Wrath of Con: ECCC 2012 Recap

Just wanted to post an overdue recap on my awesome nerd weekend from 2 weeks ago. Here are some highlights:

Kind of a harsh vibe here, guys.

Friday aka "IT HAS BEGUUUNNN," the first of many "Mortal Kombat" references from the weekend

• Walked to the Con from work, met up with bros Keith, Joey O and Tyler (his comics blog!) at the nearby perennial grub spot Cyber Dogs. They did not have the tuna melt or chicken melt, which prompted a "No 'Stairway'?!?! Denied!" reaction from Keith and me. Compromises were made and stomachs were filled. I was ready to stomp all over that Con.
• Hit the main floor, immediately noticed the gigantic tower of t-shirts. Sentence overheard when walking by said tower, "Umm, yes, one 'This is my boomstick' shirt please."
• We split up to cover more ground, as this was Joe and Tyler's only day at the Con and Keith and I were in it for the long haul. I strolled through the writers and artists area. Found Greg Rucka and had him sign a few copies of his new Punisher book, chatted a bit. Then found "Any Empire" writer/artist Nate Powell and picked up a few of his other books, proving I'm still a bit of a sucker for those damn wimpy indie comics. (Editor's note: he means "comix")
• Reconvened with the dudes for a final sweep before the Con closed for the night. Tyler thought former Spawn/current Batman artist Greg Capullo was at his booth finally, with no line to boot! Tyler ran over to him with childlike glee, but it was only Brett from my comic shop, Arcane Comics, standing behind Capullo's booth for some unknown reason. Tyler was crestfallen.
• After the con, we decided to get dinner at Cedar's indian restaurant in the U-district. Joe was literally on a hunger strike (insert obvious Temple of the Dog joke here), so he was pretty bummed at our gluttony. 

Dat Naan!

• Joe and Tyler headed back up to Bellingham and Keith posted up on my couch for the weekend, which for the record, is his favorite couch. He probably wanted to tweet "SANFORD'S COUCH, I AM IN YOU #WINNING" but restrained himself. Many episodes of "Game of Thrones" were watched. Jon Snow 4 prez.

More after the jump...

 Saturday aka Winter is Coming (eww, gross)

• Woke up to find Keith snuggling with my dog like the big softie he is. We started the day off right at Mighty O's and headed to the Con on a big ol' coffee and sugar high.
• Saturday, as in year's past, was jam-packed. Asses to elbows. Walking around the main floor was rather panic attack-inducing. In our brief survey of the floor, however, I happened to notice that Tony Harris had no line at his booth and so I got him to sign my "Starman" Vol. 1 and I finally picked up Vol. 2 cuz it was 10 bucks off. He was a chill dude. And if you haven't checked out "Starman" from the 90s, I highly recommend it.
• That brings me to a guiding Con philosophy. NEVER PAY FULL PRICE. DEALS ONLY. Don't be an idiot and buy some trade you can get at your shop any day of the week. Save your money and buy something directly from a writer or artist because 90% of the time they are running some kind of Con discount. 
• From that point on, Keith and I pretty much spent the day in various panels because A) there were lots of good ones and B) to avoid the massive herds of mouthbreathers.
• Wil Wheaton's Panel, which is a yearly highlight of ECCC, did not disappoint. He told great stories, got up on his soapbox a little bit about the shittier aspects of the entertainment world and was generally hilarious. Maybe this will finally be the year I read one of his books. Been meaning to forever!
• The Batman: TAS panel was pretty cool. Hearing Kevin Conroy do his Batman voice was such a trip.
• The DC: New 52 panel would have been a snoozer if it weren't for Greg Capullo. All the other DC suits and writers were being very coy and indirect with their answers to fans, but Capullo was very frank and honest about his motivations and intents and was just generally super funny and personable. Even if you haven't read a comic book since you were a little shithead kid, go check out the Scott Snyder/Capullo Batman book. You don't need any background info, just jump in with issue 1 and party.
• We ran into Gundert and he saved us some primo seats for the George Takei panel, which was moderated by Danny Bonaduce of all people. Takei was very funny and told some great Star Trek stories while working in bits of info about his gay rights activism. A righteous old dude.
• That night, Keith and I went and saw "The Raid: Redemption," a much-hyped Indonesian action flick that is now in limited release. I might post a full review on this later, but to sum things up: It was great, but not quite as awesome as expected. Some unreal sequences, though.
• Finished the night off by watching "Mortal Kombat" on cable, which actually made "The Raid" look like "(insert really good, universally loved classic movie of your choice here)." 

Sunday, The Home Stretch

• Slept in a bit. Then Cassie, finally free from her work responsibilities, joined us in another trek to Mighty O before heading to the Con.
• Sunday was basically the day to find deals and get anything else signed that we hadn't yet. And we were damn successful!
• I love Sundays at the Con because it feels like there are less than half of Saturday's attendance there. So much more breathing room and less B.O. to breath in in said breathing room.
• Picked up "Green River Killer: A True Detective Story" from the artist Jonathan Case. Just finished reading it the other night and it really packs a punch. It's written by the son of the main detective, Tom Jensen, who worked the case for over 20 years. Awesome black and white artwork, I highly recommend it.
• Later, we went to the Edward James Olmos panel. I just wanted to hear some stories about "Blade Runner." I fucking haaaaaaate "Battlestar Galatica" and all the nerds who worship it. But of course, most questions came back to BSG, as well as Olmos' weird political rants which veered uncomfortably into Ron Paul territory. What a goofy old hippie. He touched on "Blade Runner" a bit, as well as "Stand and Deliver," so it was pretty cool.
• We had time for one final sweep of the floor. We hit the jackpot as Greg Capullo was at his booth with hardly any line. He gave us both HUGE hand shakes like 3 times and was unbelievably nice and funny. Got some Batman issues signed, talked some shit and that was that. Great dude.
• Afterwards, I took Keith for his first trip down to effin' White Center for Zippy's Burgers and we went all out. Burger apocalypse. I'm still full.

That pile of fried grease between those glorious burgs is what's known at Zippy's as "Manning up."

And that, my friends, was the 2012 Emerald City Comicon weekend. I've been going since 2007. I look forward to it every year and every year it delivers big time. Nerds and freaks from all walks of life all together in one place, celebrating our various favorite subcultures. 'Nuff said.