Emerald City Comicon 2011

Set phasers to NEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDD - photo by Jim Berry

I just got my 3 day pass to this year's Emerald City Comicon on March 4th-6th and it got me all excited and nostalgic about the previous cons I've gone to.

I remember when my good bud and then roommate Keith roped me and our roommate John into going with him to ECC in 2007. He probably said something like, "Yeah, it's a total shitshow full of mouth-breathing dorks, but it's really fun and there are lots of deals to be found and some cool folks to meet." And that was that. The three of us rolled down from Bellingham to the Qwest Field Event Center, took photos with Star Wars dorks, met comedian Brian Posehn, I bought an old Transformer for probably way too much money and had a general good ol' nerdy time. I loved it. I was hooked.

Keith Tusken Raider-ing John

Keith was also key in getting me back into comics in the first place. I absolutely loved the X-Men in the early 90s like every sane boy my age and made many trips to The Spider's Web on River Road in Puyallup, WA, to buy as many X-Men related comics and trading cards as I could afford. But, then you know, I started noticing girls and playing hockey and other stuff teenagers from the suburbs do and kinda forgot about comics.

Years later, when I moved in with Keith, John and sometimes Alex at the legendary-in-our-own-minds "Bro Compound" on Humboldt Street in Bellingham, Keith showed me some newer, more violent and off-the-wall comics like "Punisher: MAX," "Preacher" and "Y: The Last Man." Slowly, but surely I started checking out more newer comics and trades (or "Graphic Novels" as high-brow arty folks who don't want to admit they read comic books call them) and have been reading weekly comics since 2008 or so.

Getting back to why I really enjoy going to ECC every year, it's really just the whole experience. Where else am going to get to hear Leonard Nimoy read excerpts from his poetry, see Thomas Jane drunkenly amble around the con or drool over Kaylee from "Firefly" from afar? And don't even get me started the folks who dress up as various comic book and movie characters. It's just a totally authentic freakshow of nerdy humanity and I love it.

Keith: Dude bro, you were awesome in "Deep Blue Sea!"

Tom Jane: "Yeah, whatever, check out this shitty comic I wrote." 

Since 2007, it has grown an incredible amount in size, popularity and in the notoriety of its celebrity guests. In 2008, it switched venues to the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle, which is better for its size and close proximity other businesses downtown like restaurants and such. And it expanded to three days this year for the first time instead of two, which I think will make for a more relaxed atmosphere.

Another thing I love about ECC are the celebrity and writer/artists panels. This is where a bunch of con-goers cram into a conference room and listen to the guests talk about pretty much whatever they feel like. And if you're lucky, they'll allow part of the panel to be Q&A. This is where people really let their freak flags fly and ask the most absurd, obscure and/or utterly embarrassing questions. And the best part is how unflinchingly nice almost all the guests are, no matter fucking stupid the question. They know that these folks are the ones that make it possible for them to have careers and these are the true blue fans, so they better not make them angry if they want to keep making money playing make believe with fictional characters. But, like I said, it's witnessing these kinds of jaw-droppingly weird and embarrassing interactions alone that make the price of admission well worth it.

This year I'm mostly excited for a handful of writers and artists, but most of all for Jeff Lemire. He writes "Sweet Tooth" which is probably my favorite comic on the rack these days and also wrote the heart-breakingly sad and awesome "Essex County." He was there last year, too, but at that time I was unfamiliar with his brilliance, but luckily I had the foresight to buy "Essex County" from him and ask him to sign it. That's the other cool thing about these cons. The writers and artists will sign pretty much anything you want them to for free and are almost always really friendly and will shoot the shit with you about their work. Some artists will do sketches of their characters for you for a small fee, too, if you're into that.

I definitely want to catch Wil Wheaton's panel. He's most well known for playing Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" back when he was a teenager, but he now he's a writer and occasional actor and is one of the most genuine and hilarious public speakers I've seen. He usually reads a bit from his books and tells embarrassing stories from his Star Trek days. Always a good time. He's been a guest at ECC every year since I started going.

The big name this year is William Shatner. I'm no trekkie or anything, but I think Shatner is pretty hilarious in general and I definitley want to catch his panel on Saturday. Leonard Nimoy was the big name last year, and Stan Lee of course, but Nimoy's panel was absolutely hilarious and had the aforementioned poetry reading and some of the best/worst Q&A questions I've ever seen. So I'm sure Shatner's panel will be totally ridiculous.

Con-life, baby. I'm ready for it.