Cincinnati Comic Expo 2023 Photos, Part 2 of 2: Who We Met and What We Did

Us doing jazz hands with Neal McDonough!

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Neal McDonough! You’ve probably seen him in things, especially if you’re among the 600 million viewers now watching Suits on Netflix!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

This past Friday my wife Anne and I drove two hours southeast of Indianapolis to attend the thirteenth annual Cincinnati Comic Expo in the heart of their downtown that’s not so different from ours. At first it felt odd to return to a “normal” comic-con contained within a single convention center after our recent Dragon Con adventure and its downtown-sized sprawl. By the end of our weekend we’d forgotten any such reservations and were thrilled at how, in at least one respect, Cincy succeeded where Dragon Con had failed us…

And now, the rest of our weekend besides cosplay.

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“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”: One Last Whip-Crack for Us Gen-X Whippersnappers

Angry Indiana Jones standing indoors and brandishing his whip.

Funny how Disney’s official movie site gallery has more pics of Imaginary Plastic Surgery Indy than of Keepin’-It-Real AARP Indy.

Like most of Generation X, I grew up with Indiana Jones as a surrogate uncle. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark at the drive-in when I was 9, possibly the perfect venue for a thrill-ride throwback to the Saturday-matinee serial era that outraced every action flick ever made up to 1981 and for decades after. I’d just turned 12 when I was awed by the breakneck speed-runs of Temple of Doom at an indoor theater (the perfect age to fall for it), though my grandma walked out at the heartectomy scene and waited in the lobby for the rest of the runtime. I was 19 when our family skipped Last Crusade in theaters, but I bought it years later when one of McDonald’s bizarre ’90s merch experiments had them selling the entire trilogy on VHS alongside their Extra Value Meals. I finally got to watch Our Hero reunite with his dad as I reunited with Fun Uncle Indy.

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