Will I see MY "iron man"?

I am a bookworm at heart. Always, always had and have something I was reading or looking forward to reading. Stories that make me think or solve a riddle. Books that teach. Pages that offer me an escape or just plain entertain me.

The entertainment value of reading cannot be overrated when it comes to kids. If you can capture their interest in some way at an early stage, you may have a reader for life. That's where comic books come in.

As adults, we tend to think of them as picture books with light stories. True, I didn't learn a lot from Archie and Jughead or Uncle Scrooge the Duck, but it got me reading. These days, anyone who saw the new Batman movie over the weekend, will tell you comics can have some deep, dark, very adult story lines, too. That's why there are still millions of comic book readers of all ages out there. And this weekend, I expect to see at least 125,000 of those.

I'm flying out this morning to San Diego for the international comics convention, simply called Comic-Con. If you would have asked me a month ago if I was excited to go, I likely would have said something along the lines of, "Excited to go to Geek Fest? I don't think so. I'm just going because I have to for work." I've since changed my tune the more I've learned about the event.

It's not just about 40-year-old men living in their mother's basements with boxes (I think they call them "long boxes") filled with their super-hero stories. (Though I do expect to see some of that with the extreme collectors donning costumes.) The show has also become a key time for television networks and movie studios to unveil their next major project (last year Iron Man previews were huge) or offer up some of their stars for autograph sessions. It's a pop culture entertainment extravaganza!

OK, I confess that what got me excited was looking over the list of stars (past and present) doing autographs. Only a few people would understand my excitement when I saw Erik Estrada's name on the list (and the rest of you are probably groaning!). My first thought was that I wish I still had my poster of "Ponch" that hung on my bedroom wall as a teenager. But then I would have to explain to him why there is a hole where his flashy white smile should be. Darn lip gloss deteriorates paper, I learned, after many kisses good night! Now, I don't even know if I'll get the chance to see him, but if I do, I may just be speechless for the first time in my life (something everybody reading this blog would understand!).

So I'll be taking a few days off here but hope when I get back on Monday I'll have some exciting things to report! Now the question is, will I fit right in out there or finally be one of the "cool kids"? (No need to respond to that one! )

And sincerely, no offense intended to comic book buyers, readers or collectors. I am sure people say the same things about my scrapbooking cult! That's why hobbies are known as "passions."

Live long and prosper ... or something like that!