The wrong cosplayers to mess with: Assassin’s Creedpool hanging out with Harley Quinn and the Red Hood.

This weekend my wife and I are attending the third annual Indiana Comic Con at the Indiana Convention Center in scenic downtown Indianapolis. Though the first two ICCs had more than their share of growing pains, he wrote with diplomacy wrapped in understatement topped with a Jim Halpert pretend-blank expression, Anne and I found a few names on the guest list irresistible and prayed the showrunners had been taking notes, accepting constructive criticism, and borrowing standard crowd-control procedures from other cons. So far, so good — Friday for us was a rousing success in a number of ways, except for the part where we had too much fun and I’m now typing under considerable fatigue.

While we rest and prepare for a ridiculously early Saturday wake-up, please enjoy this collection of cosplayers who brightened our day and improved quality-of-life around the show floor on Friday, the trial run before the rest of the crowds arrive Saturday and the real test of the showrunners’ mettle begins. The actors, comics artists, and nifty object collections will be shared in a forthcoming entry in this special series. Enjoy!

Baseline Deadpool against which all the Saturday variants shall be judged.

Formal Deadpool likes to serve hot tea with his chimichangas.

Trevor Mandarin went into detail about all the work that went into his costume. Their gear looks fun, but these intricate designs can take tons of effort.

The Green Goblin on his Goblin Glider, which could glide all around the aisles without a sound and without tripping or crashing, like some kind of hands-free no-push skateboard. Cosplay science marches on!

Kylo Ren arrived shortly before we did at 9:30 a.m. The exhibit hall didn’t open till noon, but the Dark Side doesn’t conquer all by arriving fashionably late.

I have to see at least one Final Fantasy character at every convention or else quit hobbies forever. Say hi to Yuna from FFX.

For the Final Fantasy rule, I’ll also accept anyone from Kingdom Hearts. Meanwhile, Sora impatiently awaits KH3, which is now 37 years overdue.

Raphael dances while the other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles give him space to work it. They were all booth-reptiles for some company near the back of the exhibit hall whose line of business I didn’t catch.

Calvin and Hobbes, who was probably a lot livelier after we looked away.

Princess Mononoke, one of the few anime characters I know because I am of the Olds.

Anna from Frozen, still a popular, classy choice.

Batman ’66 represent! Otto Preminger’s version of Mr. Freeze teams up the Mad Hatter as played by Tony Award Winner David Wayne. Leave it to my wife to remember their names off the top of her head.

Mandatory Star Wars: angry Wookiee with bowcaster.

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Lydia! Lydia! Lydia!

Any Pokemon trainer trying to “catch ’em all” and add Cubone to their menagerie will have to go through Moon Knight first.

To be continued! This very special MCC miniseries continues in Part Two (more cosplay), Part Three (last call for cosplay), and Part Four (not cosplay)!

Maybe Batwoman could take Deadpool alone, but if Wonder Woman wants to cameo, no one’s gonna tell her no.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: Friday and Saturday, my wife and I attended the third annual Indiana Comic Con at the Indiana Convention Center in scenic downtown Indianapolis. In Part One you saw every viable costume photo we took on Friday. We caught so many cosplayers in action today that the Saturday results will be split into two (maybe three) entries.

In tonight’s gallery: another batch of Deadpool variants, which we suspect will be a thing for years to come, and heroes and villains from the Batman family, which kept catching our eye more than usual this time around. Enjoy!

Ready for some baseball! It’s…Ballparkpool? Sportspool? Bettingpool? Cincinnati Redpool?

Harley Quinn! Have hammer, will hammer.

Bedpool, the Merc with a Mattress.

Joker & Harley disguised and apparently struggling with creative differences.

Jarheadpool, carrying a Zombie Deadpool head as a trophy.

My wife is undertall, gracious, and quite polite, but if she spots a Batman ’66 character across the way, she will mow down entire crowds crossing the distance just to meet them. Speaking of which: it’s Batgirl!

Refpool, apparently not getting ready to rumble.

The Batman of Mishawaka was one of our line-buddies twice today. We chatted a lot and all had a blast, but by the end of the day the poor guy was reduced to 200 pounds of Bat-perspiration. That’s dedication to a character.

Penguin and his goon hitting the campaign trail, and not the worst candidate in this campaign season. For the boxing-umbrella alone he’s got my write-in vote.

Penguin even gave my wife a campaign button. If only we’d thought to bring a baby for him to kiss.

Penguin has a message we can all get behind. The best Batman can come up with is “Do you bleed?” Some hero. Sad!

To be continued! Check out Part Three for one last call for cosplay, and the forthcoming Part Four for our complete Indiana Comic Con 2016 not-cosplay report!

Best headgear of the year: Medusa from Clash of the Titans, giving me flashbacks to when I got scared watching the original at the drive-in.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: Friday and Saturday, my wife and I attended the third annual Indiana Comic Con at the Indiana Convention Center in scenic downtown Indianapolis. In Part One you saw every viable costume photo we took on Friday, with the emphasis once again leaning toward Deadpool because that’s what we’re running into, other than hordes of intricate anime characters we oldsters don’t recognize. Part Two was a Saturday selection featuring Bat-related characters and, one last time, all the Deadpools fit to print.

In today’s gallery: cosplay, cosplay, cosplay! All the other costumes we saw on Saturday that looked great and didn’t evade or outrun us. Obviously this is far from comprehensive and I’m still kicking myself with all my mental strength for missing one lady dressed as someone I recognized from the Authority. At one point I dwelt on this weird idea of renting booth space next year and offering to take free pics of any cosplayers who feel they weren’t photographed often enough, just for free posting here as a fun public service — no judging, no body-shaming, no rejecting just because Anne and I have no idea who they are. But I’m not sure how many cosplayers experience that kind of letdown at such shows anymore. Social media operating as it does today, every con probably now has ten “photographers” in attendance for every cosplayer. My idea was a fun pipe dream for the few minutes it lasted. Ah, well.

Anyway: enjoy!

Regular readers won’t be shocked that I’m front-loading this entry with Final Fantasy. Welcome Lightning from FFXIII and Lightning Returns.

From Final Fantasy VII, it’s Cloud and Rude, who I had to think really hard to remember. Triple experience points to the guy for reviving that deep-cut supporting player.

Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, and li’l Midna from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

The Portal debate rages ever onward.

The Red Skull wielding the Cosmic Cube. Or for you movie-only fans, the Tesseract. Whichever.

Fantomex, the only X-related character we tracked down.

Margaery Tyrell and Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones.

Naturally the Fourth Doctor was handing out free jellybeans. Non-poisonous and non-hallucinatory, I’m grateful to report.

At every con there’s always at least one unusual character whose caption is some variation on “looks cool who dis”.

Pennywise: every nightmare you’ve ever had.

Olde-tyme plague doctor with bonus cosplay family wandering into the shot.

Samurai! No, not the one from the Super-Friends, much to my wife’s regret.

Proof that there’s one reality in which Peter Pan and Captain Hook can just get along.

The section our friends have been waiting for: Star Wars costumes! Beginning with Rey, her probable Grandma Padme, and a Clonetrooper sidekick.

The ostensible focus is Adventure Time‘s Finn, Ice King, and Lumpy Space Princess, but waiting in the wings are Mon Mothma and Grand Admiral Thrawn, premier resident of the new Star Wars canon’s answer to DC’s Earth-2.

Dark Anakin, Darth Maul, Jedi, nifty Mandalorian.

An encore performance from Rey and Padme, this time accompanied by the potential maternal missing link Endor Leia, some new Sith, and old Ben Kenobi hiding in the shadows and biding his time.

Sharing a photo-op line with us, this Emperor Palpatine rode around on some sort of gliding tech not unlike the Green Goblin we saw on Friday, so it looked as though he was using the Force to float around the con. Spookity!

I think it’s awesome that Rey was indisputably the most popular non-Deadpool costume we saw this weekend. This one’s accompanied by an inspired BB-8 that makes me want a set of Star Wars potholders in this exact design.

To be concluded! Next time: who we met and what we did…

Our annual Free Comic Book Day tradition saw us once again at Indianapolis’ own Downtown Comics North, where cosplayers are always on hand to greet kids, accompanying adults, and regulars alike. Naturally for pop culture’s Year of Deadpool there was Deadpool, so please enjoy Deadpool because Deadpool.

On May 7th my wife and I had the pleasure of once again observing Free Comic Book Day, the least fake holiday of them all. Readers of multiple demographics, thankfully including lots of youngsters, flocked to our local stores and had the opportunity to enjoy samplers from all the major comic companies and dozens of indie publishers. This year’s assortment saw more all-ages comics than ever, so this wasn’t just an outreach to longtime fortysomething collectors who need no further enticement.

I never grab copies of everything, but this year I got a little more grabby than I thought. This entry was procrastinated days past its relevance expiration date because it took me that much longer to find the free time to read them all, even those I could speed through in three minutes flat. In my mind, regardless of total consumption minutes, each issue ought to be a satisfying experience for any new reader who opens the cover without any foreknowledge. Historically, each publisher’s offerings tend to fall into one of six story levels, ranked here in order from “Best Possible Display of Generosity and Salesmanship” to “Had to Slap SOMETHING Together, So Whatever”:

1. New, complete, done-in-one story
2. Complete story reprinted from existing material
3. A complete chapter of a new story with a proper chapter ending
4. Partial excerpt from an upcoming issue that will also contain all these same pages
5. No story, just random pinups or art samples
6. Disposable ad flyer shaped like a comic

Surprisingly, none of this year’s samples settled for option 5 or 6. Good show, publishers.

The comics in my FCBD 2016 reading pile came out as follows, from least favorite to definite favorite:

19. Spectrum #0 (Automatic Publishing) — I usually avoid comics co-created by actors as illustrated TV/movie pitches, but the name of Firefly‘s Alan Tudyk on the cover caught my eye. After a sluggish, uninviting, 370-word all-text prologue (for a Star Wars film it’d make a ten-minute opening crawl), the comic proper is divided in two halves, one about Our Hero and his current role in an anti-alien rebellion, the other about an ethereal lady taking over a spaceship from her alien captors through indecipherable powers, decorated throughout with still more sci-fi names that the overlong intro didn’t mention, all accompanied by frequently inscrutable illustrations failing to convey what’s actually happening. I should’ve stuck to my guidelines.

18. Avatarex: Destroyer of Darkness (Graphic India) — Inimitable comics legend Grant Morrison and a not-bad artist introduce a new Indian superhero who awakens aboard a spaceship, acquires his weapons, and goes on and on and on about how awesome he is. That’s twelve pages spent on the print equivalent of an I-am-the-greatest old-school rap single. Also included is an excerpt from Morrison’s ongoing 18 Days, in which other Indian superhumans or possibly deities are at war with each other and prepare for the oncoming battles by debating their conflicting philosophies. The Hindu discussions are weighty but the excerpt ends before they take on enough context. I’m taking it on faith that’s Morrison literati superfans have already annotated every sentence of this at extreme length.

17. Mixtape 2016 (Devil’s Due/1First Comics) — Three excerpts: li’l Mercy Sparx, one of the few Devil’s Due characters still around in any fashion, which means more to her current readers (not my thing); Squarriors, which are like Mouse Guard with angry squirrels and unhelpful flashbacks; and an excerpt from Badger #4, the recent revival of the classic Mike Baron/Jeff Butler character that was one of my early faves when my teen self first discovered comic shops. Val Mayerik’s art captures all of Badger’s strengths — martial arts and unfettered loopiness — but anyone who doesn’t recognize him, or his old pals Yak and Yeti, will probably be lost and wondering why he’s facing Vladimir Putin in an MMA match. That’s, uh, typically how things go for him.

Downtown Comics North opened at 11 a.m. This was the line when we arrived around 9:30…

16. Civil War II (Marvel Comics) — Story #1 is an excerpt from the upcoming annual very special Marvel company-wide summer blockbuster mega-crossover event spectacular that will shake up the Marvel Universe irrevocably forever or whatever. It’s just the heroes gathering so Thanos can appear from nowhere and beat on them for a while, two of them not looking so good by the end. Jim Cheung’s art looks pretty as always, but so far I don’t care. Story #2 introduces the all-new Wasp, Henry Pym’s #1 fan who hopes the late doctor doesn’t mind her stealing his shtick. I’d forgotten the pleasures inherent in the art of Alan Davis, but I tend to avoid superteam books noawadays and will therefore be disconnected from whatever happens to her next in All-New All-Different Avengers.

