Location: Lakeside at McCormick Place Convention Centre
Attendance: 27,500
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/comichistory/C2E22010April1619th#
Audio recordings of the panels I covered can be found here: http://www.thecomicbooks.com/audio.html
Friday I got into the show around 12:30ish, this was in the latter part of the pro hours. Many booths were still finishing setting up for the general audience coming in at 1pm. I walked around artists alley and saw some creators still setting up, and I couldn't help but notice that Frank Cho already had a sizable crowd of people around his table. The Program guide came with a sneak preview of Flash by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul, a black and white Batman and Robin #11, and Iron Man.
I came in at the tail end of the ICV2.com white paper panel where Milton Griepp was giving an assessment of where the comic industry is now and where it's going. He talked about digital comics becoming a small but growing revenue stream for publishers and creators in the near future.
The layout of the con floor was segregated. The bulk of comic dealers was in the front left, and company booths were in the middle and right. The big Marvel and DC booths were much like theirs in San Diego and placed towards the middle/front section. They had a webcomic area on the right, towards the back of the section. At the back left/centre was Artists Alley, the back right for the big name long line up creator signings. No carpet in that section, which was killer on the feet. Behind that was a large outside balcony with a view of the water where people went to chill out. You could access this from outside the convention floor sorta around where the panel rooms were. To the side was the cafeteria area with lots of tables and chairs and within that, a stage where some of the panels were held. There were spots on the con floor itself with tables and chairs too, just for rest.
There was a variety of foods at the convention centre, which was nice. Also plenty of windows around the back and side letting in lots of natural light. The convention was warm at the beginning, I ended up taking off my spring jacket, but it cooled off and even got a bit chilly towards the end of the day. The panel rooms were pretty large and some of them were difficult to find at first.
I went to the Graphic Novel Challenges panel and it was about dealing with censors trying to pull books out of libraries. The panel was moderated by American Library Association's Deborah Caldwell-Stone. A short history of comics censorship was given in regards to the 40's and 50's. She talked about specific cases of books that got challenged and are now sitting in locked vaults, and where the challenges lost and the books are still available to the public. They had a special guest David Powell who was directly involved in a famous case last year were two Library employee's were determined to keep LOEG: The Black Dossier away from the public and lost. At the end they announced they had Terry Moore signed Strangers In Paradise hardcovers for those that signed up for the ALA. It was discovered part way through the panel that the vast majority of those in attendance were Librarians. There was about 20-30 people there in total. An Audio recording of the panel is here (50:11, 45.9mb).
The next panel I attended was the Dark Horse panel where they talked about Jim Shooter writing the new stories of the Gold Key characters, Dr. Solar, Turock and Doctor Mangus Robot Fighter. Jim talked about having to re-think the characters and do things differently than his last run with them at Valiant. Also on the panel was Dark Horse Editor Chris Warner, and artists Dennis Calero and Bill Reinhold. They showed some preview art from the books. Dark Horse publisher Micheal Richardson was in the audience and answered a few questions himself. There were technical problems during the panel, when they plugged in a laptop, the wall lights began to flicker. When they started up the slide show the wall lights and the lights directly over the panelists conked out. The microphones on the table also did not work. At the end they mentioned they took business cards earlier at the Diamond Summit and hoped the retailers were in attendance to win a draw for some original art. There were only a few retailers in the audience though. They drew 3 names, none were there, so they took the cards of the retailers that were there and did a draw with them. An audio of this panel is here (56:40, 51.8mb).
