Well, guess what? C2E2 ended over a month ago and between all the podcast coverage I did, I forgot to give a full write up on the show! So I am here now to bring it all together and hopefully make up for what you didn’t get from me after the show. Better late than never, right?
So I am going to have to jump into the memory mobile and really dive deep; luckily I have plenty of pictures to help me recall what happened that weekend. You can see the full gallery here.
Day 1 – Friday – March 18, 2011
Amy and I woke up with anticipation to get to day 1 of the show. While she prepped, getting her Phoenix costume ready to roll for the masses, I sat patiently on the couch, constantly screaming, “Can we leave yet, woman!” After all it was an hour to an hour and a half drive from the house.
So we get there on Friday and have to go grab the press and speaker passes. And let me say right now, thank you to Reed for the friendly staff who ran these two rooms. I was able to get in and out fast, with questions answered, so I could hit the show floor. My favorite part with the passes is getting in early everyday.
So we made our way up the escalator and then onto the red carpet, and this was honestly an eyesore. But once you got past it the main room was perfectly fine. So as soon as we entered there was the Archaia booth. I had to stop and talk to my buddy Mel Caylo. We have chatted before on the Discussions podcast, but this was out first meet in person. He’s a nice guy who works for a great company.
So anyway, the main goal when we got there was to drop off our bags and coats and for Amy to change into her costume. So our first stop was to head over to my buddies Raf Nieves and Dan Dougherty. We said hey and what not, hung out for a second, and then moved on to our main spot to hang out at the CR table. I was shocked to see that we had three whole tables to do some awesome show coverage this year; it just floored me. These spots were also right next to the bathrooms, so Amy ran in to change while I hung out with Chuck Moore and Chuck Kennedy.
I am already starting to notice I am rambling on and on, so let me try to sum up the rest of day 1, and I will try to just hit the highlights on the other two days as well:
– Amy takes a lot of pictures with attendees and other cosplayers.
– I make my way around artist alley and hand out my business cards to horror creators and setup interviews.
– I shop for comics, but don’t find too many enticing deals on day 1.
– We hang out with friends and have a good time before leaving. Hour long drive home, straight to bed and back at it, at 5 a.m.
Day 2 – Saturday – March 19, 2011
Typically I like to skip Saturdays because of the size of the crowd and to give me a day to rest in between. This year, though, we were talked into coming back by our friends. So an early rise was required, because unlike the day before, we needed to get up there when the doors opened. So waking up at 5 a.m. should get us there on time with slow poke getting ready. Funny thing was that we were still an hour late.
So we got up there on Saturday and I got to work quick. I knocked out a few interviews and then made my way to looking for more deals. Still didn’t really find any. The guys at First Aid Comics and Tenth Planet were selling 5 for $1, but you could only do one box at a time since there were so many people going through them. However, I did get some nice indie horror stuff, but nothing like I had imagined in my head.
Basically day 2 was a lot like day 1. Amy was dressed up again, so it was a lot of picture taking and then just hanging out. I was able to get a few interviews done, but nothing like I had hoped, so it was looking like day 3 was going to be filled with recordings. We wound up leaving the show about two hours early also, because of the long drive and needing to get up early again on Sunday.
Day 3 – Sunday – March 20, 2011
This was the big day for me personally, because it was the day I was hosting my horror comics panel, Horror Comics Today: A Writer’s Perspective. So I needed to be on top of my game for sure; well, at least on top of the time. You might not realize it, but time flies when you’re at a show. So I set all four alarms on my cell phone to go off as a countdown to the panel. So when I got to the show that day the first thing was to remind the panelists (Raf Nieves, Gary Reed, Cullen Bunn, Dirk Manning) that they needed to be up at the room by 1.
Then it was off to finish the interviews. Overall I got 11 interviews when all was said and done; you can hear them here. I made some great new contacts as well. Brian Fyffe, who does Zombie Chuck, might be helping me get some Decapitated Dan toys. OH BOY! So basically the day consisted of finally getting to talk to people. Amy didn’t dress up this time, so I guess we can say it was my day.
At about 12:30 I began to head up to the panel room, so I could get setup and see what was going on. Much like my podcast show, I didn’t have a set of questions ready to go; instead I figured I would wing it, and that was a mistake. Amy setup the camera and you can watch the panel video here and listen to it here. So the panel moved quickly, and we had a good turnout, too. I think the head count was about 50, and hey, that is not too shabby if you ask me. The panelists had a good time, but to me it felt off. So next year I will have direct questions to shoot at the people for sure.
After the panel it was just a time to really relax and try to enjoy the rest of the show. So of course we spent time with Raf and Dan, Mike Beazley, Aaron Shapps, Doug Paszkiewicz, Chuck Moore, Chuck Kennedy, Jeff Balke, Tony Maldonado, Tony Akins, and so many more that I am forgetting and they will kill me later. As a matter of fact, you can see them all in this video.
Recap
I love C2E2. It really is the show that we need here in Chicago, not that Chicago Comic Con (Wizard World) is bad, but they are so different. I think my one downside to C2E2 this year was the deals. There weren’t as many as I would have liked to find. Well that, and having to be a personal photographer for two days.
Plain and simple, this show is done right. Missing this year were Image, Boom, and IDW, so that was kind of sad, but I think overall the level of fun and excitement just made you forget that. A huge highlight for the show was the layout; hiding the TV and movie people is something I like, because I don’t care about them. Basically it was simple: you walked on the floor and the publishers were there. Then the sellers/vendors, and then the massive artist alley section.
This show is run by people who know how to put a show on. It is located at the heart of Chicago, not on the outside of it, and is just done right. Comic Book show means comic books. So thank you Reed! I will be back again and again and again and again….
Decapitated Dan
decapitateddan@comicattack.net
