Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Talking Comics With the Uninitiated, Part 2

So a while back I had a conversation with my mother about Wonder Woman's new costume and how much she hated it.
I'm starting to get my Halloween costume together.  Two years ago I made a promise to someone (who's going as the Joker) that I'd be Harley Quinn, which left me kind of at a loss as to how to pull off a work-safe (a.k.a. not super-tight) Harley Quinn costume.  Lo and behold, I managed to pull it off by finding a jester costume to modify.  I have no sewing machine skills, so this is where my mother comes in.  She has no idea who Harley Quinn is.
I had been showing her various pictures of Harley to give her an idea of what she looked like, but I never explained to her who she was exactly.  Actually, I did, but she wasn't listening at the time.
Apparently my mother thought the costume was a part of her body or her skin something, and not like an actual suit.  I don't know what goes on in the heads of non-comics readers...
Mom:  Well, I don't know what all these superpowers do to people!
Me:  She doesn't have superpowers, Mom.  She's just a girl in a suit.
Mom:  Oh.  But what about the horns?
Me:  They're part of her costume!  She's got pigtails and stuff.
Mom:  Okay.  You still have to make the glasses yet, right?
Me:  They're not glasses!  That's a mask!
Mom:  Oh.
Me:  And she doesn't have superpowers.  She's just crazy.
Mom:  What?
Me:  She's nuts.  She's the Joker's sidekick.
Mom:  She's a villain?!  Wait, I thought she was a hero!
Me: *facepalm*
Mom:  So she's a devil or something?
Me:  No!  She's cute!!!  See?  She's all like clingy and the Joker's all like, "Get off of me!"  It's funny!
Mom:  Okay, I guess she's kind of cute.
I then started asking my mother if she could take the headpiece apart and re-sew it back together because the black and red were on the wrong sides and she's like, "Does it REALLY matter?"  And of course I'm like, "YES."  Never offer to make anything for someone with OCD.  She is going to switch the sleeves around because they don't match at all, but I conceded the headpiece and the tunic, so it will be backwards, so I'll just have to pretend I'm Bizzarro-Harley or Left-Handed Harley or something.
You can just imagine how entertaining it will be when I take her to see the Green Lantern movie next summer.

7 comments:

SallyP said...

It's always hard trying to explain comic-related things to NON-comic fans. Trust me...I've tried with my husband.

On the other hand, I don't see how your mother could possible NOT be enchanted by Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan.

*sigh*

He's so dreamy.

(my verification word was germslau. That's coleslaw that's been left out in the sun)

Bubbashelby said...

Haha that's a great back-and-forth with your mother!

And I am sure I'm not the only one who wants to see the costume when it's completed!

LissBirds said...

Funny you brought that up, Sally! When we were in the waiting room at the doctor's office over the summer I was reading the Entertainment Weekly GL preview and my mother saw Ryan Reynolds and was like, "Who's he? He's good-looking." She like never says that, either. Unless it's in regards to Cary Grant.

I hope it comes out halfway-decent, Bubba. I'm still annoyed that the color scheme is backwards. I'm making my own pattern for the collar, too, so it's a shot in the dark. To which my Mom remarked, "Make sure you get it right before I sew it because you're so friggin' particular!" Ahhh, mother/daughter bonding. :)

IADW said...

Ha that's a great tale. Sometimes you'll find she'll probably surprise you on what she has picked up on Sci-Fi from you though...

Last time I was at Mum's a daytime repeat of Celebrity Squares was on. The question; 'Reed Richards, Sue and Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are all heroes of what super team?' and she had her answer in before me!

All those years, and I never thought she was listening!

Eyz said...

Awesome cute little moment XD

Tom Hartley said...

If any of the details are wrong, how many of the people who are likely to see the costume are going to know?

Aaron said...

My mom actually came to Central Canada Comic Con with me last year because she wanted to meet Julie Newmar. I was the coolest guy there, obviously, having my mom with me. She and Marv Wolfman ended up getting along famously.