Comic fest draws a costumed crowd to McCormick Place
BY TINA SFONDELES Staff Reporter tsfondeles@suntimes.com April 27, 2013 7:56PM
C2E2 guests included Ellis Howell dressed as the Joker and Sanela Salkic as Poison Ivy. | Richard A. Chapman~Sun-Times
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Updated: April 28, 2013 5:46PM
Terrance David, dressed as one of the Avengers, was looking to find his She-Hulk. The Rogers Park man — dressed in a black spandex unitard that showed off his chiseled abs — was seeking love, among other things, Saturday at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo at McCormick Place. “She’s the cousin of the Incredible Hulk, so hopefully he doesn’t have a bad temper once I snatch her up and marry into the family,” David, 23, said as he waited for a speed-dating session at the conference, known as C2E2. Amid all of the Batmans and Banes, and the Wolverines and Iron Fists, there were fantasy, science fiction and comic fans like David who were hoping to find love — in the three minutes the speed-dating sessions ran — at the annual expo. For David, dating a comic book fan is a no-brainer.
For Prenise Whittington, it was curiosity that brought her to the speed-dating session at which the men outnumbered the women, though not by much.
The 20-year-old West Side woman is an anime fan and an artist. On Saturday, she dressed as an all-green Luigi, of Super Mario Bros. fame. Dan Chruscinski found some potential dates at the conference’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender speed-dating session. Last year, the straight and gay sessions were combined, leaving him with just three men to talk to. This year, he had a room full of options in a separate session. “I had never speed-dated before, but here you at least know that we’re all dorks to begin with,” said Chruscinski, 29. “It’s one less thing for people to try to figure out about a potential date, and it’s nice to have something to talk to immediately. It’s not just, ‘So you come here often?’ ” The majority of expo-goers were busy getting autographs from the original TV Robin and Catwoman — Burt Ward and Julie Newmar — or going to panel discussions about Ghostbusters or how to be a comic book collector.
