Chicago Comic Con Part 1

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I’m breaking my post about the Chicago Comic Con up into a few shorter posts.  Enjoy.

Chicago Comic Con, Part 1: – Fun With Mass Transit

I attended the Chicago Comic-Con this past Saturday and Sunday (would have went on Friday, but I had a prior commitment to be a guest at a teen writing workshop at my local library–which was a blast).

Bebop and Rocksteady search the Con for ‘Toytles’ to stomp.

This convention had been previously known as Wizard World, so named because of its connection with the comic book price guide/mag, Wizard.  Well, it appears that things are not all well in the kingdom of Wizard.  Both DC and Marvel pulled out of this convention, along with other publishers such as Dark Horse, leaving a huge void that couldn’t be filled, no matter how many Jake Buseys  or Todd Bridges were on hand (sadly, Gary Coleman was a no-show, another disappointment).

A friend summed the event up perfectly as “a glorified Motor City Comic Con” (our yearly comic con here in Michigan that has gone down hill, according to regular attendees).  Sure, there were neato guests and plenty of dealers, but the fun thing about cons for me is seeing the big companies there.

I may not read a lot of Marvel and DC titles as of late (I’ve been buying a lot of Dark Horse), but their presence (along with Dark Horse, Image and others) was what always separated the Chicago convention from Motor City Comic Con for me–the sense of scale.  I recalled in years past at Wizard World that there were more companies around, and not just the big comic labels.

Anyway, I digress.

I awoke at 5 AM on Saturday and prepped for my trek to Ann Arbor to pick up the Mega Bus at the  U of M Park and Ride lot.  Driving on the freeway just before 6 AM was interesting.  Thankfully, I avoided any construction (aside from a short detour in downtown Ann Arbor) and made it to the Park and Ride with time to spare.  The only bummer was that it started raining while I waited by the bus stop, causing some water to leak into my backpack–which made my change of clothes, podcast CD sleeves and such soggy.

The Mega Bus trip was actually rather painless, a far cry from the fiasco of my bus/train trip to the convention a year ago. We even arrived in downtown Chicago 45 minutes ahead of schedule.

I walked the block (give or take) to the nearest Blue Line train station and read a book during the 40 minute (give or take) train ride to the convention center).

I Checked in with my online ticket and was given a very annoying wristband.  They had done away with the badges of years past, and expected people to wear a stupid paper wrist band for the duration of the con (for as long as four days in some cases).

I’m sure this was to prevent people from sharing badges. I like the badges though, they make fun keepsakes, and mine came in handy years ago when I met Jason Mewes and had him sign the back.  When you have arms as hairy as mine, any kind of self-adhesive strip around your wrist is going to be painful.

I quickly noticed the absence of DC and Marvel upon entering.  Usually, they have large booths right at the entrance.  Instead, they crammed most of the guest celebs near the front, which created several log jams upon entering.

This year I wasn’t battling some kind of plague, so I enjoyed walking around the large convention center. I also started putting out podcast CDs in the freebie areas–this one thing I like about this con, they don’t care who puts out free stuff, unlike Motor City Comic Con, where you had to be a registered guest to put out freebies in the common areas.  I only brought 30 something CDs, which I quickly regretted after putting out the last of my CDs by mid-afternoon on the first day.

I also saturated the cafeteria areas with my podcast promo cards.

I didn’t buy all that much this year, I think I only spent around $100 over two days–and that included food, snacks, coffees and other necessities (ex: a six pack of Old Style). My most expensive purchase was a hardcover copy of the first Mouse Guard collection ($25), but I bought it in person from its writer/artist, Michigan-native David Petersen (whom I met a few months ago at the first Ink & Stein ‘drink and draw’ event in Ypsilani).  He also signed it and drew an amazing little sketch.

David Petersen, writer/artist of Mouse Guard, signs and sketches my copy of the first collection.

The rest of my purchases were mainly trade paperbacks of comic book back issues.  Since I’m more of a comic reader than collector these days, I opt for the cheap paperback collections over the separate back issues.  You can find booths a-plenty to score cheap trades.  Most will be half-off the cover price and another favorite stop sold all of their trades for $5.  Probably my best trade purchase was a large Judge Dredd collection that I got for only $7.  It didn’t have a US dollar price, only a UK price (13). I saw the next volume in the series at another booth on sale for $24 (US). Go me.

Stay tuned for Chicago Comic Con, Part 2-Obligatory Wrath of Con Joke