So, after spending the whole day yesterday (Friday) wandering around- mainly in Artist Alley where I could easily spend the whole weekend- I figured I’d put out some love for this great event. I’ll lead by pointing out that I’m only able to make it for one day this year. Rather than being all surly about that, I’m gonna take the time to maybe get some fence sitters who were still thinking about a one-day pass out in the world for Sunday…
Let’s begin…
Above and beyond anything else, C2E2 is the place to go out and mingle with your people. Regardless of any other demographic you may associate with, you’re sitting here reading a blog that talks incessantly about comicbooks. That means that you’re our people. By extension, we’re yours. And there are a lot of us… a LOT.
Now, as I mentioned, Artist Alley is my place. Without a doubt, I could wander up and down those hallowed aisles until security was called to escort me out. Sadly this year, I was shying away from prints… mostly because my wife has told me that she has no interest in wallpapering our house in comicbook artwork, signed or not. Also, prints can be kind of a pain to carry around.
Instead, I was spending my time checking out all of the comics that were there for the taking. Well, buying… don’t just take the books. Chances are, the artist or writer is sitting right there, and they won’t be thrilled. These are all pretty cool people, and one of the best things about hanging out in the Alley is just being able to jawjack a bit with the creators of the books you’ve read, or maybe want to read.
Stopped and chatted with Jai Nitz, a writer who’s done work for DC- maybe most notably on Suicide Squad- among others. I was introduced to Jai’s work in the pages of his own book from Aftershock Comics, called Fu Jitsu…
https://www.thepullbox.com/2017/10/fj1/
And far from being a totally self-serving nihilist, Jai shared a couple comics that he’d picked up, from a small company just starting up called Grandway Comics. Check these out, for some awesome throwback comics that would look right at home among your favorites from the 70’s, as well as the Hanna Barbera cartoons…
Matt Hawkins was another stop in the Alley that I didn’t want to miss. Gotta say, with all the big and flashy titles Top Cow has to offer, my favorite is always gonna be Think Tank. It’s got some really intelligent writing, due in no small part to the research Hawkins puts into his stories. I wanted a copy of the trade, and having it topped off with a free copy of Hawkins’s other title, The Tithe was a bonus.
A surprise was when I saw that classic comics artist Joe Staton was hanging out in the Alley… As a kid, I had a stack of E-Man comics. Now as an adult, I have a collected trade of Staton’s work, now published by 1First Comics, signed and hand delivered to me by the man himself. It was pretty cool, and I’m still kinda geeked by the whole thing.
The Alley also gave me a shot at a hard copy of another series, The Sixth Gun, signed by writer Cullen Bunn… Lately Bunn’s been putting together a pretty impressive list of horror themed comics, but it’s this ‘weird west’ title that he did with artist Brian Hurtt for Oni Press that stands out to me.
I could keep going, but this could take a while… I’m gonna jump to the loot, and maybe direct you toward a review or two along the way so you don’t think I’m trying to pull anything slick on you…
The rest I haven’t read yet, but here’s a peek… keep an eye out for reviews to come!
I haven’t even touched on the Cosplayers yet, so that’s going to be a totally other post… I’m just going to close this out by saying that Sunday is still on the horizon, and that’s a whole other day’s worth of C2E2. Just think about it… even a bad day at the Con can be a pretty awesome day.
