The Essential Dazzler Vol. 1
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At Baltimore Comic-Con, I picked up The Essential Dazzler Vol. 1 because it was $5 and I like Dazzler.

This isn’t so much a review of that book — honestly, you probably already know if you’re someone who wants to read a lot of Dazzler or not. Nothing I could say could convince you otherwise.

Yes, these comics are fun — the stories are silly and without much consequence but the ridiculousness is spirited. I summarize this volume this way: In one issue, Dazzler goes to jail because she’s charged with “murdering” the villain Klaw (oh, don’t worry, she’s acquitted), but really, it’s just so she can fight the Grapplers. In case that’s not clear — there’s an entire sequence that is a fight in a women’s prison for no real reason other than it probably seemed like an awesome idea at the time.

Most of the title’s silly qualities come from the character of Dazzler herself. She was a character created by committee — a committee that basically gave up on her before the end of the process. Still, Marvel figured “We’ve already spent the money …” so they went ahead with the series. She was a disco singer who debuted at a point when no one cared about disco anymore (although the disco element was pretty quickly dropped). We are constantly told she’s an amazing singer even though we never get a good sense of what kind of music she likes to sing. She’s gorgeous and all the boys — including various superheroes — love her without question. She’s also really smart and was supposed to become a lawyer but she just wanted to sing! (I like how they use “lawyer” as code for “boring adult job that makes a lot of money.” After all, being a doctor is too noble and being a teacher doesn’t pay enough.)

She doesn’t want to be a heroine (I’d suggest a drinking game where you take a drink whenever Dazzler says some variation on “I am not a heroine! I just want to sing!” although I think that would get you very drunk very quickly, so it’s not a good idea) but is constantly saving the world or the universe. Or just a campus full of students. Her power is weak to start out (she can turn sound into light that, uh, confuses and disorients bad guys) before immediately swinging the other way, becoming excessively powerful (she can then store sound energy and release it as laser-like bursts or something. It’s explained constantly but I don’t know if I completely understand it).

Basically, Dazzler comes across like a character created by 14-year-old girls for other 14-year-old girls.

Still, she’s charming and independently-minded. Her dedication to her dream is admirable (she just wants to sing! you see). While her real-life problems — not having money, estrangement from her father — come across as pretty trivial matters (Dazzler needed some problems so she wouldn’t be too perfect), they’re still easy to relate to. I was amused by a lot of Dazzler for unintended reasons because this is a silly comic. Still, after a while, I found myself rooting for her and actually enjoying her adventures in a genuine way.

But I do think she needs to ditch those roller skates that magnetically attach to her shoes.

I know Dazzler is still hanging around the Marvel universe and has been involved with the X-Men recently. So while she’s never really gone away, I think she’s someone who could do with a revival. The idea of a pop star having to balance her career, love life and super powers is remains appealing. I think some out-of-continuity, standalone stories featuring Dazzler would be great fun. With current reference points in flashy pop stars like Lady Gaga and Ke$ha, I’m actually surprised no one has done this yet.

I am happy to see there is an Essential Dazzler Vol. 2. I may even pay more than $5 for it.

My press badge was easily and quickly acquired (I do have to compliment the staff and volunteers — all very nice and helpful) and I went to say hi to my friend Timothy Lantz (who said the show had been good to him) and I picked up his beautiful postcard set (you should too!) and saw a sneak preview of his secret project.

No sooner had I turned from Tim’s table, I immediately ran into my friends Joe and Rusty of Full Sanction so I spent the rest of the time hanging out with them.

We talked to a few people, dug through some $1 comic boxes and $5 graphic novel boxes. From the former, I picked up the second Mary Jane volume (I don’t have the first one, but it was a $1! A dollar! Here is where I point out that after parking, buying Tim’s postcard set, I had exactly $9 left to spend) and from the latter, I bought The Essential Dazzler. As Joe said, “That’s a lot of Dazzler.” But I like Dazzler — she’s utterly ridiculous and was a character made a couple years too late by committee, but I think that’s what makes her fun. And hey, $5.

That pretty much took the majority of my money, so we wandered and looked at overpriced action figures and lamented the lack of light-up swords. All three of us purchased a copy of Adam Dembicki’s (as in, son of Matt) Ant Army! I am already very much for adorable children making comics, but Adam told us he was going to use his money to buy more Legos. That’s a completely worthy cause.

The overall vibe of the show was fun and relaxed. All the exhibitors seemed very happy to be there and happy to welcome fans, old and new. The artist alley/small press section drew a lot of interest and I did see plenty of original stuff and much less of the “I will draw Joker for you” sort. Even the sellers of the comics/action figures/etc. seemed to be enjoying themselves and doing well. I’ve always been much less interested in that side of cons before, but this time, it just felt right to me.

People have been making comparisons between the Baltimore and San Diego cons (notably in this Washington Post article). I had fun at San Diego and I look forward to the New York con in October, and while it’s neither good nor bad, I just know they’re different sorts of cons — comics is just the jumping off point and not the focus.

Baltimore is a true comic con. It’s about comics. There’s no big media companies vying for your attention, no loud obnoxious movie clips playing, nothing that falls too far outside “comics” (T-shirts and action figures, sure, but not much beyond that). And that’s great. It makes it a show to go to and hang out and have fun. It doesn’t feel like I am being sold to as much. It’s a place to go and hang out with like-minded people. People go to Baltimore because they like comics. It feels like it’s put on by people who like comics. And that’s a really cool thing.

If I had more money, I would’ve stayed longer (and I was somewhat saving some purchases for Small Press Expo in a couple of weeks) but I had plenty of fun while I was there.

If you haven’t been to Baltimore Comic-Con, you need to go.