Between panels I walked around the floor, saw some people in costumes, chatted with some pros, looked at some books. There was an old time comic show feel with many dealers and long boxes with Gold/Silver books in their section. I talked with Harley Yee who I've seen almost at every single con I've been to in the last 7 years. I asked if he even goes home or just drives from con to con, he said he does go home but there are some cons that are so close he just goes and does both back to back.
on the cafeteria stage was a Silver Age Trivia contest put on by CBG columnist Craig Shutt (aka "Mr. Silver Age"). Mark Waid took on 5 fans on answering questions about story titles, creators, characters and more. At the beginning the fans took an early lead that even scared Waid, thinking he might get his arse kicked. But soon he kicked it into high gear and was like a freight train answering questions like crazy. He had passed the Fan team in points and then steamrolled ahead. Towards the end Waid kept asking Craig to up the points to give the Fan team a chance, only to have Waid answer the questions leading to a slaughter when it came to the final tally in points. A recording of the panel is here (54:06, 49.5mb).
The floor show ended at 7pm, but there were still panels going on. The comic media panel started at 7:45 and were talking about the changing world of comic media. A lot of them talked about their print world roots and how the editing and ethics/practices translate (or don't) to online reporting of the comics industry. Heidi MacDonald moderated the panel and on it was Lucas Siegel (Newsarama), Bridget Alverson (Manga Blog, Good Comics for Kids, Robot6), Johanna Draper Carlson (Comics Worth Reading), Noah Berlatsky (The Hooded Utilitarian), Ron Richards (iFanboy), Caleb Goellner (Comics Alliance), and Rick Marshall (MTV Splash). There were problems with Heidi's mic being turned up too high and it would occasionally give feed back. I edited the absolute worst of it out, but there is a few seconds of low feedback here and there. The audio of that panel is here (1:04:23, 58.9mb).
I discovered the hard way Friday night that the Metro train that took me to the con stopped running later on in the evening. Thankfully I still had my transit pass and found a bus stop outside on the far end of the convention centre. I discovered the bus would take me within walking distance to my hotel and hopped on. Overall I found Chicago very friendly and helpful in terms of getting around via transit.
Saturday:
Saturday I went to the con early, set up in the press room and despite what Rich Johnston reported I was able to get on the net for free. I would soon discover this was only for those in the press room who picked the right wireless network, if you were on the floor and tried getting online you were hit with the pay for Internet barrier. I spent pretty much all of the day at the on the con floor taking pictures, talking with people, doing a bit of shopping. I got to talk with Carla Speed McNeil who was happy with her newly announced deal with Dark Horse that allows her to just work on comics and leave the administrating of her Finder backstock trades to somebody else. She was offering a special deal to Librarians for her Finder trades.
I saw Jackson Guice giving an aspiring artist advise. He was telling him to deeply analyze the art he liked and figure out why he liked it. Specifically he talked about techniques to move the eye around the page or within the panel to make whatever you need to get attention. He talked about not just analyzing comic book artists but comic strip artists too. The guy who appeared to be a decent artist appreciated the time and advise Jackson had given him.
There was a costume contest at the convention. Unlike other cons this was held during the day and on a stage in the cafeteria area. A lot of people showed up or were there eating/resting and stayed to watch. The show was not elaborate, people went on the stage, posed for the fans, then posed for the 2 judges, one of whom took pictures. Afterwords somebody else was taking pics of them as well, off stage. There was no specific music, introductions other than name/costume or long skits. Some people did do more than just pose, they would say something or shoot their rayguns or something. There were 2 categories, bought costumes and home made. After everybody was done they announced the winners 5 minutes later. The Bought category winners were a Dr. Who, Scarlett Witch, Star Wars Kids. In Home Made there was Avatar Neytiri character, Masters Of the Universe characters, X-Force, and a group of kids as Avatar The Airbender characters. An honourable mention went to a character I did not recognize.
Quite a few publishers were giving away free single issue comics. Marvel and DC were, as per normal nowadays but smaller publishers were, too. One could probably walk out with half a short box worth if they took one of every free comic that was available.
I had lunch at one of the vendors who was working to make sure everybody was served as quickly as possible. He was taking orders up the line and cooking up popular choices for people to pick up. If you wanted one of them, he would direct you to the front of the line to grab one that was just recently cooked and to pay for it. Props to him for that. While eating there was a 3 person band with guitars singing original music that was comic related. I didn't care for the songs but at least its tempo was soothing.
