Double dip for pop-culture geeks
Star Wars Day and Free Comic Book Day make it a nerd’s nirvana
Galaxies collided Saturday when nerds gathered at a downtown comic book store to celebrate Star Wars Day and, coincidentally, Free Comic Book Day.
But it could have ended in tragedy, like a helpless Alderaan against the Death Star.
A stout man in a baggy shirt and low-slung jean shorts couldn’t help himself. He strolled past hundreds waiting 30 minutes on the sidewalk for the free merchandise and grabbed a copy of The Walking Dead comic.
Then, as quick as the Flash, barrelchested Michael Dillon grabbed the man and pried the comic out of his hot, lively hands. “You don’t skip the line!” Dillon yelled at the man. “Get outta here!” (A man dressed as the Flash in fact stood idle nearby.)
“I’m gonna drop you,” jean shorts fired back.
“Pull up your jeans,” yelled Stewart Blatherwick, dressed as a Ghostbuster, his costume fully homemade save for the ghost trap and the PKE meter.
“Go catch a ghost,” jean shorts yelled before walking away.
Then love returned to the scene, leaving nothing more than a crumpled comic that someone immediately snapped up.
May 4 is Star Wars Day — as in “May the fourth be with you,” — a riff on the Jedi motto, “May the force be with you.” This year, it fell on the first Saturday of May, also Free Comic Book Day.
That brought hundreds out to the Silver Snail, which bills itself as the oldest comic book store in Toronto celebrating its 37th anniversary on May 6, but first at its new location at Yonge and Dundas Sts.
“As a nerd growing up, there wasn’t a lot of us” said the store’s owner, George Zotti. “But Star Wars changed that.”
Inside the store and out, there were stormtroopers, Catwomen and homebrew superhero outfits — although the word ‘outfit’ is pejorative to some.
“It’s armour,” said a smiling Sarah Davis, 26, correcting the Star while clutching a stormtrooper helmet.
She borrowed the armour from her friend, Lou Battaino, 36, who recently switched to Emperor Palpatine. They are part of Vader’s 501st Legion, a group that dresses up for charitable organizations such as the Make-A-Wish foundation. How much does it cost to gear up as a Star Wars character? “It’s hard to put a dollar value on it because I made it,” said Battaino, who had yet to change out of his Maple Leafs jersey with the name “Losers Since” and the number 67 on his back. “It took me three months to make the emperor’s mask. And the stormtrooper took about three months.” Zotti said the store was giving away 15,000 comic books, at a cost split evenly by him and the comics’ publishers. Both comics and Star Wars merchandise are big business. Zotti said sales are up the past few years, despite stiff competition from smartphones, tablets and blockbuster movies. And a Star Wars item is purchased every four minutes on eBay Canada, totalling more than $3.5 million in sales in 2012. But Saturday was more about freebies, dressing up and posing for photos. “It’s the perfect nerd synergy,” said a laughing Zotti.