SFist Looks With Dread to the East

Remember that totally awesome scene in Return of the King where the Witch King was leaving Cirith Ungol with the Orc army and Frodo started freaking out and then that big shaft of light shot out of the building as the people of Minas Tirith looked on with a dread that something great and terrible was coming?

Replace Minas Morgul with the Moscone Center, the Witch King with Kevin Smith, and put a "d" in front of "orcs," and you've got WonderCon 2006. It's coming this weekend, and you can almost smell the protective plastic bags and acne medication in the air.

San Francisco's comics and science fiction convention is growing to the point where it rivals San Diego's Comic-Con, which means we locals can experience the full majesty of grown men in Jedi, stormtrooper, and Wonder Woman costumes without having to deal with hours of travel or the hassle of finding a hotel room.

The guest list this year includes Frank Miller to talk about Sin City and his previous comics work, and J.J. Abrams and Bryan Singer to talk about Mission: Impossible 3 and Superman Returns, respectively.

We know that the real highlights are seeing a guy dressed as Spider-Man talking to a guy dressed as one of the Rohirrim in front of a string quartet playing theme songs from anime series. The Folsom Street Fair may think they've cornered the market on social outcasts finally free to find acceptance and solidarity among their peers, but that's nothing compared to a comic book convention.

As for us, we're digging through our long boxes, so to speak, to see if we can get Mike Mignola to sign our copy of The Amazing Screw-On Head. This is gonna be so rad.