SAN DIEGO (AMP)—July 24, 2016—Fans of Raising Atlantis author Thomas Greanias are fanning out at this year’s Comic-Con with autographed copies of his New York Times bestsellers and stirring new conspiracy controversies.
Greanias has autographed more than 500 copies of his bestselling The Atlantis Prophecy alone, as well as his Alignment Ingress from Ingress and Pokemon Go-developer Niantic, which is hosting a panel Sunday before more than 6,000 fans in Hall H. Eagle-eyed players on Google Plus now claim some of Tom’s fans are using his books to flash secret “geek gang signs” in social media.
CULT OF TOM? Players of Ingress and Pokemon Go say Raising Atlantis fans are flashing secret “geek gang signs” from Comic-Con via social media.
Greanias is scratching his head. “I don’t see it, and isn’t “geek gang” an oxymoron? But then maybe I’m a kook and need to seriously burnish my geek cred.”
New York Times bestselling author Thomas Greanias autographs more than 500 copies of his books at this year’s Comic-Con.
Further fueling the fire is a leaked image of anime, animation and video game voice store Steve Blum stopping by to say hi to Tom. The voice behind Samurai Champloo, Transformers: Prime, Wolverine and the X-Men, Star Wars Rebels. and Call of Duty is perhaps best known as TOM, the host of Cartoon Network.
TOM WHO? Steve Blum, Cartoon Network’s TOM, says hi to Tom, hidden by a fan.
“Tom? Get it?” said a conspiracy theorist on condition of anonymity. “It’s code for Thomas Greanias and the Raising Atlantis stuff, just like the secret geek gang signs. The conspiracy is right in front of our eyes if we just look closer. It’s way bigger than we think.”
The last piece of evidence? The Pokemon Go panel was upgraded to Hall H on Sunday at 1:45 to handle an overflow 6,000 fans that overwhelmed the Saturday’s original venue.
Pokemon Go takes over Comic-Con
“Hall H is as big as it gets here at Comic-Con,” said a second conspiracy theorist, who flew into San Diego from Japan. “It’s obvious that Greanias, his secret geek gangs, his Raising Atlantis characters in the Ingress game from Niantic are in cahoots, stoking the Pokemon Go mania that’s swept the world.
For his part, Thomas Greanias said it’s been a great show and is thrilled to have met so many fans and be a fan. In rare moments he found time to post some pictures during the convention as a real-time diary.
THE LINES BEGIN TO FORM…
GOING…
GOING….
LAST COPY….
GONE.
Not to be outdone by his superfans, Thomas Greanias scrambled to get his geek cred back on before leaving show.
Paraphrasing Gothmog, lieutenant of the Witch-king in the Third Age, from Minas Morgul at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Greanias said:
“The Age of Tom is over at Comic-Con. The Time of the Pokemon has come.”
For today, anyway.
SEE YA NEXT YEAR.
Tom with new pal Jimmy Neutron—Debi Derryberry.
