C2E2 in Chicago March 18-20 - Who's going

[NDHorse]

Who is going to C2E2 in Chicago next weekend? I live in the Chicago suburbs, but this is my first time going. I will be there on Sunday with my kids all dressed up. Keep a look out for me (11th Doctor) and my kids (Hermione and Kylo Ren). I am really jazzed because I booked a photo session with Melissa Benoist (Supergirl). My kids and I love the show.

[drew]

Who is going to C2E2 in Chicago next weekend? I live in the Chicago suburbs, but this is my first time going. I will be there on Sunday with my kids all dressed up. Keep a look out for me (11th Doctor) and my kids (Hermione and Kylo Ren). I am really jazzed because I booked a photo session with Melissa Benoist (Supergirl). My kids and I love the show.

im just gonna be there on Saturday - dressed as an old fat white guy

[JohnMayo]

I will be there all three days. I'll be dressed as a podcaster. Typically I wear a DC t shirt one day, a Marvel one the next and some other shirt on the last day, often a Power Rangers t-shirt. Given I am meeting people at the Marvel booth, I might go with a Captain Marvel theme for my DC t-shirt. That way it is DC but it is also Marvel...

My game plan at the moment looks something like this:

Friday
-Noon: Meet up with Eric Helwig at Marvel booth
- 1:30pm-2:30pm: Room S503: 3D Tips and Tricks For Comics With Brian Haberlin
- 3:00pm-4:00pm: Room S405b: Demystifying Digital Collections – Current trends and challenges of digital graphic novel collections
- 4:00pm-5:00pm: Room S503: Budgeting Your Comic Book
- 5:30pm-6:30pm: Room S403: Silver Age Trivia Challenge! (Mark Waid)
- 6:30pm-7:30pm: Room S503: Write or Wrong: How to Manage Your Brand as an Aspiring Creator (Dirk Manning)

-Saturday
- 10:00am: Meet up with Drew at Marvel booth
- 11:00am-12:00pm: Room S405b: From Script to Page & Colors for Artists & Writers
- 12:15pm- 1:15pm: Room S503: Advanced Digital Inking Techniques for Comics With Brian Haberlin
- 1:30pm- 2:30pm: Room S503: Beyond the Page: Digital Comics Roundtable
- 2:45pm- 3:45pm: Room S503: Peeling Back the Curtain: A Look Behind the Scenes at How a Comics Publisher Thinks
- 4:00pm- 5:00pm: Room S405b: From Concept to Comics: A Conversation on Editing in the Comics Industry

Sunday
- 12:15pm- 1:15pm: Room S404: Power Rangers' Karan Ashley & Austin St. John
- 1:15pm- 2:15pm: Room S503: Secrets of Sustainable Self-Publishing
- 2:30pm- 3:30pm: Room S503: Creative Time Management: Balancing Your Dreams and Your Life
- 3:45pm- 4:45pm: Room S503: Professional Geek: How to Turn Your Passion into A Career
- 3:45pm- 4:45pm: Room S403: Critical Contracts for the Comic Book Creator

Aside from trying to meet up with Eric on Friday and Drew on Saturday the rest is flexible.

NDHorse, when might be a good time on Sunday to say hi?

[NDHorse]

NDHorse, when might be a good time on Sunday to say hi?

My photo session with Melissa Benoist is booked for 1:15. Other than that, I will just be roaming the aisles with my kids. I am probably going to be spending a good chunk in the kids area starting at 10:30AM. The kids get to do things like shoot at Stormtroopers. It looks like the Funko booth is right by the front entrance. My kids will definitely want to hit that right at 10AM when we walk through the doors. I should be there right at the open.

[JohnMayo]

I'll try to be around the Funko Pop area around 10am on Sunday. I'm staying out in the suburbs with a friend so getting there by 10am depends on traffic and other logistics. If I don't make it, I'll keep an eye out for an 11th Doctor with a Hermione and Kylo Ren.

[erickowabunga]

C2E2 was a really good show this year. A lot of really great creators came. I was only there on Friday, and was able to meet up with John, which was great! Hopefully next year Drew can qualify for the press pass and be there all three days!

Here are my creator highlights:
[*]Ed McGuinness - very down to earth, casual, and willing to talk about his art, various characters, and never rushed anyone.

[*]Dave Dorman - A living legend. We spent a good chunk of time with him, talking about various projects that he has coming out this summer . . . and booking him for a signing/sketching at our shop.

[*]Otis Frampton - Simply the nicest, and most underrated creator in children's comics today. We had the pleasure of having Otis in our shop last year - I would point anyone who has 4-14 year old daughters/nieces/etc. to pick up his book Oddly Normal (trades 1 &2 are out, trade 3 comes in April). He is so nice, he prepped a 9x13 Raven for my daughter!