I did some more shopping and chatting with people. I walked though the webcomics pavilion. The Saturday show was busy, but not so busy that everybody was crammed and had to fight through the aisles. Of course there was a lot of traffic at the Marvel and DC booths with creators signing there and people lining up to see them. Some booths were out of the ordinary for comic conventions, one booth was selling special shoe insoles that had liquid in them, I tested them out and you could feel the liquid flowing around under your feet as you walked. I didn't buy them but I do admit I was tempted. There was also a massage therapy booth as well that got some use.
Other odd booths was a Tattoo parlor who was doing tattoos on people right there, every time I walked by I saw at least 2 people getting ink. The Onion was there giving away a sample newspaper. Like San Diego there were at least 3 booths giving away energy drinks samples. Towards the end of Sunday some stopped giving away samples and were just throwing whole bottles up because they didn't want to lug it all back. There was an auction going on where they sold off pieces from the Iron Man movie. Among the items was the large chest/helmet of the original bulky gray Iron Man costume. I also saw a damaged helmet of the red/gold variety. There were a few people in Iron Man themed costumes with the glowing circle in the heart, but nobody in full armor. There was a small card gaming section that didn't get much use.
I had left an hour early on Saturday to grab some supper. We went to a place called Carsons that gave huge proportions of extremely good food. The salad had fresh, strong garlic on it, so much so that it almost burned your throat. While it's an expensive place to eat, it's very much worth it and I'd recommend it to anybody who wants to splurge and get an experience that you'll remember and come back for the next time you're in Chicago.
Sunday.
I discovered the Hilton had a shuttle bus to the con. One bus driver asked me if I was going to McCormick Place and directed me on his bus. Upon entering I saw people dressed up in very expensive suits. I realized this was a shuttle bus for the other Kitchen and Bath convention that was going on at the other side of the convention centre. I got off and waited for the C2E2 shuttle. The shuttle was nice and comfy, much more so than public transit and dropped us off just under the main con floor not far from the press room.
Before the Bill Willingham panel somebody put up an episode of the Simpsons on the big screen, it was the episode where they make a Mr. Radioactive Man movie in Springfield. It was really unexpected and funny and made my morning, thanks to whomever did it. When the Willingham panel started there was roughly 50 people in attendance. It was in a very big room with a microphone for people to line up and ask questions in. On the panel with Bill was an old friend named Steve Sullivan. It was his goal to get Bill to spill some news/spoilers to get the word of mouth going and make the panel special. Bill talked a lot about Fables and spin off material, a little bit about JSA and the JSA/JLA crossover, mentioned a Batman story where both Batman and the Joker are in trouble together, a prose book that is coming out. Bill did give out some spoiler-y info. The audio of the panel is here (1:05:04, 59.5mb).
At the Marvel booth they gave out some swag, action figures and signed comics. They did this with very loud music playing. It was weird to see large gathering of screaming people with their arms outstretched for this stuff. It was like a rock star was there or something. The guy giving away the prizes had fun stretching the whole "event" out, the biggest prize was a large Iron Man figure that was given to a little kid wearing a Spider-Man costume who was on his Dad's shoulders.
I went to the Indy First panel that was moderated by Mark Waid. On the panel was Jeff Smith, but Waid said a bunch of indy creators were supposed to be there. They took questions from the floor and both Mark and Jeff talked about general creating comics questions and a bit about Dave Sim (more Waid then Smith). Smith answered a question about Bone being challenged in a library, apparently for having alcohol, gambling and sex in it. He found this really surprising and doesn't know a whole lot more than what's been reported about it online, but says the ALA has talked to him and are going to fight this. He doesn't think the challenge will hold. Smith talked about when he started up he went to a lot of retailer summits, traveling with retailers and getting to know them. He said this helped him out greatly as Bone wasn't what would be considered "commercial" for the comic industry in the early/mid 90s. Both Smith and Waid talked about writers block and how to get around it. Both of them agreed that writers block means you've taken a wrong turn in the story and you should go back to when the story was clicking for you and have a character make a different decision. Towards the end of the panel Smith realized when his plane was taking off. The audience urged Smith to leave the panel early so he didn't miss his flight. Mark filled out the last 5 minutes of the panel answering questions. Audio of the panel is here (36:43, 33.6mb) .