15. DC SuperHero Girls (DC Comics) — It’s DC’s all-women answer to Muppet Babies but instead of a nursery they’re in high school. Intended for younger audience who like short, sparse sentences but are prepared for new vocab words like “wormhole”, “evaluation”, “carelessness”, “trendsetter”, and “cliffhanger”, a word here which means “an unsatisfying ending like this comic’s that means you’ll have to beg your parents to buy you more comics if you want to find out what happens to Supergirl next”. To be fair, this non-canon side trip treats some of the characters with more respect than their New 52 counterparts have received. And girls will love the all-new all-dreamy Comet the Super-Horse!

14. We Can Never Go Home/Young Terrorists (Black Mask) — Story #1 is an interlude that takes place amidst one of my favorite comics of 2015, bridging the gap toward the second WCNGH arc coming later this year. It fits well within the first arc and is every bit as shocking, though I’m too biased to tell if it does much for newcomers. Story #2 is my first glimpse of Young Terrorists, a less subtle and much more sadistic, nihilistic tribulation of the sort that stopped entertaining me years ago. For those who like this sort of thing professionally crafted, here some is.

13. Camp Midnight Free Comic Book Day Special (Image Comics) — Excerpt from the upcoming graphic novel written by Steven T. Seagle (House of Secrets, Ben 10), about a weird girl sent to a spooky summer camp for monster kids. I think the excerpt lopped off a few too many pages at the start, but the whole promises to be better than just the one part.

…and this was the line behind us a few minutes before 11. It wasn’t any shorter by the time we left at 11:15.

12. Bongo Free-for-All! 2016 (Bongo Comics) — The annual batch of Simpsons Comics reprints contains a few painful clunkers, including a two-pager that felt like 30-year-old MAD Magazine leftovers, but two stories both written by Ian Boothby — one a Homer/Pieman story, the other some hijinks in which Bart convinces everyone Principal Skinner is a vampire — got a few chuckles out of me, which is more than I can say for the average new Simpsons episode these days.

11. Lady Mechanika FCBD (Benitez Productions) — Joe Benitez is a fully accredited, upper-tier member of the Marc Silvestri/Top Cow comics design school, which can be a nifty art style to behold if you can overlook the heroine’s curiously modest boob window. I’m not familiar with Lady Mechanika beyond the one time I saw a Lady Mechanika cosplayer win a Gen Con costume contest, but the done-in-one new tale moves briskly, introduces other cyborgs like her as well as a set of nemeses, and threw in a few surprises I didn’t see coming. Two excerpts from other LM works show off even better art by Benitez and other collaborators. It’s not for kids, but this was a more interesting read than I expected.

10. Oddly Normal #1 (Image Comics) — Reprint of the first issue of the creator-owned all-ages series by Otis Frampton, one of the artists behind the YouTube series How It Should Have Ended (one among my very few YouTube subscriptions). The titular young girl is a green-haired, pointy-eared, half-witch outcast mocked at school, saddled with parents who don’t get her, and confused by powers that may have just kicked in. A fast read aimed squarely at all the other young oddballs out there. I can relate.

9. Steve Rogers: Captain America (Marvel Comics) — Story #1: after being dead for a few years, then resurrected and elderly for several more, Steve Rogers was recently rejuvenated and returned to his Star-Spangled Avenger role thanks to some contrivances set up in the recent Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill very special Marvel mini-crossover event, of which I read exactly one issue. Cap’s comeback looks great thanks to artist/colorist Jesus Saiz, and ends with a declaration of an official War on Hydra, which is tempting to follow but probably leads into twelve more crossovers, so I’m reluctant to commit. Story #2 stars the amazing Spider-Man, whose version of Peter Parker is barely recognizable to me. He’s undergone so many changes ever since “One Moment in Time” severed my last remaining childhood emotional ties to him years ago. Dan Slott’s writing style never disappoints me, and “One Moment in Time” wasn’t his fault, so I can acknowledge this as a pretty fun prologue to yet another upcoming very special Spider-Man major crossover event that will pass me right by.

The all-ages books had one table; this was the other. Plenty of supplies on hand for would-be readers.

8. Rom #0 (IDW Publishing) — ROM, Spaceknight, one of my beloved childhood toys, is back from a long, long stint in licensing limbo! And now IDW’s got him instead of Marvel! But for some reason at the end of this intro, probably for legal reasons, he calls himself “Rom the Space Knight”, which is wrong wrong WRONG. And the revamped Dire Wraiths are pale anime impersonations of Sal Buscema’s classic creepy designs. But Rom still has his trusty Analyzer and Neutralizer, and his silver armor with just some corners rounded, and his starchy Bill Mantlo speech pattern. It’s a promising start, as nostalgia reboots go. Story #2 is a revival of Britain’s own “Action Man”, about whom I know zilch beyond what writer John Barber’s afterword tells me, but his passing-of-the-mantle does a nice job of connecting the old GI Joe precursor to a young, befuddled successor left to figure out how Action Man things work. It’s got a breezy Young James Bond vibe and deserves a second look.

7. Serenity/Hellboy/Aliens (Dark Horse Comics) — Story #1: River Tam turns the Firefly cast into a really precious bedtime story that’ll warm the hearts of fans like me who still miss Wash. Story #2: Richard Corben draws Hellboy and mostly leaves me cold. Story #3 is connected to Brian Wood’s Aliens: Defiance, which I’ve been on the fence about trying or skipping, so I’m at a disadvantage. The art of Tristan Jones and colorist Dan Jackson is a strong selling point, I’ll give it that.

6. The Tick Free Comic Book Day 2016 (New England Press) — Our annual Free Comic Book Day reminder that New England Comics is still in business even though Tick creator Ben Edlund hasn’t been an active contributor in a long, long time. The lead story, in which the Tick meets dozens of other alt-universe Ticks, reminds me of Alan Moore’s run on Supreme, except this was funnier — the funniest Tick story I’ve read in a long time, truth be known. If regular Tick comics ever appeared at my local shop in any of the other 51 weeks every year, I might have to revisit these old, silly friends more often.

5. Doctor Who: Four Doctors (Titan Comics) — Four new shorts with each of the modern-era Doctors! The Tenth is bogged in the current comics’ status quo, Eleven and Twelve face revamps of classic-Who adversaries I don’t know, but the Ninth — my “first Doctor”, for the record — wins with Rose Tyler and Captain Jack at his side against a “geohacker” who reshapes planetary surfaces like a bored intergalactic Banksy. All four stories get each Doctor right and are worthy additions to any Whovian’s comics library. A trade collecting Titan’s first Twelve arc was one of my non-free FCBD purchases to support our local shops, so hopefully it’s more of the same niftiness.

Harley Quinn and the Red Power Ranger doing their exercises before assuming crowd-control and party-hearty duties.

4. Mooncop: A Tom Gauld Sampler (Drawn & Quarterly) — Reprints of the British cartoonist’s single-panel gags from The Guardian are great on their own, but the lead story, taken from the forthcoming graphic novel, is good quirky sci-fi about life on the still-desolate Moon in a time when the novelty of living on the Moon never quite took off. Gauld’s website contains more samples and pointers in case this wasn’t nearly enough, which it wasn’t. More, please.

3. Legend of Korra/How to Train Your Dragon/Plants vs. Zombies (Dark Horse Comics) — The Airbender/Korra universe always wins at FCBD, and the streak continues here with the origin of how Korra met her dog. I think. I’ve never seen an episode of either show, but in print they always impress me. Likewise the Dragon short gives cast members a chance to tell their favorite dragon tales with varying degrees of unaware humor, but all tie together at the end with a heartfelt nod to Hiccup’s dearly departed father, of which I approve. I’ve still never played Plants vs. Zombies, but this year’s story (versus a mad scientist zombie) is more coherent and funnier than last year’s. Well met.

2. Science Comics (First Second) — The title says it all: comics about science, and not necessarily just for the kiddos. In story #2, Jon Chad delivers a handy precis on the wide world of volcanology and answers the important issue of “why volcanoes”, but I’m even more enamored of story #1, in which Maris Wicks tells the inspiring true story of how her double-proficiency in comics and oceanography led her to taking scuba lessons for art’s sake. Many folks are lucky if they can do one thing they really love; Wicks is the rare victor to realize you don’t have to settle for just one.

1. Spongebob Freestyle Funnies (United Plankton Pictures) — Maris Wicks completists can then move on to this one, in which she has a two-pager about underwater mountains. There’s also a mostly okay opener by Israel Sanchez (I haven’t watched enough Spongebob to know that his arms can regenerate, but okay, sure) and a one-pager by James Kochalka called “Patrick’s Guide to Getting Stuff for Free” that had me in stitches (“#4: draw a picture of it and pretend that it’s real”), but the winner and champion of Free Comic Book Day 2016 stars Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, in a super-hero throwback tale written by old favorite Evan Dorkin (Beasts of Burden, Eltingville) and illustrated by Ramona Fradon, a longtime DC Comics artist who graced the ’60s through the early ’80s with work on the original Aquaman and the long-running Super-Friends comic based on ye olde cartoon. To have her drawing a spiffy Aquaman parody in the classic action-adventure mold after so many years in retirement is one of the most brilliant ideas any publisher will have this year.

And that’s the free reading pile that was, which has given me quite a few spending ideas. See you next year!

Our Free Comic Book Day 2016 Cosplayer of the Year: the unbeatable Squirrel Girl! Buy her amazing comic now or you hate reading, fun, literacy, women, and cute furry animals.

Gathered together from the cosmic reaches of the universe, here in this great Hall of Heroes, are the most powerful forces of good ever assembled: Captain America! Deadpool! Bucky! Cartoon Hulk! The Lizard!

My wife and I have a twice-yearly tradition of spending our respective birthdays together traveling to some new place or attraction as a one-day road trip — partly as an excuse to spend time together on those most wondrous days, partly to explore areas of Indiana we’ve never experienced before. My 2016 birthday destination of choice: the northern Indiana city of Elkhart, with a bonus stopover in South Bend, both some 100+ miles north of here. Elkhart was regrettably cut a little short because the weather was miserable and tried to freeze us in our tracks, but we had enough fun to fill out another four-part miniseries starring a candy factory tour, a super-hero roadside attraction, and a selection of the “art” in Elkhart. Also, food.

Part Two of Four: a birthday celebration for a venerated super-hero at a museum made by a fan for fans.

This way to JUSTICE.

Deep in the heart of Elkhart, the Hall of Heroes Museum is easy to miss because it’s in the middle of a wooded residential neighborhood. The museum’s owner and founder, Allen Stewart, is a real estate agent with a longtime passion for comics, super-heroes, and Captain America who has turned his collections into one large exhibition piece. He had the Museum built in his backyard, with plans to upgrade to a larger commercial space someday. Frankly, I felt weird parking in his lawn.

A fraction of the wall displays on hand, to say nothing of the longboxes containing 60,000+ comics spanning all the medium’s decades. I’ll admit it: his collection is bigger than mine.

We first hear about the Hall of Heroes from booths they set up at a few of our past cons. In previous entries we’ve shown readers pics of their Captain America actual-movie-prop shield signed on the inside by several cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as the Shelby Cobra that Tony Stark crash-landed on during suit-testing in the original Iron Man. When Anne and I were still gathering birthday ideas the week before, we just happened to catch a segment about the Hall of Heroes on one of our local morning shows and remembered this was a place we might want to check out. Nice timing, that.

One of their most treasured periodicals: a restored copy of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Captain America Comics #1.

As luck would have it, we’d chosen to visit the day they’d planned a mini-fest in honor of Captain America’s birthday. Now 75 years old, the Star-Spangled Avenger is healthier than ever, ruling the American box office and sporting not one but two noble guys with the name and costume in Marvel’s current comics continuity. The bottom floor and a few outdoor party tents were set up for expanded collection viewing, a sort-of dealers’ room for a few other fans with comics to sell, that damaged Shelby Cobra, face-painting for the kiddos, special guest Allen Bellman (a Timely Comics artist as a teenager while Simon and Kirby were serving overseas in WWII), and two local artists selling their own self-published wares.

And, of course, the one thing every successful comic book party needs: cosplayers!

Spider-Man’s old foe the Lizard sets aside his differences for good ol’ Steve Rogers’ sake.

Hulk take time out from Super Hero Squad to say hi to Flag Man. Hulk also want cake.

Even in a small-town costume gathering dozens of miles from the nearest major convention center, there’s no escaping Mandatory Deadpool, seen here with A-list film star Bucky the Winter Soldier.

