Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: photos from the fifth annual C2E2 convention in Chicago. In this final installment: what we did at C2E2 when we weren’t applauding cosplayers.
Our first act upon walking onto the show floor: approaching the giant whiteboards (markers were provided) and letting my wife Anne add a Jedi Snoopy to the walls that would collect fan art throughout the day.
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: photos from the fifth annual C2E2 convention in Chicago. In this installment: photos from this year’s Costume Contest!
This didn’t quite go as well as we’d hoped. We arrived in line at 6:30 p.m., an hour before start time, hoping to have seats slightly less terrible than our last GenCon experience. We were wrong, and unaware that VIP ticket holders received first dibs on seats. On the upside, the room had better lighting than GenCon’s contest normally provides, and it was equipped with a massive HD screen that gave the audience a much better view of each contestant.
On the downside, the contest started fifteen minutes late and the judges needed extensive time for deliberation after all finalists had been allowed on stage. On the side of compromise, the judges vetted all contestants first and apparently allowed only the best ones onstage — meaning the presentation was ostensibly shorter, but that we’d see fewer costumes than expected.
On the downside, deliberating ran until sometime after 9 p.m. We had a three-hour drive ahead of us and Sunday morning responsibilities we refused to shirk. The DJs who entertained the crowd to cover the judges’ deliberations weren’t enough to keep us in our seats. Consequently, we had to leave before they announced who won in each of the four categories. Thanks to the magic of social media I did find out who won the whole shebang:
Subject Delta from BioShock 2 won against some ridiculously fierce competition.
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: photos from the fifth annual C2E2 convention in Chicago. In this installment: more photos from around the exhibit hall and other convention areas, but with fewer super-heroes than last time. If you recognize any of the unlabeled characters, pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top feel free to chime in so proper credit can be given. Thanks very much in advance!
One of my two favorites from this batch: Sharknado!
As I type this, the fifth annual Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″) is wrapping up this year’s three-day run, April 25-27, 2014. Each year C2E2 keeps expanding, attracting more attention, inching ever closer to its goal of becoming the Midwest’s answer to the legendary San Diego Comic Con and its other coastal ilk. My wife and I missed the first year, but have attended every year since 2011 as a team.
Over the next four entries, which I’m hoping to crank out as quickly as possible without forming a symbiotic attachment to our PC, I’ll be sharing memories and photos from our C2E2 experience. The first three entries will be costume pics; the fourth, a sampling of the creators, actors, and curios we encountered. Several attendees may find themselves strolling through backgrounds as living, walking, oblivious Easter Eggs.
Caveats for first-time visitors to Midlife Crisis Crossover:
1. My wife and I are not professional photographers, nor do we believe ourselves worthy of press passes. These were taken as best as possible with the intent to share with fellow fans out of a sincere appreciation for the works inspired by the heroes, hobbies, artistic expressions, and/or intellectual properties that brought us geeks together under one vaulted roof for the weekend. We all do what we can with the tools and circumstances at hand.
2. It’s impossible for any human or organization to capture every costume on hand. What’s presented here will be a fraction of the sum total costume experience. That being said, please note MCC refutes the popular notion that everyone attends in costume. We appreciate those who do, but the general public believes it’s a mandatory masquerade and I’m kind of burnt out on confronting that cute but inaccurate perception.
3. We didn’t attend Sunday. Sincere apologies to anyone we missed as a result.
4. Corrections and comments are always welcome, especially for Parts 2 and 3, where You, the Viewers at Home, will have the opportunity to step up and name some anime and/or fantasy characters we old fogies didn’t recognize. I like learning new things, especially when I’m trying to write about characters and series that are beyond my particular geek foci.
5. Enjoy!
Booster Gold (in his short-lived armor), Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes edition), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), and Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) represent for the DC Universe. Many DC cosplayers in the house; very, very few from the New 52.
Stop me if you’ve heard me mention C2E2 one too many times. Well, you can try to stop me.
My wife and I are now in scenic downtown Chicago, having spent the evening enjoying some non-geek quality time before our big Saturday arrives. While we decompress and charge our devices, please enjoy this collected library of our last three C2E2 experiences as previously relayed here on MCC. New photos and stories from this year’s experience will be uploaded and shared starting on Sunday as soon as time and physical limitations permit. Cheers!
* Our C2E2 2011 Photo Archive, Part 1 of 2: Heroes in Chicago
* Our C2E2 2011 Photo Archive, Part 2 of 2: Villains in Chicago
* Our C2E2 2012 Photo Archive, Part 1 of 3: the Movie Tributes
* Our C2E2 2012 Photo Archive, Part 2 of 3: the Marvel and DC Tributes
* Our C2E2 2012 Photo Archive, Part 3 of 3: the TV and Video Game Tributes
* Comic Book Company Resurrection Scorecard, Part 1 of 2: the Valiant Return of Valiant
* Comic Book Company Resurrection Scorecard, Part 2 of 2: First Things First for First
* C2E2 2013 Photos, part 1 of 6: Costume Contest Winners and the Doctor Who Milieu Revue
* C2E2 2013 Photos, Part 2 of 6: Costumes from Screens Big and Small
* C2E2 2013 Photos, Part 3 of 6: Costumes from Marvel, Image, and Other Comics
* C2E2 2013 Photos, Part 4 of 6: Geek Culture Settings and Artifacts
* C2E2 2013 Photos, Part 5 of 6: Actors and Creators Who Made Our Day
* C2E2 2013 Photos, Part 6 of 6: Robots, Games, Misfits and Honorable Mentions
* The Fable of Why This Blog is C2E2′s Fault
* Behold the Future of Chicago Sun-Times Photojournalism (includes some C2E2 2013 Marvel panel material)
* The C2E2 2013 Music Panel: Our Disappointing Photo Collection
When my wife and I attended C2E2 last year, I only made time for two panels: the Marvel NOW! panel that spotlighted their Infinity event and other upcoming new series; and a themed panel comprised of various creators with music-based projects on their comics resumé. I was more excited about the latter panel and its guests. When we got home and uploaded our photos the next day, I was chagrined to discover that this photo set, above all others, was the least impressive. I forget which happy album eventually cheered me up — possibly They Might Be Giants — but eventually I recovered. The experience gave me fond memories while serving as an unwanted learning experience.
