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Local military turns "super" for comic convention

  • Published
  • By Samuel King Jr.
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
PENSACOLA, Fla. --  Heroes, villains, zombies and warriors from all realms of popular culture descended upon the Pensacola Bay Center Feb. 27 - March 1 to attend the area's only large scale comic book convention, Pensacon.

Among the many wearing masks, make-up and suits of armor were the region's vast military population or Airmen, Marines, Sailors and Soldiers.

The opportunity to shed their camo uniforms and, in some cases, put on tights was a welcome change to their military routines.  It was an opportunity they could not pass up.

A group of specialists from the 7th Special Forces Group bought three-day passes and left directly after work Feb. 27 to make it to the convention before closing.  They said they wanted to make the most of their passes.

"I want to check out the vendor areas and I plan to meet some of the celebrity guests," said Josh Fowler, 7th SFG (A), while waiting for the convention to begin Feb. 28.
Aaron Morales, of the 7th SFG (A), said he planned to participate in the Sci-Fi speed dating, a convention-held event later in the day.

To try and help their military members, Eglin's Air Force Base's Information, Tickets and Travel office coordinated with the convention promoters and provided more than 20 Airmen and their families the discount code to purchase the tickets in just a few days.

"We received a few calls (about the convention), so we reached out to the promoters to see if we could provide discounted tickets and they agreed," said Mary Lynda Hughes, Eglin ITT.  "This is another way we try to offer people fun and exciting opportunities at reasonable prices." 

Regardless of how they heard about it or got a ticket, the military members found a way to get there.  Behind the costumes and paint, there were the telltale signs of military life in the shaven faces and regulation haircuts.

A group of new Navy aviation electronics trainees from Naval Air Station Pensacola relished the idea of something new and different to do and see during their downtime from training.

"We saw it in the newspaper and just said that's what we're doing this weekend," said Lucas Cosselman.

The Sailors said they planned to meet Jeremy Bulloch, the actor who played Boba Fett in "Star Wars" and Nick Tarabay, an actor from the TV show, "Spartacus."

Like the Sailors, many service members who attended were in various stages of their initial skills training at NAS.  For those in an early phase of training this meant wearing some form of their service dress uniform.  During Pensacon's peek time Feb. 28, the convention provided the ultimate in visual culture clashes as Marines in full service dress could be seen chatting and taking photos with the likes of Joker, Harley Quinn, Deadpool or any manner of Star (both Trek and Wars) characters.

Although Pensacon made for a welcome haven from a military environment, the oversized pop culture persona of the military could be found there in the form of wrestler Sergeant Slaughter and writer, artist and creator of the GI-Joe comic series, Larry Hama.

During a panel discussion on GI-Joe March 1, both celebrities indicated a warm reception from their military fans during the convention.

Sergeant Slaughter said many of the uniformed Marines stopped by to talk with him.  He said a group of Soldiers asked him for a photo and he obliged.  Thinking it was a group photo, he walked over to the group, but when he arrived, they immediately went into the push-up position. They asked him if the one-and-only Sergeant Slaughter could count them off for the photo op.  He turned on the drill sergeant persona and ordered them to "give me 50."

More than 20,000 fans hungry for pop culture and community including service members from all five area military bases attended the weekend convention.