Part of the first floor and all of the second are devoted to the bulk of Stewart’s impressive trove of comics, books, toys, high-end statues, and other nifty hobby collectibles. Guys like me have seen our share of action figures at cons, but they’re always boxed, stacked, hanging, or otherwise unnaturally shackled. Most of the heroes in this Hall are unboxed, posed, free-standing display items grouped with their friends, enemies, and other corporate cohorts out in the open. Touching isn’t invited, but with some pieces, I couldn’t help stopping and staring.

A selection of Super-Friends, including those brave DC heroes who entertained us on Saturday mornings but were forbidden inside the DC Comics universe.

The Justice League of America faces off against Starro the Conqueror in this statue reprising the cover of their first appearance in Brave & the Bold #28.

I like to call this section “HULK STASH!”

This is the moment, more than any other, that I knew Stewart was One Of Us. What ordinary mortal museum devotes an entire section to Alpha Flight?

The Spectre looms large and metes spiritual vengeance over in the Heroclix section.

Animation character reference sheets are among the wall decorations in between all those comics.

“Spider-Man! You’ve just appeared in your best movie in years! What are you doing next?” “I’m going to Disney World!”

A true treasure: Ralph Hinkley’s actual suit from The Greatest American Hero, autographed by William Katt. (Anyone calling him “Ralph Hanley” is banned.)

One corner of the first floor is a virtual Batman shrine. One of the most beloved, most heavily merchandised super-heroes in the medium’s history deserves no less.

Back in the day it was every parent’s job to teach their kids the two words in the Batman theme song.

If it doesn’t have a genuine Batcostume, it’s not an authentic Batshrine.

Batman naturally needs his Batprops, including this spare Batmask and the Batphone.

I didn’t ask if this was a real TV prop or just an amazing simulation, but its brilliance bowled me over either way: the Hall of Heroes has its own Batpole.

To be honest, the Hall of Heroes wasn’t exactly what I imagined we’d find after a nearly three-hour drive, but it’s a fun place to be. For a modest yet fair entry free, local fans and newcomers to super-heroing get to see a scintillating panoply of faces and universes, giving them a better appreciation and a deeper dive into the vast imaginary worlds of Marvel, DC, and more. Only a fraction of a fraction of those characters have ever made the transition to summer action blockbuster event movies and are likely strangers to the general public. Stewart’s Hall of Heroes is a neat diversion, a potential educational tool, and maybe even a handy gateway to new reading possibilities for kids and adults alike.

It might even spur new collectors into the hobby, though some rookies might do well to keep their expectations realistic and their hopes grounded. We chatted briefly with one young starry-eyed lady who asked if I have any comics (I casually mentioned “some longboxes”) and bragged that her boyfriend owns “a dozen boxes worth a million dollars!” I thought about my thirty-seven years of comics fandom, my 50+ longboxes, many years spent skimming Overstreet price guides, and that one short time I tried eBay on for size, and I had to fight the urge to reach over and pat her on the head.

To be fair, though, based on what we saw of Stewart’s own accumulations, he would’ve had full bragging rights to come up and pat me on the head.

Arch-rivals Sinestro and Green Lantern in a rare team-up moment. Some of you may recognize the distinguished gentleman in the middle.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: June 10th and 11th, my wife Anne and I attended the 38th annual Superman Celebration in the city of Metropolis, Illinois. In Part One you met two of the headliners, Mehcad Brooks and Twilight’s Peter Facinelli from TV’s Supergirl. In Part Two you met the other guests, including two more famous Jimmy Olsens — Marc McClure from the four Superman films and Michael Landes from TV’s Lois & Clark.

As with any other comics-themed event, there shall always be cosplay. Rather than stagger our super-hero costume photo gallery across a few themed entry, right here is all the costumes fit to print. Most were from DC, but a few other superhumans infiltrated the proceedings from neighboring universes. Fortunately for them the citizens of Metropolis are welcoming to any and all — especially in times like these, when we need heroes now more than ever. All heroes.

(For value-added puzzle fun, see how many Supergirls you can count. If you can spot five or more, consider yourself an honorary CatCo Correspondent!)

SECTION ONE: THE WORLD OF SUPERMAN!

Obviously we ought to have at least one Superman in the lineup, right? This one’s joined by old foe Solomon Grundy, Bane, Bizarro Supergirl, and Ant-Man, sneaking in from another universe, which is just the kind of thing Paul Rudd would do.

Just as we had more than one actor who’s played, so did we have more than one cosplayer with us in Marc McClure’s line as Jimmy Olsen, this one armed with camera and trademark bow tie.

In civilian life, the other Jimmy Olsen is local man Mike Meyer, who made headlines five years ago when some heartless bounder stole a chunk of his large collection of Superman comics and memorabilia. The perp was caught and, in an outpouring of love, fans nationwide sent him Super-donations to replenish his collection. The response was so overwhelming that he ended up donating a lot of it to others in turn. ‘Twas an honor to meet him in person.

Mr. Mxyzptlk sneaking away from the Fifth Dimension for a bit of mischief. Bonus points if you can correctly pronounce all four syllables.

Silver Banshee, a post-Crisis Superman villain who turned up this season on Supergirl.

Much as we’d like to forget Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, we must never forget the Nuclear Man. EVER.

What if baby Kal-El’s rocket landed in the USSR instead of in Kansas? You’d have the star of Mark Millar and Dave Johnson’s Elseworlds saga Superman: Red Son.

SECTION TWO: GOTHAM BY SUNLIGHT!

Batman and Robin emerge from the shadows because no one can resist posing in front of the Superman statue. Flaunting the emergency kryptonite he keeps in his utility belt seems kind of gauche, though.

Friday’s Jimmy Olsen, ace photographer, transformed Saturday into Oswald Cobblepot, the best thing about TV’s Gotham.

Jack Nicholson’s Joker. We’ve got a live one here!

Nearly every cosplay gallery we share has at least one costume we don’t recognize, and would love any labeling assistance we can get from You, The Viewers at Home. “Riddle me this!” says the Riddler, introducing today’s guest strangers. Little help? [UPDATED 6/14/2016, 10:45 p.m. EDT: super-special thanks to Holly at Bloggity Ramblings for recognizing Slenderman when memory failed me. The jury’s still out on Pajama Cowboy.]

SECTION THREE: HEROES OF THE DC MULTIVERSE!

The Flash and Green Lantern John Stewart, your core Justice League members in the house.

From the awesomeness that is The Flash, our man’s flanked by his season-1 Big Bad, the Reverse-Flash, and season 2’s sinister Zoom. Run, Barry, RUN!

Mr. Miracle and Green Arrow, fully accredited JLA members who occasionally suffer the indignity of being mistaken for Hawkeye or Iron Man. Kids clearly learn nothing in school these days.

Also on the old JLA roster: Zatanna! (“Stekcit hpargotua otni nrut, ynnuB!”)

Hawkman on loan from TV’s Legends of Tomorrow, making himself more useful here.

And the animated version of his beloved Hawkgirl.

Fire and Ice from the ’80s Justice League hang out with Stargirl from the Justice Society of America. Fans will notice she’s wielding the Cosmic Staff given to her by Jack Knight, the early-retired Starman.

SHAZAM! is what we have no choice but to call him, because his ex-sobriquet Captain Marvel has been taken by some big movie company or whatever.

Dr. Fate, DC’s own master of the mystic arts. Eagle-eyed viewers of NBC’s Constantine spotted his fabled Helmet of Nabu on a dusty shelf in at least one episode.

Red X, undercover hero from Teen Titans — the original series my son and I really liked, not the current one that’s totally not aimed at either of us.

From the deepest depths of DC’s Who’s Who, it’s the animal-powered hero that men were asked to call…B’wana Beast! My wife thought he was just some dude who had the right idea about how to cope with the 90-degree heat. For once in his career, B’Wana Beast may have been the smartest of us all.

Friday at 5 p.m.: all-ages costume parade! Bonus points to Miss Martian there for thinking outside the box.

SECTION FOUR: HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE!

As mentioned briefly in Part Two, Saturday morning we attended a special presentation in which writer Brian K. Morris taught visitors about the rich, varied, occasionally outlandish history of the DC Comics universe with a little help from some special friends, most of whom are presented below. (Solomon Grundy, seen above, was also among their number.)

“I get to go first…BECAUSE I’M BATMAN!”

Composite Joker features pieces from the character’s multiple multimedia personae.

Wonder Woman! Soon to star in a major motion picture!

Long before Yvonne Craig represented for women’s lib, there was the original Golden Age Bat-Girl! Not making this up!

Supergirl, now at the absolute height of her popularity, partly thanks to those quitters at CBS.

Post-Crisis Lex Luthor, complete with glove to cover the hand afflicted with kryptonite poisoning. That was a thing in my day, y’see.

Super-Harley! Or rather, Harley Quinn trying to disguise herself as Supergirl and hopefully start scoring paychecks from The CW.

SECTION FIVE: NOT NECESSARILY THE DC UNIVERSE!

Another Harley Quinn with her new partner Joy from Pixar’s Inside Out.

Cyclops from the X-Men movies, which begs an interesting question: what would happen if he aimed his ruby quartz rays through a piece of red kryptonite? Your move, fanfic writers.

Gambit, for you ’90s X-fans out there.

Even in a small-town costume gathering hundreds of miles from the nearest major convention center, there’s no escaping Mandatory Deadpool.

French-MaidPool, the Ruffian with Ruffles.

Look out, Supergirl! Jason Voorhees already got to Superman and YOU’RE NEXT!

To be continued!

Wanda and Cosmo, the Fairly OddParents! Stars of one of the last Nickelodeon shows my son ever watched before he aged out of it. Other than SpongeBob, I have no idea who their popular mascots are today.

This weekend Indy PopCon returned to the Indiana Convention Center for their the third annual gala of YouTube, gaming, podcasting, comics, voice actors, animation, and various other manifestations of pop and geek culture in general. My wife and I still regard 2014’s inaugural Indy PopCon as one of the best convention experiences we’ve ever had, but got a little lost when 2015’s event shifted focus toward luring in droves of younger fans. This time we were in the house Saturday for just a half-day with a short itinerary and muted expectations, but were happy to find ourselves another round of wacky fun.

As always we took photos for You, the Viewers at Home, over half of which were costumes. From the start Indy PopCon has attracted quite a creative crowd of cosplayers at every level, from the monetized pro circuit to the costume-contest hopefuls to the sincerest fans of varying means to literally a guy wearing an outfit made of Amazon boxes. At the crossroads of imagination, resourcefulness, determination, and fandom lies…Indy PopCon.

Before we get too far into this, let’s get the obvious part over with: Mandatory Deadpool! Wherever we go to hang out with or near geeks, from the smallest towns to the largest metropolitan extravaganzas, there shall always be a Deadpool. I promise we’re not just walking up to cosplayers in random costumes, handing them a Deadpool mask and red gloves, and creating our own variants to satisfy some mad obsession. That would be unsanitary and also cheating, both of which are qualities right up Deadpool’s alley but not ours.

Scotspool only eats chimichangas stuffed with haggis.

Hugpool giving out free hugs. Obviously a trap.

Baseballpool, brave enough to bring bats to a gunfight.

Waldopool, sick of hiding in crowds like a CHUMP.

It’s hard out here for a Pimppool.

But wait! There’s more! Granted, as with any convention experience, our Indy PopCon photo gallery represents a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total cosplay experience onsite, but we did what we could in the time allotted with the encounters at hand. It’s just this thing we like to do.

Blinky and Inky were ahead of us in the opening line to the exhibit hall, armed with a radio playing Pac-Man music on an endless loop.

Finn ain’t afraid of no ghosts!

Maleficent is a friend of my wife’s who was at last year’s Indy PopCon, but this time she brought her husband as Captain Hook.

This year Indy PopCon’s old home at the north end of the Convention Center was reserved by The Gospel Coalition for a women’s conference. Preacher antihero Jesse Custer ain’t here for that.

More antiheroes: DC’s Deathstroke and the Red Hood. Or is Deathstroke back to being a villain in New 52 continuity? Or is he both? Neither? Dead?

Red Hood also available in adult sizes.

Jawa!

The next three photos represent our usual game of “Stump the Fans” — costumes that caught our eye even though we old folks have no idea who they are. Exhibit A: giant stuffed thing. Is it from one of those things we don’t get, like Skylanders or Overwatch or latter-day Pokemon? We wouldn’t know.

Exhibit B: probably MMO fantasy characters. My son’s sometimes an authority on these, but this time he drew a blank.

