Comic con(solation)

You put in your time-off request weeks in advance. You loaded your car with comic books to trade, your lucky Spawn action figure and the bouquet of flowers you planned to give Sarah Michelle Gellar when you wooed her away from Freddie Prinze Jr. during the panel discussion about her new movie, The Grudge. Nothing was going to keep you from San Diego Comic-Con 2004, the largest comic-book convention in the world.

Then your boss called and demanded you work a double shift at Soup Etc. It seems your lousy co-workers called in sick and went to Comic-Con without you. Under threat of unemployment, you put your action figure back in its box and donned your soup ladler’s uniform. Comic-Con, and your whirlwind romance with Gellar, would have to wait another year.

Sometimes life doesn’t go the way we plan, but there are always hidden surprises. How about this weekend’s Sacramento-Citrus Heights Anime and Manga Show at Sunrise Mall? It’s a party for fans of Japanese cartoons, comic books and toys. Buffy won’t be there, but you might meet a Sailor Moon look-alike at Saturday night’s costume contest. Take the Naruto sketches you doodled in the break room during your double shift and enter the art contest for big prizes. Meet anime artists from Tokyo Pop and watch a continual screening of shows like Detective Conan, Samurai 7, Hikaru No Go and Ultra Maniac.

Admission is free on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Sunrise Mall is located on the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane. Visit www.sacramentocomics.com or call (916) 607-1849 for more information. It’s your turn to call in sick this weekend. The soup will simmer without you.