C2E2

C2E2 has come and gone. It feels like Christmas Day and I just finished opening my presents. Now what? I hadn't been to a comic book convention in years, I used to attend Wizard World every year, but for the past few years I've been out of the "scene".

I spent all of Friday walking around visiting vendors and artists. I met Max Brooks and got him to autograph my copy of World War Z. I also talked to one of my all time favorite artists/authors/creative geniuses, David Mack, for a while. I ran into a few familiar faces and saw pretty much everything there was to be seen. I was there all day and I left exhausted. I parked over a mile away, I figured that I could spend the $19 it cost for parking on better things, but on the way back to the car I started to regret it.

Saturday afternoon I met up with Victor and some of his friends. He also had his baby Sofia with him. That was an interesting experience and a glance of sorts into my future. Not that he was the only one pushing a stroller through the traffic, I was happy to see a lot of people and couples carrying babies, pushing strollers, and chasing toddlers. Unlike other venues or events, no one looked twice and none of it seemed out of place. Strollers and Stormtroopers side by side.

I was also planning on playing Magic on Saturday. A new set of cards, Rise of the Eldrazi, is coming out next week and there were prerelease events going on everywhere including C2E2. I registered and our event started about 1:00. I wasn't too excited with the cards I ended up getting, but I made a playable deck and entered the fray. After everything was said and done I did not fare too well, I ended up with a 1-3 record, but I did win a booster pack of cards and I got to see and play with the new set. So overall, I really couldn't complain. That was enough excitement for one day and I headed out for dinner with the wife, I kept smelling Connie's Pizza all day Friday and Saturday so we went there for dinner. I wasn't going to pay nine bucks at the con for a slice and a pop!

The next day was going to be interesting. I was bringing my wife Melissa and my nephew Rex along with me. It was Kid's Day at C2E2 and they had events lined up especially for kids. Kids could take pictures with their heroes, learn to draw, and make comics, along with other activities.

Once again, I was getting a taste of what lies ahead for me in the near future. My nephew was very excited, he called his grandma (my mom) the night before to tell her he was going to meet Spider-Man. He was telling his parents that he was going to say "Hello Peter Parker!" (I was wondering why he'd want to reveal Spider-Man's secret identity and put him and his family in danger, but I guess a three year doesn't look at the big picture) Rex was even up at six in the morning ready to go. Of course as soon as we got there he changed his tune. He's kind of shy at times and I think the masks scared him at first. We ran into Thor, some Stormtroopers, and Darth Vader at first. Admittedly, to a three year old, those could be a bit scary. It took us a while but we finally found Spider-Man and it made his day. He loosened up and started enjoying himself as the day went on.

It was also nice to expose my wife to the madness. It's always a little scary to bring someone into your world, obviously my wife knows who and what I am, (nerd!) but comic book conventions can be a little...unique. That being said, she enjoyed herself. She especially liked Artist's Alley, there are such talented artists out there, and she was really impressed by their work.

I also visited with David Mack again briefly. On Friday when I spoke with him, I mentioned that I had kind of been "out of the game" for a while and he gave me one of his newer books for free. I took it home and read it that night and really enjoyed it. For those of you not familiar with him, he did some work on Daredevil, but he is probably best known for Kabuki. If you can, pick up "The Alchemy", it's a good starting off point if you're not familiar with his work.

After a couple of hours all of the excitement and walking started wearing us down. We took a look at a few more things, I snapped a couple more pictures and we started our journey home.

C2E2 was a great weekend and a fun event. I was reminded of great memories from the past, and gave me a glimpse of my future. It made me think, and inspired me to write some more, but I'll leave that entry for another day...

-Gil