Exhibit C: another armored warrior, hanging out with the Surfing Joker we met at Awesome Con Indy. If you know any of these smart-looking strangers, won’t you please help the quasi-elderly in their ignorance? Thank you.

This steampunk ferret may be one of the best, tiniest animatronics we’ve ever seen on a convention show floor. At least I think it was animatronic.

The Punisher, soon to be star of his own Netflix series.

Harley Quinn by Savannah Marie, a rare instance of a cosplayer with business cards.

Edward Scissorhands hopes you aren’t leaving too soon and apologizes for any damage done.

To be concluded! Tomorrow: who we met and what we did!

This New Year’s Eve ball may be retired, but it’s still got enough magic in it to perform random countdowns to nothing in particular. Kids love countdowns.

[The very special miniseries continues! See Part One for the official intro and context.]

Sooner or later, everyone who can’t afford to live in New York has to leave New York. With a handful of hours left on Day Six, it was our turn to start spreading the news and leave here today. We voted unanimously for one last walk through Times Square — one last chance to immerse ourselves in that vibrant hodgepodge teeming with life and lights and wonder and costumes and tourists needing directions and open-air claustrophobia, often not in that order.

We walked as briskly as we could on the last of our energy reserves from Columbus Circle and down Broadway to Times Square. Along the way we passed the Ed Sullivan Theater, current home to The Late Show with David Letterman and one-time jihad target.

We’d considered attending a real NYC talk show at some point, but most require audience members be over 18. My son came up a little short.

Not every street corner has been purged for the kiddies. Adult fare still poked out in a few spots if you looked too closely. I noted one mild gentleman’s club with purple awning and super-sized rooftop ad for GNC, but its proximity to the heavy all-ages traffic and shiniest lights seemed an odd choice compared to the crasser holes-in-the-wall tucked away in the shadows near Port Authority.

One feature we stopped to admire a bit more this time: street-side cosplayers!

Anne poses with her childhood pal Cookie Monster while Winnie the Pooh lurks in the shadows, trying not to be a bother.

We gave Pooh a turn in the spotlight, but by then he had nothing to say for himself.

Elmo filled with existential angst about Elmo’s career choices!

Dora the Explorer with a permanent shocked expression, like a lot of Manhattan tourists.

Bowling alley mascot wants to know how YOU doin’.

We have reason to believe this Naked Cowboy is not the genuine article. I’d never heard of him, let alone suspected him of inspiring inferior imitations. The existence of one alone is cause enough for concern. If you see this man, call I-800-CRIME-TV right away and scream into your phone how unfair it is that you can’t get away with dressing like this.

When we stopped to rest near the Times Square permanent bleachers, this man handed us a travel brochure several days too late and spent uncountable minutes extolling the virtues of the great and powerful Hunter S. Thompson, whom none of us have read. I faintly improved his opinion of us by remembering correctly that Benicio Del Toro costarred in that one Terry Gilliam flick about a psychotropic junkie road trip.

Officially the final entry in Anne’s “Faces of New York” photo series. Not a costume.

The giant puppets stood outside the M&Ms Store, which wasn’t as fascinating inside as I had hoped. There were many M&Ms and M&M accessories, all accompanied by rave-volume electronica Muzak that failed to convince us how hip and happenin’ their candy is. Any melting was strictly in our ears, not our in hands or mouths.

Anne found another smashed penny machine outside an Italian restaurant. While she busied herself pressing some coinage into new souvenirs, I watched a scene around the corner where several alarmed people were surrounding an old black man who was leaning against the wall and trying to pass out. I felt awkward not rushing to help, but with seven people already gathered around and offering assistance or sympathy, I’m not sure an eighth would’ve made a crucial difference.

Our last purchase of the week was at a souvenir shop run by a fellow who told us he had relatives back in our own Indianapolis. My son and I got matching black T-shirts emblazoned with the Manhattan portion of the official, boldly colored MTA subway map. I can’t speak for him, but every time I’ve worn it since vacation, it’s started more conversations with strangers than any other article of clothing I’ve ever owned. Oddest run-in was a month later at the Indiana State Fair — a young man who sold me beignets from a concession stand and wouldn’t stop staring at the shirt because he’s currently in college preparing to become a city planner in his hometown and is fascinated by that sort of thing. It’s nice to be inspirational.

The closing lineup of electric Times Square crowd scenes and advertising writ colossal:

How many Broadway plays can you count behind this statue of fightin’ Father Francis P. Duffy?

Friday TKTS lines beat any line we’d seen or stood in that week. No discount showing of The Addams Family for us, then.

Even franchise restaurants probably don’t have to look bigger and bolder to draw in the rubes, but they have fun flexing their creative muscles anyway.

We’ve never watched Torchwood, but I trust this ad impressed its fans.

Toshiba presents the Toshiba tower starring the Toshiba ads supporting the current New Year’s Eve ball. With special guest TDK, whose blank cassettes were important to me as a music-loving teen.

Anne insisted on one nice shot of me in Manhattan before we left. We were both trying to cross the street at the time, but why not. It’s New York!

This being July 15, 2011, I had the brilliant idea of checking into the possibility of seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 on opening day in a real live NYC theater. Of the two movie theaters we could locate without trying, the 6000-screen AMC had lines the length of days, while the Regal across the street wasn’t even showing it. The former was predictable, but the latter was unexpected. Nearly every Indianapolis theater has identical movie listings, especially when it’s time for summer action blockbusters, and rarely sells out of any showings. Once again we saw New York is not now, nor will it ever be, Indianapolis.

Thanks to fatigue and proximity, dinner was down 42nd Street from the theaters at a Japanese fast-food chain called Yoshinoya. Their chopsticks were cheaper than Sapporo’s and their electronica Muzak was cheaper than the M&M Store’s, but their food was a cut above Manchu Wok’s.

We had plenty of daylight left after dinner if we wanted to take advantage, but we had neither the energy nor the remaining ideas. We entered Port Authority one last time, rode one last New Jersey transit bus back to Weehawken, and disembarked one last time at Lincoln Harbor. We were somber yet satisfied.

Our somberness and satisfaction each vanished when we spent some time in the hotel room sampling our Chinatown culinary souvenirs, none of which were more intimidating than the Honey-Flavored Grass Jelly Drink (slogan: “Catch the Dread!”). Its list of natural ingredients were more unintelligible than any chemical-based American snack.

Probably not available in value-priced 24-packs.

My son took a sip. I took a swig. Despite our differences throughout the week’s trials, in this issue we were a united front: this swill tasted like lawn trimmings marinated in mop water with just a twist of death.

I dumped the rest of the Honey-Flavored Grass Jelly Drink (slogan: “Grape, Grass, ToMAYto, ToMAHto!”) in the sink. Much to our surprise and disgust, chunks in the bottom of the can clogged the drain of the nice hotel sink and grossed us out. I grabbed a handful of toilet paper and scooped out the evidence before it jammed up the plumbing for the entire hotel.

Maybe this stuff would make great fertilizer, but I had no intention of carrying it in my luggage to find out.

We later learned those chunks were gelatin cubes that are packaged in every can of Honey-Flavored Grass Jelly Drink (slogan: “It’s like rolling tiny dice into your mouth!”), not a coagulated mess resulting from years of sitting on the shelf unsold. Chinese kids presumably hold those globules in the same regard that American kids used to hold Cracker Jacks prizes. I take back what I said before about their marketing department: whoever tricked anyone into craving that kind of emetic fodder is a staggering genius.

Ranking our edibles upward from there: the cubic gumdrop things had a mealiness to them that may or may not have dated back to Incan times; the Chinese grapes were mostly seed; and the dragon fruit was mostly harmless once we figured out how to penetrate its harmful rind without a knife on hand.

Settling in for the night, the top of my comics reading stack was Marvel’s Journey into Mystery #625, in which a young, reincarnated Loki hatched a scheme that required tense negotiations between Hela, the goddess of the Norse underworld, and Mephisto, Marvel’s proxy for Satan. All involved needed a third-party neutral territory in which to conduct the diplomatic tête-à-tête.

The location of choice for this Axis of Evil: Newark, NJ.

To be continued!

[Historical notes:

1. Now that bubble tea is a thing, those gelatinous cube miniatures are a tad less alienating. This Asian foodie trend doesn’t retroactively upgrade my opinion of the foul taste or squishy texture, though.

2. I deleted one Dick Clark joke that sounded horrid after his 2012 passing. His New Year’s Rockin’ Eve used to be my December 31st ritual as a kid.

3. When we were prodding my son for ideas for our 2016 trip, Yoshinoya was the only restaurant he remembered five years later. That location, the last one east of the Mississippi River, shut down the following January 31st.

4. To this day my son has yet to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Once a Potter fan along with my wife and me, he lost interest circa Half-Blood Prince and saw Deathly Hallows: Part 1 only because other relatives dragged him to it.

5. In 2016 we saw another Naked Cowboy in Times Square, this one black. Even the New York underwear-model-cowboy union is showing more diversity these days than some TV networks.

6. This past July we shared the story of that time we finally got to enter the Ed Sullivan Theater. A few exterior photos will feature in a future entry, along with a snippet of grainy video. Consider this footnote the official teaser promo.

7. We’ve still not watched Torchwood, but we’ve since gotten attached to Doctor Who and are hoping to meet John Barrowman at a convention this weekend. Consider this footnote a bonus teaser for our very next photo series, starting this Sunday or Monday…]

* * * * *

[Link enclosed here to handy checklist for future chapters, and for our complete road trip history to date. Follow us on Facebook or via email signup for new-entry alerts, or over on Twitter if you want to track my TV live-tweeting and other signs of life between entries. Thanks for reading!]

Rather than end on a negative drink review, we bookend here after this chapter’s end credits with a bonus glimpse of that same color-changing New Year’s Eve ball, which resided in the Times Square Visitors Center in its twilight years, counting down up close and in your face. Historical note #8: the Times Square Visitors Center that we visited in July 2011 later closed in August 2014. New York City just can’t have all the nice things, apparently.

Who’s killing members of the Suicide Squad? Find out after the break!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time of year again! Anne and I spent this weekend at Wizard World Chicago in scenic Rosemont, IL, where we generally had a blast surrounded by fellow fans of comics and genre TV/movies even though parts of it resemble hard work and our feet feel battle-damaged after three days of endless walking, standing, lining up, shuffling forward in cattle-call formation, and scurrying toward exciting people and things.

In the first of our mandatory cosplay galleries, from the heart of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center we focus on the ubiquitous citizens of the DC Comics Universe — most, but not all, from the adjunct DC Cinematic Universe, including a special spotlight on a fun, silent skit we saw go down Sunday afternoon in the main lobby, in which Our Heroes from that recent #1 film meet an unstoppable force from another comic-book universe.

In a convention where roughly one out of every five attendees was dressed as Harley Quinn, we were worried about the state of this year’s cosplay, but were happy to run into some inspired choices. First up: the less common but no less celebrated DC heroes and villains:

Wonder Woman! Soon to star in a presumably better DC film.

Dr. Fate has been wielding magic and visiting phantasmagorical dimensions since 1940 and thinks it’s totally unfair that Dr. Strange gets a movie first.

The Jason Todd version of the Red Hood got top billing in an animated Batman film, so the two of him are pretty satisfied.

Power Girl takes flight, thanks to skillful use of concealed stilts.

Variant version of Zatanna from DC’s Bombshells relaxes over by the conference rooms.

Gotham‘s Penguin, who needs way more screen time in all future seasons.

The classic Captain Cold of my childhood, probably not a favorite with any Wentworth Miller fan clubs.

Raven from the Teen Titans hanging out with Apocalypse, maybe requesting sanctuary at DC after the performance of his own summer film.

DC Villains united! Luthor, Bane, Reverse Flash, and the Riddler representing for the not-Harley side of evil.

Pause for itty-bitty sampling from the wide, wide, wide world of Harley Quinns. I’m sure 99% of the Harley cosplayers are good people, but we’ve been doing so many cons over the past several years that, unless we’re seeing a multitude of creative variants (cf. Deadpool), we’re having trouble convincing ourselves to take pics of the same two or three costumes over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

That said, some Harleys anyway:

Harley & Enchantress ruling the dance floor.

Villainesses united: movie Harley with Marvel’s Black Cat, still waiting for her turn in some future Spider-Man flick.

Joker and the kind of Harley for which it’s tough to write a caption. Lurking in the background is Uka Uka from the old Crash Bandicoot games.

And then there was that Sunday afternoon showdown, in which the cast of Suicide Squad faced their least nonsensical opponent yet: Negan from The Walking Dead.

