Attendees at Comic-Con bring cosplaying to an art. Here's one cosplayer who created the unforgettable persona of Dragpool.
Marvel's anti-superhero Deadpool (played in the movies by Ryan Reynolds) is known for his quick wit and smart-alecky attitude. That made him ripe for some cosplaying fun.
So David Schoelen decided to do the character in drag — with a beehive wig and platform shoes that made him tower above most of the other cosplayers. I met him in his Dragpool persona at WonderCon earlier that year in Anaheim. I was impressed that not only did he inhabit the character, but he paid clever attention to the details — like having Thanos' head in his tote bag and platform shoes that riffed off the Infinity Gauntlet.
But for Comic-Con, he felt he needed to do something new. He said he looks at Dragpool like Barbie — the essential character is the same, but the accessories change. For San Diego's pop culture convention, he created a Marie Antoinette version of Dragpool that required a new, more ornate wig, a large fan and extravagant earrings that sported their own eyelashes.
Schoelen enjoys becoming another character and paying attention to all aspects of the performance. After seeing him in his Dragpool cosplay, it's hard to believe he's also a spot-on Rick Grimes from "The Walking Dead."
He changed his look each day at Comic-Con and was pretty easy to spot — close to seven feet tall with the hair and heels.
San Diego Comic-Con 2025 takes place July 24-27, and we can't wait to see what fan creativity surfaces next.
