Another one of the many cool parts of San Diego Comic-Con was seeing the magnitude of  Fantastic Four merchandise and fan excitement. There was such a positive buzz about it all, and the movie was debuting that Friday of SDCC.

But the explosion of FF-iness wasn’t always the case. Years ago, when I was in college and attending a comic convention, ITHACON, there was practically no Fantastic Four merchandise. So I made my own FF shirt.  I couldn’t find any unstable molecules. I had to use ordinary fabric. No Flaming On that day.

(And that gentleman in the photo that the young me was shaking hands with was the great artist, Murphy Anderson.)

While wearing that Fantastic Four shirt that day, I do clearly recall walking into a John Byrne panel at that convention. Byrne noticed me, or noticed my shirt, from the back of the room and shouted, “Hey look, it’s Reed Richards!”  To be noticed by a favorite creator was a thrill for me back then.

Somehow, all the San Diego cosplayers got the memo and there were a LOT of folks in FF movie costumes.  I also saw cosplayers dressed as Dr. Doom, Ardina (You may have to look her up. She might be the last true Lee/Kirby creation) and especially Galactus.  Tom DePetrillo, and his team, created the largest, most impressive, most menacing Galactus I’ve ever seen!  The Galactus stomping through the exhibition hall was  such a lumbering giant that I felt like a child being scared by a fairy tale character.  You can learn more about him and his efforts here.

Enjoy these photos and I hope you can enjoy the FF movie, the current series or, at the very least, some wonderful old Lee and Kirby stories.

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I did have one other thought to share. We just went down to Nashville for a quick getaway. Although, I’m not a country music enthusiast, I had a wonderful time. But I didn’t know any of the songs or the songwriters or even the stars. I couldn’t help but think that must be exactly how nonfans, or even very casual fans,  must feel when attending a comic-convention or visiting a comic shop.  It was a very strange for me to have the shoe on the other foot!