Um, mild spoilers for the final scene of the Walking Dead season 6 finale, I guess.

Deadshot is not impressed; Amanda Waller is already counting how many people she’ll kill on her way out the door; and Joker is unreasonably excited.

Our best shot of the underrated Killer Croc and El Diablo. If they had powers for real, Negan would last about fifteen seconds flat.

Before someone got her into this mess, Amanda Waller had been walking around, pushing buttons on a phone, and trying to make people explode. That’s Joker’s kind of woman.

Rick Flag and Slipknot seem awfully smug, like they know something Negan doesn’t.

BAM! Slipknot goes down. Boomerang’s stuffed unicorn lay there like a slug. It was her only defense.

When bodies start hitting the floor, the Harley of another DC Earth watches, grateful they don’t have crossovers like this back home.

Negan v. Harley: Bats of Injustice: the Final Showdown!

To be continued! Other chapters in this MCC miniseries:

Part 1: Our Jazz Hands Gallery
Part 3: Marvel Comics Cosplay!
Part 4: Star Wars and Sci-Fi Cosplay!
Part 5: Last Call for Cosplay!
Part 6: Objects of Affection
Part 7: Who We Met and What We Did

Gamora and Nebula, like the Thelma and Louise of a new generation.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time of year again! Anne and I spent this weekend at Wizard World Chicago in scenic Rosemont, IL, where we generally had a blast surrounded by fellow fans of comics and genre TV/movies even though parts of it resemble hard work and our feet feel battle-damaged after three days of endless walking, standing, lining up, shuffling forward in cattle-call formation, and scurrying toward exciting people and things.

In Part One, we gave you great moments in comic-con jazz hands. In Part Two, DC Comics cosplay, including a special performance by the Suicide Squad. In this chapter: it’s Marvel’s turn to represent.

Okay, first order of business: a few token Deadpools. We saw far fewer Deadpool variants at WWC than we did at all our previous 2016 conventions, even those with a fraction of the attendance figures. Either we’ve passed Peak Deadpool Costumes, or he’s begrudgingly abdicated his cosplay throne to Harley Quinn.

Senor Deadpoolito, pushing the Merc with a Mouth’s chimichanga worship to its extreme logical conclusion.

Carnagepool lurking the show floor with Toxin, offspring of normal Carnage.

Our escalator view of a Deadpool reigning on the dance floor.

An almost subliminal Deadpool undercover with a trio of Spider-Men.

Another Deadpool was one of six Marvel Bunnies, who I trust are no relation to DC’s own Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.

…and the rest:

We geezers here at MCC always run across one or more costumes representing characters that are better known to the kids these days but strangers to us. If you recognize Wolverine’s new friend, who’s really not Storm, please feel free to educate us in the comment section. We have a long-standing policy of appreciating lessons about new universes.

Another X-Man changing up partners: Gambit with SNL’s super-awkward Mary Katherine Gallagher.

Tony Stark with his favorite partner: booze. (He also had a light-up arc reactor under his shirt, which of course blinked at the wrong moment.)

A more heroic duo: first-appearance Iron Man and WWII reject Steve Rogers.

Old friends Cap and Thor teaming up with Loki.

Doctor Octopus and the Punisher: a good-looking match made in nowhere ever.

Elektra needs no partner and will stab you for asking. Unless you’re Matt Murdock in doting pushover mode.

Cable would like you to meet his favorite partners: THESE GUNS. (Seriously, though, this is the best Cable cosplay I’ve ever seen.)

To be continued! To be continued! Other chapters in this MCC miniseries:

Part 1: Our Jazz Hands Gallery
Part 3: Marvel Comics Cosplay!
Part 4: Star Wars and SF Cosplay!
Part 5: Last Call for Cosplay!
Part 6: Objects of Affection
Part 7: Who We Met and What We Did

“Vote for me and I vow there shall be a grand inquisition regarding the contents of Mon Mothma’s email inbox!”

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time of year again! Anne and I spent this weekend at Wizard World Chicago in scenic Rosemont, IL, where we generally had a blast surrounded by fellow fans of comics and genre TV/movies even though parts of it resemble hard work and our feet feel battle-damaged after three days of endless walking, standing, lining up, shuffling forward in cattle-call formation, and scurrying toward exciting people and things.

In this episode: Star Wars cosplay! Always a popular choice, especially now that The Force Awakens gave fans several dozen more characters to choose from, though they’re really only basing costumes on three or four of them at best. Also, we welcome envoys from other science fiction universes who insist there’s more to life than lightsabers and cutesy, merchandisable aliens.

Rey and Artoo recoil at the sight of Palpatine and his entourage, including a Maultrooper and plain white Stormtrooper.

This Ewok, Tusken Raider, and two Mandalorians will be among the first exiles when Palpatine is elected and has an infinite wall built around the entire galaxy.

Friday gave us the largest cosplay battle of the weekend: Jedi vs. Sith and bounty hunters.

A Jedi with double-bladed lightsaber and a Sith with dual evil lightsabers remind Wolverine and Phoenix of the days when they used to traipse around outer space and meet interstellar teams like the Starjammers and the Imperial Guard. So the X-Men are basically sci-fi heroes.

The Star Wars family that cosplays together: Chewbacca, old Han Solo, li’l Rey, and a nearly actual-size Maz Kanata.

An even tinier Rey resents attending the con with the world’s smallest sentient BB-8.

…and that was just the Star Wars side of things. Sci-fi lives on in other universes, but to lesser degrees on the Wizard World Chicago show floor.

The only Star Trek person, place, or thing we caught on camera was this section of the Next Generation bridge. Seated at the helm is…a Bird of Prey? (If you recognize it, Viewers at Home, mind giving us a hint?)

With three legendary actors from Back to the Future on the guest list, it goes without saying we saw a 10,000% increase in Doc Brown and Marty McFly costumes over last year. For our money, this father/son duo won the category.

Mulder and Scully represent on behalf of thousands of fans who turned out for the very special X-Files cast reunion.

Deckard and Pris from Blade Runner, wishing like the rest of us that Harrison Ford would come within 1000 yards of one of these shows someday before the end of the world.

Doctor, Shmoctor — the TARDIS is the show’s one true star!

We end this section with a trilogy of sci-fi comedy hand signals, two of them circling back around to the Star Wars universe:

Pizza the Hutt and a Dink from Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs.

“Matt the Radar Technician”, whose true identity was blown in one of the better SNL skits from last season.

Most excellent time travelers Bill S. Preston, Esq., and Ted “Theodore” Logan are totally WYLD STALLYNZ!

To be continued! Other chapters in this MCC miniseries:

Part 1: Our Jazz Hands Gallery
Part 2: DC Comics Cosplay!
Part 3: Marvel Comics Cosplay!
Part 5: Last Call for Cosplay!
Part 6: Objects of Affection
Part 7: Who We Met and What We Did

Your greeters for today: Uka Uka and Aku Aku, the sentient floating voodoo power masks from ye olde Crash Bandicoot series.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time of year again! Anne and I spent this weekend at Wizard World Chicago in scenic Rosemont, IL, where we generally had a blast surrounded by fellow fans of comics and genre TV/movies even though parts of it resemble hard work and our feet feel battle-damaged after three days of endless walking, standing, lining up, shuffling forward in cattle-call formation, and scurrying toward exciting people and things.

In this episode: all the cosplay that’s fit to post. One last round of WWC 2016 costumes before we move on to other aspects of the con and site traffic resumes its normal levels once I stop mentioning cosplay. And now, we rejoin cosplay, already in progress — from the worlds of animation, video games, movies, TV, and Cool-Looking Characters We Don’t Recognize.

Leslie Knope from Parks & Rec. Several people who didn’t recognize her (or the handiwork of JJ’s Diner) kept asking where she found waffles. In that convention center, attendees get desperate for any sign of real food.

Sadness from Inside Out, whom we were paradoxically happy to meet.

Four of the five main cast from Inside Out. Presumably Fear is off hiding in an empty conference room.

Serpentor in summer wear! He was the only cosplayer who gave us a business card. His official page features more faithful, old-school Serpentor togs.

Pikachu begs you to put down the phone and make with the hugs.

The mascot from Kings Bowling, one of several businesses over in MB Financial Park, along with a movie theater, a candy shop, and a handful of restaurants. Fun special secret: any of those places will validate your convention center parking with a purchase, even a small one. So now you know for next year!

Dr. Evil, Mini-Me, and Mr. Bigglesworth organized their own Axis of Evil ride-along.

Kirito, hero guy from Sword Art Online.

Two of several creepy critters on hand from Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Major points for originality: E.G. Marshall’s crotchety cockroach victim from the final segment of Stephen King’s Creepshow.

Negan from The Walking Dead, and the big-game hunter that I thought was a historical figure my wife might recognize may actually be Van Pelt from Jumanji. (Special thanks to Ray in the comments and Amanda on the WWC Facebook group for having better memories than mine.)

Anne and I thought this was Abbie Mills from Sleepy Hollow, but she’s actually cosplaying Walking Dead‘s Rick Grimes.

I have this lovely dress labeled in my notes as “Queen of the Con”, but it’s actually Princess Luna from My Little Pony. (Special thanks to Johanna over at the WWC Facebook group for remedying my ignorance on this one.)

Lorne and first-appearance Illyria from TV’s Angel. They were fellow fans waiting in line to see Christian Kane, and were thankfully patient with me when I wouldn’t stop gushing over her makeup. I like to think Andy Hallett would’ve approved.

While I was waiting in line for a photo op, famous thespian Christopher Lloyd wandered out into the open to make a phone call. Strongbad and Jessica Rabbit couldn’t believe their eyes, either.

Their name: the cast of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Their quest: WWC cosplay. The air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow: personally, I don’t see what that has to do wi*THUNK*

William Zabka IS Johnny Lawrence IN The Karate Kid! Because COBRA KAI NEVER DIES!

Dr. Henry Jones, Senior, very happy that when he nearly died in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, at least his son didn’t stab him with a lightsaber.

If you’re missing any friends who attended Wizard World Chicago, you might want to check inside Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.

Points for originality and boldness: Chris Farley’s one-time Chippendale dancer from Saturday Night Live.

Grand finale: anime for the youngsters out there! Shinoa Hīragi from Seraph of the End; and Enoshima Junko and li’l Monokuma from Dangan Ronpa.

(Special thanks to my son for naming assistance with a few of these. Um, obviously.)

To be continued! Next time: something besides costumes. Other chapters in this MCC miniseries:

Part 1: Our Jazz Hands Gallery
Part 2: DC Comics Cosplay!
Part 3: Marvel Comics Cosplay!
Part 4: Star Wars and SF Cosplay!
Part 6: Objects of Affection
Part 7: Who We Met and What We Did

Prince Humperdinck helps us workshop our Princess Bride dream musical.

Saturday marked our third trip to HorrorHound Indy, an annual Indianapolis convention in honor of the scary, bloody, icky, haunting, stabbing, disturbing, black-garbed aspects of pop culture. The folks at HorrorHound Magazine orchestrate the festivities free of Stormtroopers and Harley Quinns so loyal horror fans can enjoy a themed geek space of their own. Much of the celebrated works are Not Our Thing, but so many talented performers with broad resumes have dabbled in those nightmare worlds that we’ve been surprised how often we run across intersections with our own favorite universes.

For example, pictured above: Chris Sarandon! Horror fans know him as the head vampire from Fright Night and a cop from the first Child’s Play, but upstanding fans of The Princess Bride know him as evil Prince Humperdinck, and my son knew him as the speaking voice of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas and the Halloweentown sequences in the various Kingdom Hearts games. He was also in an episode of Deep Space Nine, our favorite Trek series, but that’s been a while and I can’t remember if I should mention it or not.

(Pausing here for ax extremely rare MCC CONTENT WARNING: at least two of the following images might be considered NSFW at more sensitive companies, even though they’d earn a PG rating by practical MPAA standards, but they’re each too memorable to skip, and longtime MCC readers might appreciate the, uh, imaginative detour one of them takes. Viewer patience is advised and appreciated.)

One of this year’s top performers in our books: Academy Award Nominee Brad Dourif, whom you may remember from such roles as Billy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Grima Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings, the scientist who tampered in God’s domain in Alien Resurrection, a serial-killer Betazoid in Star Trek: Voyager (a true highlight of season 1), psychic killer Luther Lee Boggs in the X-Files episode “Beyond the Sea” (the one where Scully’s dad died), and about a zillion other abnormal guys here and there and everywhere. Some of those memorable parts fit into HorrorHound’s jurisdiction, but as the voice of Chucky the world’s stabbiest doll, he was the anchor of a very special Child’s Play reunion that brought several cast members (e.g. Sarandon) from virtually every installment of the series to date.

