Once I arrived, I purchased two copies of Black Dynamite: Slave Island (which was just released that same day) and began reading. The new comic — written by Brian Ash of The Boondocks fame — is funny as hell, and written so well I could easily hear the characters in my head. It was also inked by Jun LoFamia, who was around doing comics in the 70′s, so it really captured the artwork of the time. After reading the comic, I killed time walking around Meltdown, which I’d never been in before. It’s a great comic shop, so if you’re in the LA area, I highly suggest checking it out.

Eventually we all lined up for the screening of Black Dynamite. Now, I’ve seen the move itself well over a dozen times, but I’d never seen it with an audience, so this was quite exciting. The energy of the crowd was infectious, and we all had a wonderful time watching the film and laughing at all the right places. After the film, we were given a small break so the podcast folks could get all set up. A lot of folks used this time to read the new comic.

Eventually Chris Hardwick, the Nerdist podcast’s host, came out and introduced the panel. All of the panelists were met with thunderous applause, and since I was right up front, they all walked right by me, which was pretty awesome (the perks of arriving early). Eventually everyone got settled in and Mr. Hardwick began asking questions.

The panel was very lighthearted, spirited and energetic. While Michael Jai White can have a very serious look, he’s actually very funny (and his serious look was commented on by director Scott Sanders). Scott Sanders gave lots of fun details about filming, while Byron Minns gave details about Bullhorn, the writing, and his encyclopedic knowledge of Blaxsploitation films in general. They also talked about the new comic and the upcoming animated series. When the opened up the floor to questions, I actually got to ask one, which was a lot of fun. I could go into more detail, but I was laughing so much I honestly forget a lot of what was said, and I also honestly want y’all to listen to the podcast.

After the panel was over, we got a special screening of the (I think) never-before-seen eleven minute pilot to the Black Dynamite Animated Series, which is being done by the same folks behind The Boondocks. It also has the original actors reprising the voices of their characters, which was awesome.

While I don’t want to give too much away, I will say that the episode was HILARIOUS. Imagine Black Dynamite and his crew fighting some evil Muppets and you get some idea. While the rest of the episodes are still being written, they confirmed that the show was picked up and will be on Adult Swim in the hopefully-not-too-far-future.

After the screening was said and done, we all went back out to the comic store itself (all of the previous events were held in the gallery in the back) and got in line for the signing. It’s funny, I usually don’t give a dang about things getting signed, but in this case, I REALLY wanted one of my comics as well as my Black Dynamite DVD signed, so I awaited patiently in line with the hundred or so other folks.

Everyone at the table was VERY nice and gracious, and had no problem signing both my DVD cover and my comic, which made me gleefully excited. Another nice touch is that, while we were all waiting to get our stuff signed, Adrian Younge and the Black Dynamite Sound Orchestra played music for us. Adrian Younge is the gentleman behind the music for the movie, and as I love 70′s music, this was a real treat. Even though it was late, once I got my stuff signed, I stuck around for the rest of the band’s set.

Overall, this is one of those events I’ll cherish for a lifetime. It’s also funny. For a while, I was burnt out of going to stuff like this, but now I think I’m ready to go back to more events and conventions…once I get a full-time job of course. I hope you’ve enjoyed my story, and invite you to Flickr to see all the photos I took from the event. Thanks for reading, and if you’ve not checked out Black Dynamite, you really should. It’s on Netflix streaming at the moment, and totally worth the measly $5 at Best Buy (OMG, really? $5?! That’s a steal!). Thanks again for reading, and have a great day.

So of course, when the con is over and we all have to return to reality, it’s a saddening, numbing prospect. Leaving a little world where all of the things we loved and the people we love spending time with are never easy, but it’s amazing how, after dozens and dozens of cons, that feeling of connui never goes away. Even when you’re fully expecting it. Even when you know it’s coming and you’re dreading it, it still hits you.

WonderCon ended two days ago, and I’m still feeling the effects of connui — plus lack of sleep and bad food, of course — and even fully aware of the connui…there’s not a thing one can do to stop it. We love entering these little worlds, these geek paradises, even for a little while, but it’s with hatred and dread that we leave them. While it makes one wonder why there can’t be some sort of year-round version of Comic-Con or WonderCon, at least to me, the more I think about it, the more insanelly awful I think that would be.

I mean seriously, could you imagine your world being a year-round con? My god you’d be exhausted, malnourished, broke, fairly unhygenic and probably crazy after a short while. It would also take away the “spcialness” of these events as well, or so I think. While the idea of having a never-ending con to avoid connui is appealing, it’s ultimately very crazy-making.

I guess in the end, all one can really do is hold onto the cherished memories, pictures, swag and so on from each con while looking forward to the next. I personally don’t plan to attend another con for a while — due to the afformentioned burnout — but I know a lot of people are eager for the next big conventions to come our way. I suppose that, rather than dreading the resulting connui, all one can do is just look forward to the amazing experiences they’ll have at the con itself and try to put the connui in the back of one’s mind, since its unavoidable.

I hope that, whatever cons you happen to go to, that you have as little connui as possible. Even better, may you have no connui or no con-crud either. Blech. Thanks for reading.