Chicago Comic-Con 2010!

I spent the weekend at Chicago Comic-Con. While not nearly as popular or renown as San Diego's Comic-Con, Chicago's was certainly an event. There were easily thousands of people who attended over the course of the weekend (Thursday night through Sunday afternoon) and quite an impressive array of vendors, artists, and celebrities like Linda Hamilton, William Shatner, Adam West, and a handful of actors from TV shows like Buffy, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica. I went Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and I'm sure that there was plenty of stuff that I still didn't get to see. To be honest, the weekend was a bit overwhelming and exhausting, but I definitely had a good time, regardless. It was also my first con, so maybe it takes some practice to be able to enjoy the full experience.

Tickets were pretty reasonable; $25 a day or $50 for all four days. I obviously went with the 4-day pass, though we decided not to go Thursday night since we were a bit unprepared. There was also lots of reasonably priced stuff to buy there, too--comics, t-shirts, action figures, posters--the list goes on. The one thing that I do regret buying, however, is FOOD. Seriously, avoid buying convention food (and that of similar events) at all costs. We're talking $3.75 for a really

lame hot dog, $5.00 for a hardly filling piece of pizza, $5.50 for a sloppy Joe, $2.50 for a small pop, and so on. What crap is that?! Needless to say, we came prepared with our own food the next day.

As the con's name would imply, it was really a comic reader's dream. My knowledge of comics is, unfortunately, rather limited, so a lot of what the convention had to offer went right over my head. There were lots of other things going on that I could appreciate, though. Unsurprisingly, I saw dozens of cosplayers, including Domo, Storm Troopers, Darth Vader, Umbrella Corporation soldiers, and more. There were also several talks and panels going on. Celebs like James Marsters and Linda Hamilton gave speeches and I got to attend a panel featuring SFX360--a gaming community who talked about "Bringing Gamers Face to Face". They had some interesting things to say about starting a community, hosting/participating in game tournaments, etc. There were also lots of people at the con promoting their artwork, webcomics, etc. Definitely a good place to network.

If there was one thing that I went to Chicago Comic-Con for, it was to meet the five cast members of Battlestar Galactica who were there and to get Michael Trucco's (Samuel T. Anders) autograph. I was mostly successful. My friend and I actually struck up a somewhat substantial conversation with Aaron Douglas ("Chief" Galen Tyrol), who seemed like a pretty cool guy. We also got to talk briefly with Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh), who was way different than I thought he'd be...totally not like his character. He was kind of funny and wacky, in fact. It was weird. And then I said hi to Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh) who was, as I expected, very nice. Unfortunately, Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster) left the convention before I got to meet her. I did, however, get to meet Michael Trucco, who was the one that I wanted to see most of all. He is, without a doubt, every bit as studly in real life as he is in the show and even nicer than I expected. Granted, I only ever saw women lined up at his booth to meet him, so he was probably in hardcore woman-wooing mode, but still. I'm really glad I got to talk with him. Oh, and I got his autograph, of course. Cost me $25, but the whole experience was totally worth it. I wish I could've gotten a photo with him, but it would have cost me even more and I wasn't really prepared to throw down that kind of money. Next time, though! I did get a picture of Michael Hogan, but he was the only one, since I felt kind of like a creeper. Now, to meet Katee Sackhoff...

All in all, the con was a pretty fun experience. I wish I would've known a little more what I was doing, but there's a first for everything, I suppose. If you're in the Chicago-land area and you're into comics, I would definitely recommend it. I would advise against going on Saturday if at all possible, though, because it was pretty much a madhouse when I went. Friday and Sunday were much better. Even though we spent less time there on those days, I feel like we got to see more because we weren't trying to navigate through so many people.

I'm looking forward to going to more conventions in the future...perhaps ones that are for things that I'm a little more interested in. If nothing else, it's nice to get out of the house and go into the city for a couple of days.

Blog post on Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (the movie) coming soon.