Awww, it’s so cute! Chucky’s trying to do jazz hands!

HorrorHound always does an impressive job of creating cast reunions with their guest lists. One of this year’s oddest choices was 1986’s alien-bug-possessed-zombie B-movie Night of the Creeps, whose title I recall seeing listed pretty often in TV Guide‘s premium-cable section back in the day. One of those cast members holds a very special place in my wife’s heart: Allan Kayser, best known to ’80s kids as Bubba from TV’s Mama’s Family — possibly a more fondly considered show here in the Midwest, but I’ll confess I watched more than my share of episodes. I’d be really surprised if Anne hasn’t seen every last one of ’em.

Call it a guilty pleasure if you must, you ELITIST, but he was absolutely a pleasure to meet.

I can count the number of famous musicians I’ve met on one hand, but one such gent met HorrorHound’s invitational criteria. Before he was in Repo! The Genetic Opera, Nivek Ogre was the frontman for Skinny Puppy, one of the industrial rock bands in regular rotation on my cassette decks during my college years. Discordant electronics over martial drumbeats, oblique lyrical shards rendered through eerily distorted vocals, condemning pro-war groupthink and advocating for animal-rights activism, Skinny Puppy were one of the most challenging rock acts you never found on local radio or in heavy rotation on MTV. There’s an outside chance you might’ve heard about that time they sued the American government for using Skinny Puppy bootlegs to torture Guantanamo inmates.

Today? Super nice guy, who taught me life after age 50 ain’t all bad.

On a whim we tossed in one more photo guest: Michael Rooker! The guy who draws massive crowds thanks to both The Walking Dead and Guardians of the Galaxy was already memorable to me from such films as Cliffhanger and Mallrats, so we figured why not. When we asked him if we could do jazz hands and then took our positions, he responded, “Yeah! Here’s my jazz hands!” and…yep, saw that one coming.

Remember, On Golden Pond got a PG rating with elderly Katharine Hepburn flipping someone the bird, so we’re not exactly in mature-readers territory here.

Fifteen or twenty other guests of varying levels of fame had folks crowding into the narrow hallways of that one Marriott on Indianapolis’ east side that hosts most of our city’s smaller geek cons. We didn’t have the budget or time or breadth of slasher-flick fandom to delve any deeper in, but those we did meet were each awesome in their own ways. And sometimes when you meet too many awesome people in a row, your system can’t handle it and you have to shut down for a while. We tried to stop just short of crossing that line and giving ourselves awesomeness breakdowns.

Xander Berkeley fan is down! REPEAT, XANDER BERKELEY FAN IS DOWN!

As you’d expect, the show floor was covered in fascinating objects, merchandise, handicrafts, and used goods. Much of it was bleeding, oozing, menacing, and disgusting, but a few keepers caught our eyes and wouldn’t let go.

Creature Revenge Studios makes the best kind of Nazi masks, from that PG-rated family classic Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Anne tries on a life-size Salacious Crumb puppet nearly as tall as she is.

The Nightmare on Elm Street series was a staple of my occasionally warped childhood, as captured in this Freddy Krueger clipfest dollhouse.

Mike and Mr. Clarke from Stranger Things would appreciate this pumpkin starring John Carpenter’s The Thing, the intricate handiwork of Ian’s Pumpkin Carvings.

Once upon a time, Deadworld was a late-’80s black-and-white zombie comic published by plucky indie Caliber Press. Now it’s a line of potato chips and zombie sodas. I have no idea how that happens.

And now, the most important part of every convention write-up: costumes! HorrorHound attendees aren’t as heavily into the cosplay scene as our usual large-scale cons, but a few inspired designers and models slip into the mix and represent for their favorites with panache.

With creepy contacts disguising his life signs, Mola Ram’s second cousin would stop near other statues, hold still for a few minutes, and wait for passing fans to look stumped as to whether or not he was alive. And it worked!

Leatherface, natch.

Captain Spaulding and Otis from Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses.

Sam from 2007’s Trick ‘r Treat.

This valiant knight has traveled a long way from the fabled homeland of Gen Con.

Team cosplay done smart: if your group is short a key player, do like the Scooby Gang and come up with an in-story reason why.

Finally, we met a HOLTZMANN! The whole thing was worth it, even if all the actors had called in sick.

…and that’s the HorrorHound 2016 that was, at least for this old-fashioned couple. Here’s hoping next year’s show is even better, preferably in a larger venue with ample elbow room and parking. Maybe it’s a paradox to dream of happier times for a place where nightmares come to thrive, but here we are. We are large, we contain multitudes, and sometimes those multitudes are inclusive to squares like us and to gentlemen named Bubba.

Gracing our presence on Saturday were Dick Tracy and Breathless Mahoney, from that one Warren Beatty film. (No, not Bulworth.)

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s convention time yet again! This weekend my wife Anne and I have driven two hours southeast of Indianapolis to attend a show we’ve never done before, the seventh annual Cincinnati Comic Expo. In the past she and I have talked about trying cons in other Midwest cities, but the Expo is our first time venturing out to Ohio for one. In addition to proximity and complete lack of schedule conflict with anything else we had going on, CCE’s guest list includes a pair of actors we missed at previous cons who represented glaring holes in one of her themed autograph collections. With her birthday coming up in a few weeks, which usually means a one-day road trip somewhere, we agreed this would count as her early celebration.

But first and foremost as usual: cosplay! Presenting a showcase of all the costumes we photographed during our hours walking through and around the exhibit hall on Friday and early Saturday. So many of these were wonderful character choices that it was impossible for me to point to any one, two, or ten of them and say, “I loved this one most!” Regardless: enjoy the gallery!

SECTION ONE: MARVEL AND DC PRESENT!

There’s exactly one Marvel super-hero comic that my wife reads each month and that comic is Ryan North and Erica Henderson’s amazing colossal Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and so Squirrel Girl and Tippy get to go first.

If you haven’t kept up with comics events from the last few years, you may be confused at the sight of Sam Wilson, Captain America. If Chris Evans ever retires, I would pay double ticket prices if Anthony Mackie would follow this fan’s lead.

Miss America, from Gillen and McKelvie’s Young Avengers, still waiting her turn for a solo series someday.

Mysterio, one of the classic Spidey villains who hasn’t jumped to the big screen yet. I’m not sure how well his eyehole worked for him, but he made a clever move of attaching a tiny electric fan inside his helmet.

At every con there’s always at least one cosplayer whose character eludes the databases inside my aging brain. I know Typhoid Mary, a Daredevil villain dating back to the ’80s, but if anyone recognizes her companion, please cure my ignorance and school me in the comments below. Much obliged!

The family that cosplays together: Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy with Killer Frost from TV’s The Flash.

Deadman welcomes you to the world of the really living!

Katana from Suicide Squad, waiting patiently in Karen Fukuhara’s autograph line.

Raven from the Teen Titans!

* * * * *

SECTION TWO: MANDATORY DEADPOOL VARIANTS!

Gwenpool and Static Shock invited me in on this one. Pretend I’m a grateful Dakota civilian they just saved.

Maybe you celebrate only on September 19th, but for Piratepool and Lady Piratepool, every day is National Talk Like a Pirate Day.

In honor of Cincy Comic Expo’s biggest guest of honor, StanLeePool hopes you’re interested in his new line of Excelsior Chimichangas.

* * * * *

SECTION THREE: STAR WARS!

To its credit, Cincy had a bigger turnout of Star Wars fans than any other con we’ve attended in 2016.

General Leia Organa and Kylo Ren, lovingly reunited mother and son in a lighter timeline.

Skiff Guard and Klaatu, if I recall my old action figures correctly. One of them said hi and recognized us from the Ian McDiarmid/Ray Park photo-op line at this year’s Indiana Comic Con.

Chewbacca and a pair of Mandalorians hang out at one of the con’s extra-large Star Wars dioramas.

Sandtroopers think it’s adorable when normal Stormtroopers try to fit in, only to be the first to complain about dying of thirst in the desert.

Biker Scouts escorting a pair of distracted Wookiees who can’t believe Stan Lee is here.

UTINNI!

* * * * *

SECTION FOUR: GAMING! TV! MOVIES!

I’m currently two-thirds of the way (I think?) through Bioshock Infinite, up to the part where I’m wandering the large marketplace on the way to Comstock’s mansion and a blue ghost is leading me to revealing flashbacks and those disturbing Lutece twins. Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth showed up here for me at exactly the right time, and were careful not to blow any spoilers.

Abby from the Ghostbusters would like to remind a Holtzmann-obsessed internet that the new movie had other worthy characters in it too, you know.

I always brake for Final Fantasy characters like Sephiroth, this time wielding a lightsaber instead of his usual Masamune. Now I want to hear Michael Giacchino compose an homage to “One Winged Angel”.

Yamato Tribe Knight Burai, DragonRanger from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. Or to you average Americans, the Green Power Ranger.

Most convention Daleks are either stationary statues or remote control rigs. This Dalek, on the other hand, was fully sentient and prepared to AM-BU-LATE.

Luna Lovegood, ready for her seven-book spinoff series or Broadway debut, whichever is easier.

(Special thanks to my son for naming assistance with the most obvious one.)

Click here for the exciting conclusion! With more photos, stories, comics creators, and the tale of how I nearly killed a living legend!

True history: li’l Abraham Lincoln grew up from age 7 to age 21 in southern Indiana, and our fair state will never let anyone forget it.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

On October 15th, downtown Indianapolis hosted a very special convention of sorts. The “Hoosier Homecoming” was a celebration held at the Indiana State House in honor of Indiana’s 200th birthday, with a host of well-known local faces in attendance, an opportunity for self-guided tours of the State House, and the closing ceremonies to the Indiana Torch Relay, a 37-day event in which a specially lit torch — not unlike the Olympics’ own, but inspired by the torch on our state flag — traveled through all 92 Indiana counties by various transportation methods until its final stop in Marion County at the Homecoming.

I mentioned in a previous chapter our mutual impression that the Homecoming was basically like our other conventions — one large building, famous guests, vendors selling wares, a main stage with events, musical performances by singers you don’t know, and so on. And it wouldn’t be a true convention without creative costumes. The State House grounds weren’t overflowing with them, nor were attendees actively encouraged to dress up in the brochures, but a handful of volunteers and Indiana history superfans added to the ambience and in a couple of cases went with super-obscure characters that stumped us until they educated us. Usually that’s the job of anime fans.

(Longtime MCC readers may be shocked and relieved to know we saw exactly zero Deadpool variants hanging around. That’s clearly where the convention similarities end.)

At right is business owner and philanthropist Madam CJ Walker, reputedly the first self-made female millionaire in America. In 1910 she moved her company to Indy and lived here herself for six years. Her legacy and impact live on in a number of fashions, including an eponymous theater. At left is…a friend?

Civil War reenactors: never hold a history fair without them. The vintage rifles were a bonus.

We questioned the wisdom of wearing Confederate togs until the scholarly gentleman explained to us that in the Civil War there was indeed a Volunteer Indiana Regiment whose men wore grey uniforms. I can only imagine the battlefield confusion.

We regret missing this speaker’s identity, though my first guess is Solomon Kane. As we passed by, he talked to his audience about printer’s ink back in the day.

[UPDATED 10/18/2016: The above costume is Elihu Stout, noted as publisher of the first newspaper in Indiana. Extra-special thanks to Bill McCleery for the assist.]

Here’s a deep, deep dive into Indiana history: Governor and Mrs. William Hendricks. His gubernatorial term from 1822 to 1825 would be the last served in our original state capital of Corydon near the Kentucky border, before our government was relocated on his watch to the central city of Indianapolis.

Tiny cosplayers from a stage performance we missed, making history extra adorable.

Suffragette in the House! Suddenly more relevant than ever.

To be continued! Other chapters in this six-part MCC miniseries:

Part 1: Adventures in Local Government
Part 2: The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay Finale
Part 4: Notes from the Office of the Governor of Indiana
Part 5: The Art of the Indiana State House
Part 6: The Indiana Bicentennial Bonus Bric-a-Brac Bonanza

Say hi to the roadshow cast from Manos: The Jazz Hands of Fate.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: last May my wife and I traveled three hours north to the town of Elkhart to visit the Hall of Heroes Museum, an impressive collection of toys, comics, merchandise, and movie memorabilia. We also walked along their Main Street downtown, enjoyed ourselves despite the unseasonably bitter temperatures, and expressed hopes of returning one day.