Shortly after the panel I walked around and asked comic dealers and creators how the show went for them. Retailers were all over the place. In total I asked 22 retailers and it broke down like this: 4 said Very good, 11 said it did okay/decent. A lot of these guys said they were expecting better but did enough to be okay. A couple of them gave a very hesitated "uh.. okaaay?" answer. One was actually in the middle of a rant about Chicago buyers being cheap when he said he did fine. I did hear from others saying they were missing a couple of big ticket purchases that would have made the show a solid good for them. I got the impression they didn't want to say anything bad about the show for a variety of reasons. The remaining 7 stated outright it was a slow or bad show. One said it was his worst show ever. In comparing it to Wizard World Chicago one retailer said it was an average to slow show, another one said his sales were down 40% of what he makes at the Wizard show. A couple also said that Friday was bigger than expected and were saddened when Saturday didn't show the sales jump percentage that they were used to.
Among the reasons people didn't want to bad mouth the show was because it was Reed's first one in the city, they really liked the location and room within the convention centre. There were windows all around letting in natural light, the aisles were large enough to allow for people to browse without being disturbed by people passing by. They got a solid guest list for comics and did a lot of national advertising. One dealer said they think the problem was not enough local advertising around the Chicago area. Going online afterwards I've heard a lot of dealers complaining about the length of time it took to pack up and get out of the con. I've seen this at other conventions and yes the many *hours* it can take to get books loaded and yourself out of the con can be a real drag. Overall there was very high expectations for the con and it didn't quite meet them, even Reed (who puts on the con) said they were expecting 30,000 people and got less than that.
I also talked to 14 comic artists in the Artists Alley, 10 of them said they had a very good show. People were buying books and getting commissions, some people bought art here and there. A good number of them were finishing off commissions/sketches as we spoke. 2 of them said it was slow, 1 said it was okay and 1 said they had fun but didn't want to talk about sales very much. I only got a chance to speak with a few of the less known webcomic creators but they all said they had a very good show. The bigger names like Cyanide and Happiness were advertising they had sold out of some stuff . Girls with Slingshots creator Danielle Corsetto also appeared to be busy every time I was near her booth.
Many creators were gone by 3pm Sunday. Some dealers were packing up at 3pm, which is usually a sign the show didn't do very well for them.
One complaint I heard from my friends was it was big on comics, low on entertainment. There wasn't much in the way of big name celebrities, the biggest one they were advertising was Carrie Fisher and she was in a booth surrounded by curtains with signs saying no pictures allowed. This shocked my friends but it doesn't me, I suspect nearly every celebrity will be asking for this in the near future. It's pretty much why I don't bother covering the celebrities at cons anymore, they don't want anybody taking their picture and sometimes even bar the press from their panels, if they have them. I go to cons for the comics anyhow so that's what I focus on.
I personally enjoyed the show and as the con seemed to do just about everything right. Everybody was very friendly and I didn't see any issues with the staff. The people outside the city were nice as well. Chicago is a city full of eye candy as on the way in you could see a lot of old brick buildings with some funky designs and inside the city you would see some tall sky scrapers with gothic designs. The convention centre itself was very easy to get to with two forms of public transportation going straight to it, plus the shuttle buses if you were on the route. I'm not sure I'll be back again next year but I'm not against going to it again sometime down the road.
Regards,
http://www.TheGraphicNovels.com
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