This year my wife and I are gearing up to attend our third consecutive C2E2 comic-book-‘n’-entertainment convention up in Chicago, happening April 26th-28th, 2013. We missed the inaugural year in 2010 due to a schedule conflict, but I’ve made a point of prioritizing it on my calendar ever since. I rather like the idea of someone attempting a Midwest version of the San Diego Comic Con.
Most people in our hobbies are familiar with the longer-running Wizard World Chicago con, whose present incarnation emphasizes its celebrity autograph show while casually including some comics on the side. Though C2E2’s 2013 guest list implies that their entertainment-guest budget has been exponentially increased, they nonetheless attract a much wider lineup of comic-book writers, artists, and fans as well. C2E2 has one major advantage in my book: the major comic companies — Marvel, DC, Dark Horse — have sided with C2E2 over WWC, appearing each year at the former while having sadly eschewed the latter for years.
* * * * *
C2E2 is nowhere near the size of San Diego, but obviously dreams of being such someday. It presently uses only one section of Chicago’s enormous McCormick Place convention center, which has plenty more room to offer if Reed Exhibitions decided they needed some value-added sprawling space. 2012 attendance was pegged at 41,000, up from 32,000 in 2011 and well above its 2010 debut of 27,500. San Diego could still beat up C2E2 and steal its lunch money, but I’m eager to see it keep growing.
The following photo collection, to be curated and presented here in two parts, was previously shared elsewhere online at the time, but never on a site I could call my own…until now. Midlife Crisis Crossover wasn’t created until a few weeks after C2E2 2012; thus it’s my pleasure to present to you, the Viewers at Home, this retrospective of our first C2E2 — chiefly, pics of some of the most interesting costumes we witnessed. For the average con attendee, the costumes are one of the most fascinating, creatively engaging aspects of the convention experience.
(Not that it was all about costumes. Your humble author and his even humbler wife were each allowed a moment to strike our own poses courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.)
I had been looking forward to last week’s new episode of Community, “Conventions of Space and Time”, which invited us into the inner workings of an official Inspector Spacetime convention, a place where Troy and Abed could meet other fans of the obscure British TV series, indulge in a few hobby-related purchases, and generally be themselves. As someone who’s been to C2E2 twice, Wizard World Chicago four times, three GenCons so far, two Star Wars Celebrations, and several local Trek conventions, I was curious to see how the generally geek-approved series would approach such a setting. I tried to keep my expectations modest — without creator Dan Harmon around anymore, this season’s first two episodes were a little shaky. I’ve stuck with the show and keep hoping for the best.
Midlife Crisis Crossover! 