Today was that day. This weekend museum owner Allen Stewart oversaw the first annual Hall of Heroes Comic Con, a natural extension of his longtime hobbies and all our favorite comic cons where we’ve encountered his company’s booth on multiple occasions. Thanks to the event explosion we’ve been enjoying in or near Indianapolis over the past four years, we’ve had chances to attend more shows and meet more creators and actors than in all our previous forty Hoosier years combined. We can’t attend every show ever, but we’ll make the time and the drive if something or someone nails our interests.

For me, Stewart and his team did exactly that. Pictured above at left is Frank Conniff, a.k.a. TV’s Frank from Mystery Science Theater 3000, one of my all-time favorite TV series. At right is Trace Beaulieu, better known as TV’s Frank’s nefarious boss Dr. Clayton Forrester, and the original voice of Crow T. Robot. We previously met him at C2E2 2015, but this is a far better photo, and not just because it has TV’s Frank in it. Beyond meeting Joel Hodgson at Indy Pop Con 2014 and Mike, Kevin, Bill, and Mary Jo in St. Louis in 2000, the esteemed Mr. Conniff was the only major cast member I hadn’t met yet.

For that alone, for giving me the unexpected opportunity to complete the autograph set on my copy of The MST3K Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, I deem this a fantastic weekend, 12/10 hope to visit yet again someday.

Beyond our moment with “the Mads”…well, every first-year con has its learning curve and its kinks to work out.

We learned that the hard way from the first annual Indiana Comic Con back in 2014, which turned out a bit of a nightmare for a few thousand would-be attendees barred from entering. Or the first annual Wizard World Indianapolis, or the first annual Awesome Con Indy, neither of which drew enough traffic or revenue to warrant a sequel. Based on our experiences and the freezing temperatures outside, we had no idea whether to expect twenty thousand furious shutouts or ten hardy fans having the time of their lives running up and down empty halls.

The reality was somewhere in between. Our three-hour drive got us to the Lerner Theatre in downtown Elkhart a few minutes after HHCC opened at 10 a.m. (Praise be to the city planners who designed hundreds of free parking spaces all over the place.) Several hundred fans were ahead of us in line, stretching around the block to the rear of the building. We had no idea if this was just the line to buy tickets onsite, the line for folks who already had tickets (like us), or The One Line to be sorted at the door. We joined for a few minutes, but after Anne chatted with a few randomly sampled folks ahead of us, got a sort of consensus that “Will Call” buyers could go ahead to the front door.

We hurried around the corner and up the side of the building, where some parts of the line were bunched up and crowding the sidewalk. I tried walking near the sidewalk edge to leave them their personal space, misjudged a step, tripped and fell off the curb and into the street. Thankfully this narrow, small-town street was calm enough that the oncoming car easily braked ten or fifteen feet before it would’ve reached my head.

When I stood up, I could feel an irritating scrape on my right knee. My left knee was worse — I could put weight on it with no problem, but couldn’t bend it. Twenty minutes later I thought to check my left hand and found bleeding scrapes all over the back of it. But my head and glasses were intact. I deemed myself fit for conventioning and we pressed on to the front door for answers.

A nice lady told us there was a separate entrance for folks who hadn’t bought tickets yet. Everyone else, whether Will Call or Just Bought and Ready to Go In Now, had to join the long, long line. So our scurrying to the front and by extension my battle damage had been in vain. There’s a weak argument that could be made that my injuries wouldn’t have happened if there’d been no epic-length wait to get inside, but my walking is my own responsibility. Regardless: ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow OW.

We resigned ourselves to returning to the rear of the Lerner, but were happy to find everyone moving forward at a somewhat steady pace. Then again, when it’s 25°F outside, no pace is steady enough for you. We enjoyed chatting with a couple in front of us who’d attended the first two Indiana Comic Cons and who had a baby in a stroller swaddled up better than any of the rest of us, poking just one cute eye out from beneath their fuzzy fortress.

Eventually we got to the check-in tent, picked up our Will Call tickets, traded them for Saturday bracelets, and got inside and warm again shortly before 11. Mission priority one was locating TV’s Frank. All other activities were optional. One problem: the floor maps in the program gave no sense of space or how each section related to the others. Signage was minimal and far between. Assuming that the celebs were farthest away from the action, we shimmied our way through and around people and ascended a staircase to the second floor. We joined another thick line in a hallway bypassing the dealers’ room and a few creators’ tables on both sides. We followed a lone “celebrities” sign up yet another staircase and found ourselves in the upper balcony of the Lerner’s actual theater.

Sidebar: the Lerner’s origins date back to 1924, when vaudeville and movies still alternated in American entertainment venues. The most recent renovation efforts in 2011 brought new life and classic pizzazz to old architecture. Even without the con, the Lerner would be a nice place to tour. Among other amenities, it boasts the roomiest, cleanest, most elegant bathrooms ever provided to a comics convention in American history.

The resplendent theater ceiling above us.

Chandelier and painting visible when we later descended the same staircase…slowly, because my newly bum knee wouldn’t bend.

Some art normally on display was shoved into a corner to make room for crowds, including another elk we missed on our last Elkhart walk.

That being said and shown: a theater balcony didn’t seem like a logical place for an autograph line. We assumed either the sign was mistaken or we’d missed a follow-up sign. We exited through a doorway in the rear of the balcony and followed a dark hallway to a flimsy curtain. I drew back the curtain; Anne stepped forward, tripped over a stack of Styrofoam packaging, and fell into a sign, right next to a con volunteer and right in front of the signing table for Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank. The makeshift use of the theater spaces in creative fashions, combined with a lack of communication, had us technically sneaking into the celebrity autograph area without meaning to. The volunteer hadn’t even known what was behind the curtain and jumped back at our surprise infiltration. Thanks to the saving grace of that Styrofoam — the holders for some of the guests’ posters — Anne took zero points of damage from her fall, faring infinitely better than I had with my incident outside.

It was tempting to beg the guy to let us stay if only because the Mads were right there. But I wanted my autograph nice and legal, no under-the-table shenanigans, not even accidentally so. We exited the room, returned to the hallway, returned to the “celebrities” sign, and confirmed with another volunteer that the autograph line for all the celebrities ran across the theater balcony and toward the exit on the opposite side. Still a weird idea, but Elkhart doesn’t have a convention center to call its own. One must do what one has with the square footage available.

Side benefit of the arrangement: while we waited for the line to move forward, we were treated to a panel down on the main stage starring the 501st Legion, America’s premier Star Wars cosplay organization. Representatives from the Jedi and Sith alike were giving cosplay tips to would-be members and their families.

We failed to take notes. Anne made a face when one speaker had a slip of the tongue and referred to a movie called “Return of the Sith”, possibly a big hit on Earth-2.

Fun Easter egg: down in the orchestra pit is Tony Stark’s demolished Cobra from Iron Man 2, a staple at the Hall of Heroes’ con appearances. Anne posed with it at Wizard World Chicago 2015.

After waiting a couple dozen minutes, slowly inching through the balcony to the other exit, and down another staircase that my knee hated, we got far enough in line to reach another volunteer who was inviting forward any fans who were there just to meet special guest Reb Brown, a.k.a. the 1970s Captain America, or Our Villains from MST3K, which she called “Mystery Theater”. I knew what she meant. More importantly, it meant us. 95% of the other people in line were here to meet this man…

(MCC file photo from our Wizard World Chicago 2012 experience.)

…TV’s Dean Cain, a.k.a. Superman from The Adventures of Lois & Clark, now known to younger viewers as Kara’s adopted dad Jeremiah Danvers from The CW’s Supergirl. Anne enjoyed the heck out of meeting him in 2012 and discussing their mutual high opinions of Superman: The Movie. I missed out at the time because we’d gone in different directions to cover more of our respective to-do lists on our own. I wouldn’t have minded meeting him, but first and foremost, I was there for TV’s Frank.

The esteemed Messrs. Conniff and Beaulieu were a pleasure to meet and had books to sell. I love when people I’m already excited to meet at a con also happen to bring their own books to sell, whether comics creators, actors, or TV mad scientists.

So they’re mine now. Mine mine MINE.

Primary objective achieved, ’round noon-ish. Alas, meeting Dean Cain would mean rejoining the same long line through the theater balcony but not skipping to the front. To make matters worse, I knew Cain had a Q&A at 1 p.m., which would mean staying put in the same long line through that, then continuing onward once he returned to his table. Alas, I made the call and opted out. But I did not, regardless of how he looks on Supergirl and disregarding a few jokes I’ve seen while live-tweeting the show…in person, to the two of us, on this day, Cain looked as buff as ever.

From there the next natural move was a stroll through the dealers room across the hall. The designated ballroom was a giant can of sardines crammed together.

Like this, but on all four sides. Special thanks to whoever was in charge of HVAC and ensured we could breathe and didn’t overheat in such cramped quarters.

Both in the dealers room and in the adjacent hallway, I recognized at least two artists and one organization from our Chicago cons. A few animators held court on the far side; a couple of local talents on another. Throughout this inch-by-inch bazaar and the intermittent sellers elsewhere, I didn’t buy much beyond the Mads’ books (just a few new buttons for my convention bag), but noted a few nifty sights along the way.

Life-size Rocket Raccoon statue at the Hall of Heroes Museum’s own booth downstairs.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a blimp! It’s a zeppelin! It’s Balloon Superman! (Craft work by Tim the Balloonatic.)

In support of headliner Dean Cain, The CW showed up with free posters and buttons from The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and TV’s Arrow.

Also, we understand there is a show with Supergirl in it.

By the time we wrapped up our minimal shopping and overview of the complete show floor, it was lunch time and we had no mandatory activities left. I had been considering Cain’s 1:00 panel and possibly a 2:00 seminar on WWII comics by main man Stewart himself. But I was ready for lunch elsewhere in Elkhart, I wasn’t sure how much more my knee could take, and I didn’t want to wait through that freezing line outside to reenter later after eating. When we mutually agreed we were done and ready to call it a day, that outside line wasn’t much shorter than it had been two hours earlier.

This is maybe 20% or so of the line as of noon-ish. A second time through this queue was not tempting.

Naturally we won’t close without touching on the most critical asset of every valid comic convention: Hall of Heroes Comic Con cosplay photos! The shortage of elbow room and photogenic spaces in the Lerner made mandatory costume pics next to impossible, but we did what we could in the few opportunities that opened up.

Up closer with reps from the 501st.

We have friends who insist you can never have too many Star Wars costumes at a con. This one’s for them, then.

A pair from Five Nights at Freddy’s lurking by the concession stand.

Ariel and Ursula from The Little Mermaid, plus bonus Flounder.

Believe me, I wish I had more, but it wasn’t happening under the circumstances.

I also dearly wish we could’ve seen Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank on stage, but their panel wasn’t till Sunday, which we couldn’t do, and their special “Mads Live!” MST-style movie-mocking performance wasn’t till 6:00, which was later than we could stay. Those limitations were already decided before my injuries, which now have me typing this entry while wearing three bandages and planning to call them “war wounds” to anyone who asks. Because these were the scars I earned just for braving the gauntlet to meet TV’s Frank.

Alas, we left Hall of Heroes Comic Con earlier than average, but satisfied with what we’d gotten out of it, happy to be there, appreciative of all the nice volunteers we met, grateful for the even-tempered fans who all kept their cool and likewise had fun, and wanting to give a shout-out to the folks at McCarthy’s on the Riverwalk for an A-plus lunch before we headed home. Here’s hoping all went well and a good time was had by everyone else. If that phenomenal turnout of several hundred fans helps HHCC beat the odds, set up again next year, and pin down more awesome all-stars to meet, then we might have to indulge in an encore road trip. But next time we’re getting into town much earlier and watching our steps much more carefully.

The Queen of Hearts and Robin Hood welcome you to Indiana Comic Con!

It’s that time again! This weekend my wife and I attended the fourth annual Indiana Comic Con at the Indiana Convention Center in scenic downtown Indianapolis. Once again Anne and I found a few intriguing names on the guest list and decided to drop by. Unfortunately Anne had to work Friday, leaving me to my own devices at a con for the first time in…possibly ever?

For all of Saturday she was once again at my side as we went about our various lines and shopping and panels and whatnot. While we recuperate and wait for our feet to forgive us for their punishment (to say nothing of my bum knee), please enjoy this collection of cosplayers who brightened my day and gave me purpose and inspiration around the show floor on Friday before the Saturday crowds overran everything. The actors, comics artists, and objects of note will be shared at the end of this special miniseries. Enjoy!

