Man Marries Comic Books, Wedding Vows Exchanged
If you love comic books so much, why don’t you marry them? That’s just what artist Simon Hanselmann did this weekend, according to the Washington Post.
Dressed as a blushing bride in a white wedding gown, Hanselman married comic books at a ceremony yesterday, complete with a live brass band and chocolate fountain. The underground cartoonist read vows, served wedding cake to guests, and even received a kiss.
“I, Simon Hanselmann, take you, comics, to be my lawfully wedded art form,” he said as he read wedding vows to a stack of assorted comic books and graphic novels on a table. The romantic moment was captured on video by cartoonist C. Spike Trotman and posted on Tumblr to commemorate the special day that a man married comic books.
Hanselmann’s love affair with comic books started 26 years ago, when he began his career as a cartoonist. According to Simon, it has lasted through “obscurity and low-level internet infamy.”
“I will be with you through sickness, […] profound sadness, delirious highs, crippling insecurity, epic personal f**k-ups, and the inevitable critical backlash,” he vowed. “Till death do us part, which realistically may be in about 5 years.”
Standing in for comic books, cartoonist Michael DeForge read the groom’s vows, a steamy adoration of Simon’s prowess as an artist. Also captured on video by Trotman, laughter from the guests can be heard throughout the wedding ceremony.
“You’re number one,” DeForge read from the written vows, which included a comparison to the internationally acclaimed creator of Tintin. “Nobody can touch your fluid pacing, your watercolors are tighter than Hergé’s. When you touch me, I melt like a sexual ice cream… Your hands are magic, I want them all over me.”
Comics publisher Gary Groth kissed the bride on behalf of comic books, and the couple was declared married. The wedding reception then moved upstairs, where guests enjoyed a chocolate fountain and wedding cake, which were passed out to guests by Hanselmann, according to Comic Book Resources.
Hanselmann is the Tasmanian, Australia, writer and artist of the webcomic Megg, Mogg and Owl at VICE. A graphic novel version is being released by bride-kisser Groth’s Fantagraphics Books this month under the title Megahex. Simon’s comic book Life Zone was nominated for an Ignatz Award for Outstanding Story this year. The comics industry awards had their own ceremony immediately before Hanselmann’s wedding.
The marriage ceremony was part of SPX: Small Press Expo, a two-day comic book convention in Bethesda, Maryland. The convention is unlike the sprawling week-long spectacle of Comic-Con International in San Diego. SPX celebrates independent and underground comics, and, as such, attracts a different group of passionate creators and fans that tend to eschew Hollywood movies and video games based on comics.
[Image credit: Comic Book Resources]