Despite the morose expressions, I promise there was much joy and music-geeking to be had from listening to these fine talents:
This way for a closer look at two Marvel writers, an editor, and several power cords!
That time when Batman, Robin, and Batgirl started wearing black…black like the studio executives’ hearts.
Fish in a barrel? Sure. But sometimes it’s nice to relax for one evening with some frivolous writing that breaks no new ground, fails to expand the creative boundaries of the internet, but relieves the typical tensions that dogpile on you in adulthood.
Wednesdays are one-man movie nights for me, a chance to spend time watching whatever while my wife busies herself with her own pursuits. This week I decided on an unusual direction. Anyone who follows me on Twitter (@RandallGolden) was given a short window of opportunity to stage an intervention:
Batman and Robin has been on my shelf for months. It was part of a four-pack, and geek completism forbade me from giving it to Goodwill and leaving the set 25% incomplete. I haven’t relived it in its entirety since the original, degrading theatrical experience. My plan was merely to see if I could watch it a second time without suffering a breakdown. Then a longtime friend asked me to live-tweet it, and a different kind of survival game was afoot.
Special thanks goes to the instigator, Nanci over at Tosche Station, a highly commendable site for anyone who’s a fan of Star Wars in general and the SW Expanded Universe in particular, and they’re your new best friends if you think JJ Abrams’ Star Wars Episode VII should star Mara Jade as the main character. (For the record, I would not oppose this.)
And then it began. Right this way…
It’s Hawkguy vs. Hawkeye, and Pizza Dog’s life hangs in the balance! More or less. Maybe a little. (Art by David Aja.)
That’s not to say my pull list is restricted to Scooby-Doo and Highlights Magazine. Several titles found their way onto my weekly reading stack in 2013, many of them proudly so. I put off spotlighting them here on MCC for a few reasons:
1. Entries about comics consistently draw the least traffic of all subjects.
2. My recurring frustrations with the medium nowadays leave a bitter taste that’s not fun to dwell on.
3. So many other subjects keep snaring and holding my attention first.
4. I reread last year’s summary and depressed myself with how little had changed.
Now that C2E2 is coming up this weekend, what better time to cross this off my to-do list, traffic or no traffic? The following, then, were my favorite comic book series throughout 2013, in no particular order:
Design by Jordie Bellaire and Steven Finch. See unaffiliated link at end of entry for buying from them.
This shirt doesn’t exist yet, but I’ll be camped out in line as soon as the line forms.
Hot on the heels of last week’s double-barrel underage-hero-ogling/rape-threat controversy, another brouhaha hit the comic spheres Sunday evening when comics writer Landry Walker (The Incredibles, Danger Club) wandered around the show floor at WonderCon and was startled to find the following objet d’hate existing for sale:
https://twitter.com/LandryQWalker/status/457997405321842688
…ugh. Not that exclusionary fanguys didn’t already have plenty of merchandise tailored specifically to them, but this one speaks directly to the heart of so many recent hostilities. I may not read the same comics as everyone else, but it’d the height of arrogance to proclaim that all the comics should be all for me. Some publishers may be better a diversity than others on all the available levels, but taken as a whole, if you can find trusty guides to point you in the right directions, the medium really does have something for every reader out there. As well it should.
To that end, colorist extraordinaire Jordie Bellaire (Deadpool, Moon Knight, Magneto, Pretty Deadly, Three, etc., etc.) and a cohort named Steven Finch (parenthetical credits here if I knew who he was) designed the proposed T-shirt you see at the top of this entry. Bellaire hopes to have a site up and running circa May so this can exist, so supporters can buy several for themselves and friends, and so she and Finch can die heroic and wealthy. She hopes to see stickers and buttons in the mix as well for all your anti-dudebro needs.
I’ll happily update here as more info becomes available. The C.A.F.E. shirt sadly won’t be ready in time for this weekend’s C2E2, but I’d love to sport this at Indy Pop Con at the end of May. I can bide my time if I must, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing other artists producing more merchandise along these lines, in even bigger and bolder designs. It’d be nice to fortify my wardrobe with more defenses like this to wear at cons and balance out the presence of card-carrying reps from the He-Man Woman-Haters Club or the boys down at the Get Rid Of Slimy girlS treehouse.
* * * * *
[Updated 5/13/2014: Shirts are now available for purchase! Go buy some for the entire family!]
The “faith” aspect of the Midlife Crisis Crossover tagline may seem downplayed here more often than not, especially while diving into the deeper ends of geekery and pop culture, but rest assured it’s never far from my mind. What matters most, what keeps us going, what makes everything possible, what sees us through all that we do together — the hints appear around us everywhere we go.
Even on our 2013 road trip, examples weren’t hard to find. Whether it was a giant cross that would be the last thing we photographed in Ohio on our way home at the end of Day 9…
Midlife Crisis Crossover! 