In 2020, FanX Salt Lake (formerly Salt Lake Comic Con) got cancelled because cramming thousands of people into an indoor space was frowned upon during COVID’s most spreadable spell. However, last fall the con happened, and of course we had tickets. How did it feel to place my body in crowded hallways and exhibit halls after 18 months of staying at least six feet away from the one-person crowds at the grocery store? How did others feel about having their bodies packed into hallways and exhibit halls? Read on and all herd attitudes will be revealed.

Although masks were required at FanX Salt Lake, which was at least as protective as a fortify spell, being in those throngs of people made me uncomfortable and anxious. Was this because of the ongoing threat COVID’s Delta variant posed? (Omicron was just a twinkle in its hosts’ RNA at that point.) Was my apprehension due to the lingering misgivings associated with avoiding people for a year and a half? Or had the crowd calluses I’d built up for years to protect myself from the claustrophobia and irritation kindled by swarms simply softened over COVID’s isolation?

How about the masses? Were they willing to put past precautions aside? According to FanX organizers, ticket sales for the 2021 event were within 5% of those from non-pandemic years. (That’s a real term now?) There seemed to be less attendees than normal, but there were thousands more than I’d seen over the last 500 days, so I felt like I was roaming the corridors of Gideon. We were surprised how filled the exhibit hall was, not much different from a typical Friday afternoon at this convention. Yet, the Grand Ballroom was much emptier than usual. Were attendees reluctant to sit close to others, or were the panels just less interesting to most?

We didn’t stay at FanX for an extended time as we were worried exposure to hundreds of people might ruin an upcoming trip to Hawaii, but we were around long enough to get a picture with William Zabka, do a little shopping, and attend the Cobra Kai panel from an empty corner of the ballroom.

This was our shortest FanX experience of all time, but I’d like to think it helped me acclimate back to normality. And yes, hairying up my feet, stringing the One Ring around my neck, gluing on hobbit ears, and adventuring around a massive conglomeration of booths and people all fit under my banner of normality.