Every Photo Came Out Blue and I Have No One to Blame but Myself

Turns out owning an expensive camera and knowing how to use it are entirely different skills. I went to the Comic Invasion at Urban Spree expecting the definitive event of the form—the name alone demanded it—and came back with a memory card full of images that look like they were shot underwater. Some buried setting on the EOS 700D that I hit by accident and didn’t notice until I got home. Any actual photographer would take genuine pleasure in telling me exactly where to insert the lens cap.

The photos being bad was almost appropriate, because the event itself didn’t quite deliver either. A handful of Spanish hipsters in Urban Spree, selling Captain Berlin issues and not much else. The gap between "Comic Invasion" as a concept and what actually showed up on the day was significant. I’d arrived ready for the full spectrum of ink-on-paper devotion—manga fans, graphic novel obsessives, the whole thing—and found a small, pleasant afternoon that peaked with a Jake action figure and a manga called Oishinbo, which is entirely about fish and is apparently wonderful.

Nathalie and Janos had a better time than I did, which is probably the correct outcome. After, we ate pizza and cake. That part worked. Thanks, Berlin.