, watched movie trailers and movie sneak previews, and gawked at the crazy fans in costume.

Today as a grown-up, I just don't have time to indulge my inner nerd and buy all the stuff I used to at the Comic Con - though, I still make time to gawk at the crazy costumes. Now, all of my time is spent meeting new people in the industry over lunch/dinner/drinking contest, and seeing old friends (never mind that we all live in Los Angeles - we never have time to see each other except in San Diego every summer).

I've made great friends at Comic Con - and much of the writing work I get can be traced back to Comic Con.

Nerd Prom 2005 starts tomorrow. I'm going stag.