The evolution of Comic-Con has seen many changes over the years. While the inclusion of Hollywood creates excitement, on the flip side, the “nerd market” has become so hot, the convention floor is littered with booth-babe Slave Leia’s trying to tempt nerds to the dark side. In a crowd of 300,000 I saw only one original Leia (not decked out in a sexy slave outfit) far off in the distance when riding the shuttle back to my hotel. I nearly made the bus driver pull over so I could run out and congratulate her. On day two, just as I was losing my steam, thinking the convention had been hijacked, I walked into a crowd of teenagers dressed like Doctor Who. In a world that appears to be owned by Star Wars, Doctor Who is bigger than ever. As a huge fan myself, discovering that the show had captured the hearts of American teens nearly brought me to tears. Better yet, many of the girls chose to dress like the Doctor rather than his assistant, Amy. Upon asking one girl why she eschewed Amy’s look in favor of the Doctor’s, she said simply, “I relate better to the Doctor.” I dedicated the rest of my photographic quest to documenting those attendees whose costumes were inspired by character rather than gender.
