Cosplay: James Hannon's new book explores this worldwide phenomenon
Editorial Intern
SCOTCH PLAINS - A new book is not the only thing being released at Little Shop of Comics on Saturday, Aug. 4. Forty to 50 attendees will unleash their inner superhero or supervillian in the colorful costumes they will be wearing at the event.
The many cosplayers are celebrating the release of James Hannon's cosplay book "Anatomy of a Cosplayer: Tales from Behind the Mask" and raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Jersey charity.
Costumes are encouraged, but not mandatory. Doors open at 6 p.m. at the shop at 387 Park Ave., and will run until at least 8 p.m. DJ Batman, aka the DJL Show, will be leaving the Bat-Cave and spinning Bat-Tunes all evening.
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For those who are not sure about costuming or cosplay, Hannon had some advice: "Just do it, show up at a convention; do a costume that you want to do, that means something to you. Most costumers are very welcoming to new people into the community."
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Cosplay isn't just for Halloween. It's done by "regular people," Hannon said.
"Some do it for the love of a character, some do it for friendships and camaraderie, while others want to help charity events out or get their 15 minutes of fame — or a combination of all these," he added.
"Anatomy of a Cosplayer" tells prospective participants everything they could possibly want to know about cosplaying but didn't know to ask. It includes a cross-section of 60 world-wide cosplayers with various experience levels and covers such topics as: how they got into cosplaying; how they made their costumes; the pros, and cons of costuming groups; how family, friends, and co-workers react; their best (and worst) experiences; and the future of cosplay.
Writing from experience
Hannon is particularly suited to be a behind-the-scenes guide as he has been a costumer for the last decade. He is friends with the original pioneers of costuming, up-and-coming stars, and everyone in-between. Hannon has spent the last seven years interviewing them on all the various aspects of cosplay, as this hobby has exploded from a small group of friends to a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon.
And he still bears scars from "Costuming" or "Cosplay" wars.
Hannon is a computer programmer by day but at night, and sometimes during the day, he has portrayed Stormtroopers, TIE Pilots, Gorilla Soldiers, Cylons, SuperVillains, and a professional-wrestler-turned-governor.
"Back in the old days we were only called costumers, cosplayers were Japanese costumers — costumes from manga and anime," Hannon said. "As the media kept pushing cosplayer into the normal vernacular, it became cosplayers but a lot of people really resent that."
"There are people that are dead set against being called one or the other," he added. "The joke is I had to stop a literal fight between two people because they were on other sides of this."
Entrance to the book release party is free, and signed and personalized copies of "Anatomy of a Cosplayer" will be available for sale — the hardcover is $31.99; the softcover is $23.95. Hannon's previous book and documentary will also be available as gifts for donating to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Jersey. For the $5 donation, participants get the documentary DVD, "Out of Our Dens: The Richard and the Young Lions Story," for free. A $20 donation includes the previous book "Lost Boys of the Bronx: The Oral History of the Ducky Boys Gang" and the DVD for free.
"Anatomy of a Cosplayer" is available at Little Shop of Comics and on most online booksellers such as AuthorHouse, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. It is also available in eBook, Kindle and Nook format.
Growing up in the Bronx during the 1970s, Hannon, 51, never imagined he'd be spending almost a decade of his "adult" life dressed up in costume, but sometimes life takes unexpected detours that somehow includes spandex and plastic armor.
He started in the hobby after being smitten by a set of $5,000 Stormtrooper armor at a Sharper Image store in 2008. He found an alternative online for $800 and with a few modifications he joined the 501st Legion, a group professional of Star Wars cosplayer. Hannon finally met members of the 501st in person at a Toms River Halloween parade in 2009.
"It was a great time, we were treated like family and that was the start of it — the first time I've been out in costume," Hannon said. "It was just such a great time it just kept getting better and better."
In 2014 his costume repertoire expanded from only Star Wars to supervillains after he went to a charity event called Superhero Weekend at Comic Fusion in Flemington, where he met superhero cosplayers.
"We eventually worked on creating the Legion of Doom from a 1970s cartoon called Challenge of the Superfriends," he said, "and as time went on, we started getting more and more people into our group and now the group is called the Legion of SuperVillains and now we have 120 people across the United States and Canada."
As The Legion of SuperVillains, the group recently did an event for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Philadelphia, and has a blood drive coming up.
"Most of the costume groups I've been in are associated with a lot charity events," Hannon said.
Hannon is also in the Finest G.I. Joe Costume Group, which had visited G.I. Joe Con in Tennessee and raised nearly $35,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project, K9s for Warriors and the USO.
He lives in New Jersey with his wife Jackie who, thankfully, also costumes, and his cat Buster, who just isn't surprised at anything that goes on at the Hannon house anymore.
For more information on Hannon or "Anatomy of a Cosplayer: Tales from Behind the Mask," visit Lantern-Media.com or facebook.com/AnatomyOfACosplayer.