C2E2 Con Report

It has been a weird week and I have been so tired every day after work, but I decided that I should probably get my thoughts about C2E2 down before everyone has forgotten about it and moved on to other things. I was very excited for this con (like kid trying to sleep on Xmas eve) and it totally lived up to my expectations. I guess the best way to break the con down is to go day by day.

FRIDAY
So, I took the day off of work Friday so that I could attend the con. I slept in a little and left around 10 since I expected it would take about 2 hours total to get to McCormick Place using the CTA Blue Line and the #3 bus. That means I would get there with an hour to find where everything was and to get a good place in line. Boy, was I wrong. I ended up getting into line to enter the con after only 50 minutes. I was about the twentieth person in line and I had to wait a little over two hours to get in. Luckily I brought a book to read but I didn't even need it since they had a huge screen playing The Dark Knight which mesmerized me like a small child. Once I actually got into the con, the set-up was pretty spectacular. The place was so clean and bright with ACTUAL NATURAL LIGHT! The aisles were huge and no one was stuck together walking into each other. I applaud ReedPOP for their excellent use of the venue.

I made a b-line to artist alley since I knew there were sketch lists that I wanted to get on and books I wanted to pick up. Like the good little nerd I am, I printed out a to-do list full of everything I wanted to get done at the con. The first thing I did was get on Mike Norton's sketch list. (I'll post my art haul at the end so you can see it all.) Stop #2 was to pick up The Uniques #8 & 9 and a new gorgeous X-Men print from two of my favorite creators, Adam Withers and Comfort Love. They really do astonishing work and I have loved every issue of the Uniques more than the last. I also hit up Steve Bryant for the Athena Voltaire Collected Webcomics since I had just finished reading the Flight of the Falcon series and loved it. Go check out his Kickstarter campaign for the new Athena Voltaire series. I am really pulling for him. With those first purchases out of the way, we get to the most important aspect of the con for me, meeting up with everybody. So many people were coming into town for this con and I wanted to make sure I saw them. So Friday was spent with Matt and Sarah Kramer and Vince B, David (Don't call them floppies) Price, and Jason Wood from 11 O'Clock Comics. Walking around a con is great, but seeing everything with friends is better. It is always a highlight of a con to see people and hang out. As they should, the comics take a back seat to friendships. In the interest of keeping this short, the rest of the Friday was spent getting the lay of the land and talking with everybody.

SATURDAY
Saturday during the con itself was amazing. I got to hang out and walk the con floor with my beautiful wife, and my boys, Rick "Smash Tales" Hansen, Jose Capetillo, and Dave "ElDave" Mathis. We checked out the Cup O' Joe panel which was pretty much a snooze until they had the inevitable hilarious question. A girl wearing flannel and cat ears came up to the mic and asked very bluntly "Why do you hate your female readers?" and continued to berate the panel and interrupt their attempts at an answer as she explains how Marvel's depiction of women is a horrible injustice. Just wow. After the panel, I went and talked with Tom Fowler and got on his sketch list and got a FREE sketch from Hilary Barta. I insisted on paying him but he wouldn't have it. Hilary is just plain awesome. My wife and I also went to the Cleveland Show panel which was very cool since they showed the upcoming episode with Kanye West.

By this time, the con was closed for the day and we headed to the shuttle bus to the "afterparty" at Reggie's. Note to self: NEVER GO TO ANOTHER AFTERPARTY. My wife and I missed the shuttle that our friends had gotten on so we waited 20 minutes for the next one. Once we got there, our friends had already ordered food and had heard nothing since they ordered, so we all stood there, waiting at the bar forever. Finally a table opens, we jump on it like lions on a fresh kill, and we continue to sit and wait. The music is blaring, we can't hear each other, and we are hungry. We waited more than an hour for food. Let's just say no one was very happy. Then my food comes. I came 20 minutes after the other guys and my food came first. It was such a clusterf---. There is no other way to put it. And to add insult to injury, our food came right as the 11 O'Clock Comics guys decide to bolt. Hanging out with all of them was the big reason we all decided to even go but we couldn't leave with this food here. Luckily, my friends got their money back, but it all pretty much sucked.

SUNDAY
Sunday was the winding-down day, saying good bye to everybody and doing some last minute bargain bin diving. I found some books I needed to complete some runs so that's always good. I also went to the X-Men panel which pretty much became "The Peter David Show starring Peter David." He was the biggest name on the panel so he took over which is fine with me since he's a writing god. All in all, the day was a nice way to end the con. Sadly, there were a lot of people that I didn't see or run into like Adam Bensenyodi, Ryan "Gobo," George and Jon from anti-hero, and Scott Cederlund, but there is only so much you can do. Well, there will always be other cons. Maybe I will see them at the Summit City Convention, if I can find a ride to Fort Wayne. Wink, wink.

All in all, I think King DAP put it best. "Everything in the convention center was amazing. Outside the building, not so much." With that said, I had an amazing time and I will be back next year. Oh and here is my haul for those that want to bask in some awesome art:

Getting ready for C2E2

It is really weird. I seems like only weeks ago that I heard the news that a new comic book convention was coming to town. It's actually been more than a year since the initial announcement, and now C2E2 is only a week away. I have decided that I am going to play this con cool. What I mean is that I'm going more to see people I know and to socialize and not really worry about buying a whole lot of stuff. This is mainly due to the fact that I need the money for my upcoming trip to Europe and also because there will be a lot of people I want to see, taking stuff home from McCormick Place is not as easy as from the Rosemont Convention Center, and less purchases equals less clutter in my apartment. I'm not saying that I won't dive in some longboxes, but I plan to rigidly stick to the list of issues I need to complete some runs. (Thank you ComicbookDB for making it so easy to keep an organized list or what I am looking for.)

There is one thing though that I am taking some time and preparing for next weekend. I have never really been very organized when it comes to the commissioned art pieces that I have bought at cons. I've meant to fix this oversight but I really didn't know how to do it. From what I read on the internet and hear in podcasts, most people have a sketchbook and have artists draw in those. Now I am only speaking for myself but I just don't get sketchbooks. The idea doesn't work for me. First, having a sketchbook limits you at a con since the first artist you get a commission from has to take the sketchbook. You are out of luck until he or she is done. That means either you just write that time off or you plan like crazy ahead of time to make sure you take the book to each artist you want one after the other and hope they have time left to do it. The other problem I have is the fact that I like having the oppurtunity to frame a piece if I really love it (and the wife approves). You can't do that if the commission is in a sketchbook. So after spending some time at some office supply stores and online, here is the answer that I have come up with: the TOPS 11x17 Executive Showfile. (Even that name makes it sound important.) With a big enough size to fit all the art that I bought at cons before and the freedom to get more than one piece at a time and display them how I want, the showfile is perfect for me. I don't want people to think that I am insulting them if they have a sketchbook. I have seen some amazing books where every drawing fits a theme (for instance "The Many Deaths of Strawberry Shortcake" and "Gambit fighting an alligator"). Sketchbooks just aren't for me though and I am excited about the new alternative that I have found.