On the Scene: After Hours at Emerald City Comic Con
Day 1
After an exciting first day at Emerald City Comic Con on Friday, a sea of attendees flooded the many downtown venues around Seattle’s Washington State Convention Center. But the place to be for the evening was the bar of the Sheraton hotel where many of the comics professionals gathered.
ECCC, like Heroes Con and Baltimore Comic Con, is a creator favorite because of its focus on comics over video games and other flashier media. So it’s not surprising that the large space quickly filled up with an impressive roster of talent. I spotted “I, Vampire” writer Josh Fialkov in a distressed Green Lantern tee from his expansive collection of shirts (I don’t believe I’ve seen him wear the same one twice.) While many readers are sad to see the end of “I, Vampire” in April, Fialkov will be going green and red soon, taking over “Green Lantern Corps” with artist Bernard Chang, and also the “Red Lanterns” series.
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Baltimore Comic-Con Night 1
[As sadly noted, The Beat was unable to attend Baltimore this year, or it's lively vibrant Barcon. But luckily, Amy Chu was there and had a better time than we possibly could have!]
After some false starts and inexplicable traffic congestion, it was almost Friday midnight by the time I finally arrived at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore. My happiness soon evaporated as I realized the room had NO view and was DIRECTLY above the incredibly noisy bar. Since the effect was pretty much close to being in the bar itself, and despite the travel fatigue, I made my way down one floor to join the party.
Baltimore Comic Con, like Charlotte’s Heroes Con, is a creator favorite due to its comics-centric focus, and the Hyatt bar is a traditional gathering spot, so I was looking forward to seeing many familiar faces that were at Charlotte just months ago. However, due to the Yankees-Orioles game the same weekend, some folks I knew had to stay in hotels elsewhere so I wasn’t sure who I would find downstairs.With some relief, I spotted Mark Morales, Marvel inker and fellow ex-New Yorker now Jersey-ite, and the BLVD Studio artists Bernard Chang (DCUniverse Presents) and Sean Chen (Iron Man, Voltron). I recently saw all three at San Diego Comic Con in July in addition to Heroes Con. Sean informed me that I was lucky to get a room at all – last year he arrived late to find they had actually GIVEN his room away despite already checking in online.
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Baltimore Comic-Con Night 2
It’s Saturday night and I’m cursing the Yankees. Now even though a New Yorker at heart and my husband is a huge fan, because of the game here in Baltimore, not only did I end up with a horrible room at the Hyatt Regency Friday night, to add insult to injury, I couldn’t get it a second night. And Saturday night, as anyone knows, is really the best night to be at the Hyatt bar during Baltimore Comic Con.
So here I am, well after 11 pm, staggering under 15 lbs of swag from the Harvey Awards in my dress and high heels and no place to stash it. Most of the other awards attendees had already gone up to their rooms to drop off their bags in their rooms before making their way to main bar. Fortunately just inside I ran into George O’ Connor (HEALED) from a Comics Experience class and like the gentleman he is, he offered to babysit while I circulated.
The space was packed with people from the convention…
