By Charly SHELTON

Christmas is a joyous time for Christians all over the world. Chanukah is a celebration for all Jews. Halloween brings happiness to goth fans once a year. Or as close to happy as they can get. And for nerds, there is only one time all year when we can truly celebrate, where we can all gather in public without the fear of a team sport league ambushing us with wedgies, where we can be anything we want to be (depending on which home made costume we decide to wear), where hot girls are paid to talk to us about comic books or agree with us that Tom Baker is old news and David Tennant is way better. This once a year holy pinnacle of existence is known as Comic-Con.

The road to Comic-Con International (CCI), the biggest comic book and pop culture convention in the world, is one paved with anticipation and it began last summer. CCI 2010 had just begun and they had already announced the dates for 2011 –  July 21-24 with a preview night on Wednesday, July 20. And of course, I have to go to the preview night.

The next few months are spent reveling in seeing the CCI sneak peeks released to the general public. The first eight minutes of “TRON: Legacy.” The teaser for “The Avengers.” The announcement of “The Avengers” director –  God of the nerds and best gorram sci-fi guy in town – Joss Whedon. All these little sneak peeks are released to the real world in due time.

Then February arrives. Time to start planning. Press passes and tickets become available soon, time to start thinking. Costumes planned (I’ve had my costumes planned for months), meals planned, travel planned, lodging accommodations – not so much. I put that off to last week. We will be camping in a tent for four days. Joy. But it will all be worth it in the end.

Then I receive confirmation. I am going to CCI! And what’s more, my lovely girlfriend and photographer Sabrina, who never picked up a comic book until she starred hanging out with me, has finally agreed to go and is also confirmed. After three years of begging, bargaining and pleading, she is finally going.

I am a nerd. She is an actress. I drop $200 on Green Lantern comics; she pays her phone bill. We have different priorities.

But this is good for you, True Believers, because it offers a new perspective. Hearing about Comic-Con from my perspective is a tad biased because I feel at home in this convention. These are my people. But Sabrina is an outsider, sent into our “hometree” to become one of us, to talk like us, to look like us. I am totally comfortable walking through the convention hall in green spandex despite my less-than-girlish-figure because the comics teach me that Green Lanterns come in all shapes and sizes. Sabrina, however, is dressing as slave Leia from “Return of the Jedi” (at my begging request) – a costume which consists of a metal bikini top and a swatch of fabric hanging from a chain at her waist.
Some are born fans, some achieve fandom and some have fandom chained to their waist. We’ll see how it goes.

This year, we will both be reporting live from the floor via Facebook and cvweekly.com as it happens and collaborating on an article for the print edition upon returning from the convention. This is going to be a lot of fun.

So stay tuned two weeks from today, same Bat-time, same Bat-local-newspaper.

As of today, a special Comic-Con 2011 Facebook page has been set up for the coming event. Scan the QR code to see the page and “Like” us to get automatic updates to your Facebook page or via Smartphone using the Facebook mobile app.

  Charly Shelton, Comic-Con, COMMUNITY NEWS, COMMUNITY PAPER, crescenta valley, CV, CV Weekly, foothills, JULY 14, Leisure, montrose