Saturday was the big con day in Chicago.  Normally Chris attends Wizard World, which is in August in Chicago. However with Marvel and DC pulling out of the con for C2E2, it was decided we'd check this new convention out.

So we arrived Saturday.  I kept arguing with Chris that we should have pre-ordered tickets.  I base this off of my experience watching for several years the line at Youmacon go around the hotel lobby and out the door.  Yeah, ok, I was wrong.  So wrong. This is the big leagues.  More organized, faster moving. More impressive. I love the anime cons because, honestly, they feel more youthful (and the attendees are younger than a comic convention) but these older peeps are just more organized.

We hit up a few areas (DC booth, complete with action figures, even World of Warcraft ones) and then headed to artist alley to see Adam and Comfort, creators of The Uniques, at their booth (pictured left).  This is them in their con-element. And it's cool to hear that they've got a lot of interest in their awesome comic, The Uniques, and that their experiences thus far (Saturday anyway) were smooth with this new convention.

This convention (and my understanding if Wizard World - which is much larger) is mostly shopping.  So if you love super heroes, action figures, or other comic-related swag - this is where you go for a massive conglomeration of it.  I was impressed by the sheer amount of shopping.  Very different than the smaller anime conventions I've been to which have shopping for both dealers and artists in less than half of what this place had just for artist alley.

There were a few panels we popped into to listen to, such as one put on by DC (as Chris is a bigger DC fan than Marvel).  Unlike several we listened to at youmacon, these panels are put on by people in the industry.  That is, of course, a little harder when you're talking about anime and studios in Japan.

Like I said, this convention has a different feel than an anime convention.  Anime conventions have a younger crowd (I'm honestly on the upper cusp of the attendees) and they are far more social.  There is a lot of running around in crazy costumes, random hugging, singing, and chanting in impromptu circles.  There was a little bit at this convention, but it was mostly serious shopping and hardcore comic fans talking to the creators of their favorite works.

So on the one hand, it is awesome that you have a lot more people in the industry attending one of these, running panels and interfacing with fans.  On the other hand it is a much more "grown up" but commercializing feeling.  It isn't better or worse - it is just different. I really want to see more of these to get a better feel and to experience an industry that is often misunderstood by non-comic fans.

I took a lot of photos and honestly, we were only there from a little after 10am to a little after 5pm.  If you'd like to see more, including random floor shots and an adorable wookie from Star Wars, look here.

After the convention we did do some walking up and down Michigan Ave.  We saw some street performances, did some shopping, I have a few shots of the evening here and will be adding more to flickr over the next few days.

1 comments:

Cool post. Since Wizard World Chicago seems dead, maybe I'll hit this up next year!

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