Beardpool! Because it wouldn’t be a con without at least one Deadpool variant. That’s a federal guideline now.

This may be the same Yuna from Final Fantasy X I encountered last year, but this time the lighting is better.

Hellboy (dragging around the undead Tam O’Clannie from “The Corpse”), Canary, and season-1 Daredevil.

Maka from Soul Eater and Snow White, Jedi Knight.

Matt Murdock, attorney at law, complete with blind cane action.

Harley Quinn and Kevin Smith’s Bluntman. After I took the pic, their adorable son waved up at me to show off his really cool lanyard!

Princess Leia and a pair of Mandalorians, because not all of us fans could afford to fly out to this same weekend’s Star Wars Celebration in Orlando.

A representative of the nefarious Organization XIII from the Kingdom Hearts game series.

Catwoman (Nolanverse) and Harley Quinn (Suicide Squad).

The Riddler, appearing on behalf of The Toy Pit, a new collectors’ shop up on Indy’s northeast side.

Bender from Futurama! Actual bending and beer sold separately.

To be continued! Other chapters in this special MCC miniseries:

Part 2: Costume Contest Highlights
Part 3: More Saturday Cosplay
Part 4: Who We Met and What We Did

One of several families that cosplayed together: Eleven, Sheriff Hopper, Nancy, Joyce with Christmas lights, and Barbara from Stranger Things.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time again! This weekend my wife and I attended the fourth annual Indiana Comic Con at the Indiana Convention Center in scenic downtown Indianapolis. Once again Anne and I found a few intriguing names on the guest list and decided to drop by…

We spent 11½ hours at the Convention Center on Saturday because we wanted to be there early to head up one particular actor’s line, and had to stay late for one particular actress’ near-sundown photo op. In between we had a lot of hours on our hands — some of it scheduled, some of it free time. By mid-afternoon we were beat, had exhausted nearly all our entertainment options, and weren’t finding much else to do on the panel list. On a whim and in need of seating, we decided to check out our first convention costume contest in two years.

Longtime MCC readers may recall the overlong essay explaining why I decided to stop attending costume contests. I stand by that essay and the problems I developed, but in this case: (a) I had planned to sit back during the contest and watch from afar rather than trying to go full-bore full-coverage amateur photojournalist again; and (b) instead of frustrating herself with fuzzy zoom-lens results, Anne decided to get up, head over toward the contestants’ milling space, and start capturing faces and souls up closer because she’s awesome like that. All but two photos in this entry are her handiwork, and represent the folks who caught our eyes most sharply and who held still. Enjoy!

Third place in the kids’ costume contest. If you can’t find the Funko Pop you want, make it yourself. Or as young Mason did, make yourself it. I love how the snazzy Red Lantern T-shirt is on the box, too.

The Deadpool variants continued with the first of two Pimppools we saw this weekend.

“Come to the Pool Side. We have chimichangas!” Thus is the questionable T-shirt slogan from Darth Pool, probably.

The Dude from, like, The Big Lebowski abides.

Count Chocula was the tallest and wielded the most complicated rigging of the contest. As I type this, I’m just now realizing this might be the work of the same mad scientist who brought the super-sized FrankenBerry costume that followed us to several cons.

Starfire’s evil sister Blackfire from Teen Titans. I’m old enough to remember her from the comics before she leapt to animation.

X-24 and the titular hero from Logan. Uhhh, P.S.: spoilers for Logan in this pic and contest.

Bat-Villains united! And not just from movies or TV! Red Hood, Scarecrow, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Hush, and Black Mask.

Mandatory Star Wars! On a related note, our hearts go out to the fans in Orlando who’ve been trying to enjoy this weekend’s Star Wars Celebration Orlando despite the horribly mismanaged lines, ruder-than-rude security, and occasional pervading greed and selfishness on either side of the cash registers. From what we’ve heard.

They’re regal and they’re ruling / They’re always ever dueling / Their tempers never cooling / Asgardian family!

They’re eminently Arabian / Steal every scene they be in / They’re way cooler than Fabian / Aladdin Family!

Mandatory group shot of all the finalists crowded on stage at the same time. Best one we didn’t get in a solo shot was at far right, the sinister Venger from my Saturday mornings’ Dungeons & Dragons.

Post-contest shout-out: Princess Mononoke.

Mandatory quadruple bonus points as always to costumes I recognize from video games I’ve played: Big Sister from Bioshock 2. Her character was particularly — HEY! STOP THAT, DARTH POOL. STOP THAT RIGHT NOW.

To be continued! Other chapters in this special MCC miniseries:

Part 1: Friday Cosplay
Part 3: More Saturday Cosplay
Part 4: Who We Met and What We Did

Sam Wilson, Captain America; Sam Wilson, the Falcon; and Jedi Knight Phoa Toe-Bhomm.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time again! This weekend my wife and I attended the fourth annual Indiana Comic Con at the Indiana Convention Center in scenic downtown Indianapolis. Once again Anne and I found a few intriguing names on the guest list and decided to drop by…

And now, the part everyone’s always waiting for: all the rest of our cosplay pics from our Saturday walkabout. As with every such con, the following represents a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total number of attendees, cosplayers, and characters on hand. One of the innumerable beauties of the internet is that no two convention cosplay photo galleries will ever be alike. This one is ours.

But first: a great big cosplay mob! On Saturday morning a bevy of professional photographers and dozens of cosplayers rendezvoused outside Hall J for one colossal photo shoot. Anne and I happened to be walking toward the food-truck exit when we found them at work and took a few minutes to ignore our appetites and marvel at the dynamic spectacle.

Now or in the days ahead you’ll find the expertly crafted results of their respective efforts — whether at Indiana Comic Con or at other fun events — posted online at the following participants’ pages, all of whom we highly recommend over our own meager fan-work:

* Photography by Homme
* Daxorr Studio
* Kaminsky Kandids Photography
* Michael P. Hoover Photography
* The Portrait Dude – Cosplay Photography
* Dillon Taylor Photography
* Spectra_HD Photography
* Gabe Duval Media

Special thanks to Brittany at Bsquared Cosplay for providing us with the complete lowdown, and for coordinating this fabulous congregation on behalf of the cosplay community.

…and on a lower level, here’s our rendition of us peeking over their shoulders:

…yeah, I’m not labeling all of these.

Cosplayers to the left of me…

Cosplayers to the right of me…

As cosplay above…

…so cosplayers below.

Very nearly escaping our lenses: our second Pimppool of the weekend, hiding in plain sight.

Meanwhile, back on the show floor…

Men in Tights from Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights starring Cary Elwes as Robin Hood and men in tights as Men in Tights.

Colonel Sanders, hero to American chicken lovers everywhere.

Flintstones. Meet the Flintstones! MEET THEM. MEET THEM NOW.

Chucky from Child’s Play, literally lurking in a dark corner.

Thor and Wolverine, crossing the film universes. Wolverine was one of our early Saturday morning line-buddies this year and last.

Silent Hill‘s Pyramid Head and Nurse, plus…uhhh., a Big Boy muscle mag, or something.

Hawaiian Wookiee, another fellow Star Wars fan probably keeping this weekend’s Star Wars Celebration Orlando in their thoughts. Not that we Midwesterners are bitter.

HAWKGUY! Or, I guess, just “Hawkeye” to you movie-only fans.

Once again I brake hard for Final Fantasy characters: Squall and Rinoa from FFVIII.

Leprechaunpool! A month later, people still be chasin’ his Lucky Harms.

Another happy couple: Goku and Chi-Chi from Dragon Ball Z.

Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.

Disney presents three princesses and a goddess: Belle, Aurora, Ariel, and Storm.

Deadman welcomes you to the convention life!

I snap the pic thinking, “They look familiar, but I’m blanking on names. My son should know.” So later I email the boy, “Do you recognize the characters in this photo?” He responds, “…a Donkey Kong carrying a baby Peach,” and I’m like, THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT.

A rare moment of Image Comics cosplay: Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon.

Moon Knight, patiently waiting for Marvel to let him make the leap to any other medium beyond comics. Someday his turn will come.

After a ghastly incident involving a depraved felon and a brutally butchered Jigglypuff, Pokemon Trainer Rorschach was born.

Pink Panther. No, not that one.

That’s it for our Indiana Comic Con 2017 costume photo galleries but we’re not done yet. Coming soon in our candid finale: jazz hands and storytime!

Other chapters in this special MCC miniseries:

Part 1: Friday Cosplay
Part 2: Costume Contest Highlights
Part 4: Who We Met and What We Did

Is the reign of the Deadpool cosplay variants at an end? Is C2E2 truly Negan’s world now, judging by the 10,000 Negan cosplayers we saw this weekend?

It’s that time again! The eighth annual Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″) just wrapped another three-day extravaganza of comic books, actors, creators, toys, props, publishers, freebies, Funko Pops, anime we don’t recognize, and walking and walking and walking and walking. Each year C2E2 keeps inching ever closer to its goal of becoming the Midwest’s answer to the legendary San Diego Comic Con and other famous cons in larger, more popular states. My wife and I missed the first year, but have attended every year since 2011 as a team.

In this special miniseries I’ll be sharing memories and photos from our own C2E2 experience, in all its vivaciousness and vexations. Caveats for first-time visitors to Midlife Crisis Crossover:

1. My wife and I are not professional photographers, nor do we believe ourselves worthy of press passes. These were taken as best as possible with the intent to share with fellow fans out of a sincere appreciation for the works inspired by the heroes, hobbies, artistic expressions, and/or intellectual properties that brought us geeks together under one vaulted roof for the weekend. We all do what we can with the tools and circumstances at hand. We don’t use selfie sticks, tripods, or cameras that cost more than a month’s worth of groceries.

2. It’s impossible for any human or organization to capture every costume on hand. What’s presented in this series will be a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the sum total costume experience. Other corners of the internet will represent those other fractions that we missed, which is the cool part of having so many people doing this sort of thing.

3. We didn’t attend Sunday. Sincere apologies to anyone we missed as a result.

4. Corrections and comments are always welcome, especially when we get to Part 2, which will include a few anime and/or gaming characters we young geezers didn’t recognize. I do like learning new names and universes even if you’re more immersed in them than I am.

5. Enjoy!

First up: the heroes and antiheroes of Marvel, DC, and other comics, who made up just over half our costume photos. And as usual, we wound up spotting far above the FDA recommended annual allowance of Deadpool variants…

Ultimate Spider-Man and a funky fresh skateboard-dancing Deadpool welcome you to the show floor!

My Little Ponypool, or possibly WeirdSlumberPartyPool.

Westboropool thinks your favorite heroes are stupid and unholy.

Linkpool says Westboropool can cram it.

Steampunkpool with Victorian rubber chicken. Or something. Honestly, this one kind of lost us.

Tijuanapool is proud to tell you what an authentic chimichanga tastes like.

And now, back to anyone but Deadpool, already in progress:

Power Man and Iron Fist share a toast to friendship and Netflix residuals.

Angel from X-Men: Apocalypse.

Logan from Days of Future Past, smacking a dude down for trash-talking X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Black Panther, soon to be a major motion picture.

Aquaman, soon to be a major motion picture.

Doctor Strange, already a major motion picture.

Batman and Lego Batman, no slouch at the box office themselves.

Flash, Hawkwoman, Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow/whichever, and Nightwing.

Aquaman and Superboy straight outta the early ’90s.

Hellboy. I mean Hellgirl. Or Hellwoman! HELLPERSON. You get the idea.

The Tick, soon to be a major Amazon series. Voldemort in repose is not impressed.

Cosplayers of Wisconsin reminding you that cosplay in and of itself is absolutely never an open invitation to leering or groping, no matter how great or how minuscule the temptation.

My five personal faves from this section:

Squirrel Girl! Squirrel Girl! SQUIRREL GIRL!

Squirrel Girls! Squirrel Girls! SQUIRREL GIRLS!

Marvel’s Moon Knight. in his dapper yet unhinged “Mr. Knight” suit.

A more recent Moon Knight variant from the current hallucinogenic Jeff Lemire/Greg Smallwood run.

For fellow old-school fans of DC/Vertigo and Grant Morrison: Buddy Baker, a.k.a. Animal Man!

To be continued! Other chapters in this miniseries:

Part 2: More Cosplay!
Part 3: Comics Creators Cavalcade
Part 4: Who We Met and What We Did