[*]Katie Cook - What a hoot! Just a great person, and does really neat little Con watercolor/pen art. Picked up a Raven for my 2 year old.

[*]Marguerite Bennette - So smiley, and very sweet. Didn't get much time to talk to her, but I don't think she sat down the entire day.

[*]Marguerite Sauvage - I simply said how much I enjoyed her art in DC Bombshells, and it seemed like she was about to cry with joy. She has a very thick accent, but was loving the opportunity to meet with people.

[*]Tim Seeley - What can I say - this guy is very underrated for the stuff he puts out (Revival being my favorite).

[*]Mike Norton - Another awesome local guy, who is very humble for his great work.

[*]Jae Lee - This guy had a line that could match Ed McGuinness at times. He was taking A LOT of sketch requests, and working on them all night. When I brought a book for him to sign for my wife, he asked what else she was reading, if there was a certain character she would want to see him work on, etc. Offered me a couple of suggestions of other artists for her to look at. Great guy!

[*]Art and Franco - If you don't have a kid with you, they can be a little deadpan. There was a dad in front of me, and they were animated and jovial for the kids. When I walked over to say thanks for their work, and how we love having it in our kids section, they didn't seem to be too thrilled.

[*]Steve Dillon - What a cool guy! An old time British 'bloke', as he called himself, who was having a fun time talking Punisher, Preacher, and anything you wanted to chat about. We were lucky enough to be one of 10 people to get a sketch from him on Friday. He did a great Jesse Custer that will be hanging in the shop with a NFS sign on it

Other notable stops:
[*]Valiant - these are probably the nicest publishers en masse that you can find. They want to right by the retailer and customer, and ultimately enjoy what they are doing. If you are at a show, you should do yourself a favor and stop by!

[*]CBCS - We exclusively use CBCS for our shop/customers. This was only reinforced by walking past the CGC booth and seeing 12 boxes of greasy pizza right next to a stack of Golden/Silver age books to be inventoried for grading. Eww. As a bonus, Steve Borock was at the booth talking any subject with anyone. A very unassuming and soft spoken man, who has amazing knowledge.

A great show, and the entertainment people were pretty well corralled off to the side. Highly recommend this as a kid friendly option, wide aisles, and a lot of creators. Wa a bit bummed that Rucka cancelled, but, you can't win 'em all!

[JohnMayo]

My sister and I had a great time at C2E2. We are planning on recording about it tonight once we get back home. I really enjoyed meeting and talking face to face with Drew, Compsolut, NDHorse and a bunch of others during the con. The episode will go up Wednesday or Friday depending how quickly I get it edited.

[NDHorse]

I had a great time at C2E2 yesterday. I took my two kids and went with my friends and their kid. We didn't hit any panels, but roamed the floor most of the day.

We did get our photo with Melissa Benoist, but didn't get a chance to talk with her. We were in line, they told us to go stand by her for the pic, and then we said thanks and had to walk away. Literally 10-15 seconds with her.

I met up with John and his sister Kay and we chatted for a few minutes. Kay seeing that my daughter was wearing a Harry Potter wizard costume pulled out a Time Turner from John's bag and gave it to her. Kay, that made my daughter's day and she is still asking me questions about it. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to meet you two.

I did get a chance to speak with the Comic Bento guys for about 15 minutes and really enjoyed it. I will post more details about that in the Subscription Boxlight thread later. Great guys who really love comics. And they have new boxes coming out and additions to the Comic Bento box soon.

The kids really enjoyed roaming the aisles and seeing all of the cool merchandise. Of course, I had to say no to a lot of things or I would have lost my house The one thing I got a kick out of was checking out a retailer for original comic art. It is something I have always wanted to get into, but the prices are crazy. It was weird realizing that while I was looking through a portfolio of Erik Larson or Jim Lee, I had over $100,000 of art in my hands. I also got a chance to tell Neal Adams and Kevin Maguire how much I love their work. Nice guys.

C2E2 is a great con and I could definitely go back for more than one day next year. I would love to see some panels next time. Check it out if you can next year on April 21-23.

[JohnMayo]

I'm glad the Time Turner was a hit.

I've kind of made a point of not getting into original art. I've got enough ways to spend my money as it is that I don't need to add that to the list.

C2E2 is a great convention. I was there all three days and kept busy all three days.

[NDHorse]

John,

I listened to the C2E2 podcast and really enjoyed it. My kids loved hearing themselves being talked about in a podcast. I had to play that part for them 5 times. They think they are the coolest because they were talked about in a podcast. Thanks

[JohnMayo]

John,

I listened to the C2E2 podcast and really enjoyed it. My kids loved hearing themselves being talked about in a podcast. I had to play that part for them 5 times. They think they are the coolest because they were talked about in a podcast. Thanks

I'm glad they enjoyed the convention and the podcast about it. They seem like great kids. it was great meeting you all at the convention.