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Okay. That's better. Talking loud over the titular wind in the Windy City, as well as the loud-as-hell Greyhound "shuttles" to the con from the hotel (and vice versa) will cause a little increased volume. Nevertheless, WE'RE BACK, BABY! (Sorry. Last time. Well, not really. I had a few "squee" moments. Just Keep reading.)
So, we left for C2E2 (The Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo) Friday morning around 5:30 am. The drive took around 6 hours or so. Along the way, somewhere in Indiana, we saw windmills.
See? Pretty huh? I thought so.
So, we made it to the con. Not the biggest I've been to (Remember, I've been to Dragon*Con.), but the first comic-centric con.
So, the big thing I was excited about was getting to go to panels. Friday night, I got to go to the first DC Nation panel since last October.
From L to R: Bob Wayne, Gene Ha (bottom picture), Paul Cornell, Scott Snyder, Gail Simone, Bill Willingham and Dan DiDio. I have to admit, there wasn't a lot of news broken, unfortunately. DC is getting ready to close out Brightest Day and start up FlashPoint, and then the landscape of the DCU will be "forever changed by the events."
What we did get, though, were the beginnings of a campaign to get Paul Cornell a Capitan Marvel book. Fingers crossed.
Overall, really fun time at the panel.
Later that night, on the recommendation of a work friend and the concierge at our hotel (The Chicago Towers Sheraton) --
-- we went to a pizza place called Gino's East. Do yourself a favor. If you're ever in Chicago and want some FANTASTIC deep dish pizza, go to Gino's East. Look for this on the inside:
Saturday, I went to two panels. First up was China Mieville. Now, by listening to the podcast, you should know Mieville is one of my favorite authors right now. I am a huge fan. After going to that panel though --
-- I am a MASSIVELY HUGE fan. He was brilliant. In fact, I am going to do everything in my power to get him on the show. Until then, do yourselves another favor and go buy his books. Then read them. The City & The City is a good start.
Next was the DC Icons panel. It was a huge panel.
In this pic, from L to R: Tony Daniel, Ryan Benjamin, Kyle Higgins, Paul Cornell, Don Kramer, Phil Hester and Dan DiDio.
In this pic, you can see Bill Willingham being Dan DiDio's butler, due to a lost bet. Hilarity ensued. Not pictured is Eddie Berganza, who was the moderator of this particular panel. Again, the panel was very entertaining, but no real news was announced.
Saturday night, we went to a Chuck panel and signing. The actors were amazing, but the moderator was ... less so. Morgan, Captain Awesome, Jeff, Lester and the co-creator of the show were there. We also got a signed poster, which was cool.
Sunday was the day of all days. I got to meet two of my favorite creators, have them sign a book or two, and then got an awesome sketch.
First the sketch --
-- Franco (of Tiny Titans fame) drew me a Firestorm. Isn't he adorable?
Next, was me with Bill Willingham --
-- really great guy. I hope to see him again.
But, the highlight of the con for me was getting to meet one particular creator. He started off on Doctor Who, did Captain Brittan and MI:13 with Marvel, and now has been chronicling the adventures of Lex Luthor in Action Comics --
-- PAUL CORNELL!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Super guy. I really want to get him on the show too.
Anyway, those were the highlights of my C2E2 experience. Granted, that's not everything that happened ... for that, you'll have to listen to the show. Also, I have a few more pics that I'll be uploading to my personal Facebook page, so definitely check them out.
So now I'll leave you with this --
-- That's right ... the Sheraton had Microsoft Surface tables. That is all.
Great post Michael!! It was like reliving the trip all over again. ^_^ If it's cool, I'd like to snag some of your great pics to post with mine (give you credit of course ^_^) cause I was having serious camera issues last weekend. -Matt
ReplyDeleteMatt, this is Michael. You have my permission. :-D
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