I went to my first Emerald City ComiCon, yesterday. This doesn’t sound like such an achievement but since I pretty much stopped going to soccer games last season because of the crowds and the chaos I was unsure about whether ECCC was something I was up for. I’ve been to PAX a couple times, and expected it to be very similar. I was completely wrong, much to my joy.
The age range felt much more diverse, rather than being pegged firmly towards the low end, and there were so many other women around! I felt like I belonged in the crowd, rather than feeling weird about being in it. I got more complements about my hair and the bright blue streak in it in a day than I’ve gotten in the last month, which was fun, but also kind of disconcerting. I’ve been struggling w/ self-care a bit, and getting shampoo and hair to meet is not always 100%, so the little voice of evil was whispering “see, if you wash it, it doesn’t look like shit!” rather than what my husband said: “You’re among your people so they feel comfortable telling you how great it is!”
There were SO many artists and authors of works I’d never seen before, beyond The Big Two plus Image and maybe Dark Horse that I usually read. Some of it looked great, some of it, I was definitely not the target market for which is fine. Some vendors were going for a bit of a hard sell. It was hard for me to tell the man explaining his cat-super-hero-themed book that I wasn’t going to be buying his trades just then. He was so excited and I just… wasn’t! I did get into a couple nice nerdy rants about thing with various vendors while I perused their wares. “Why can’t I figure out the Green Lantern?!?” is a question I did not expect answered while I browsed art, but it was well done!
Honestly, besides there being so many new-to-me artists, there were so many artists, period! People who were obviously making their living off of selling their art in ways that I don’t really think that I imagined someone could, in this day and age. It was kind of amazing, and also a little bit terrifying to think about. Buying this adorable Winnie The Pooh as Luke Skywalker print is putting food on that guy’s table, all because he saw me walking by and said “hey, this is my pile of Pooh!”
The only thing I didn’t do that I would’ve wanted to, was to say hi to Jeph Jaques, Danielle Corsetto, and Erika Moen at the Topataco booth. Really, though, talking to artists in person kinda freaks me out. I try so hard not to be that person who is fan-spewing all over them that it goes from “thanks for doing something I love” to “I love you, and you have become a living embodiment of my very joy”. I don’t really feel that way, personally but I see people do it enough that I become more focused on being the casual and relaxed girl, than on actually communicating meaningfully. Something to work on, I guess, their outbursts shouldn’t cause me embarrassment, they’re not my fault!
I came home with a newer shape of art, in the form of small 4x6-ish cards, which made me feel good about buying sets of things. I got a trio of punk-style Steve, Bucky, and Clint - he’d predictably spilled his coffee - and they’ll shortly be keeping my llamas and super space robot company on my office wall, although they’re currently spread out on my desk where my laptop would go if I were in it. I got another trio from the Pile of Pooh man, for my Nephew’s room. My sister was overjoyed when I sent her a photo, and requested that I mail myself along with, for a visit. I got a book of essays about being a girl-nerd that I hope to settle into this evening, too.
In short, I had a good time, I was glad I was cautious about it, but next year I will be braver & get a pass for a full day. I spent less money than I feared, not enough that I felt bad about it, saw amazing cos-play, and got to watch a co-worker and friend pretend to be a lying sleazy soap-opera villain, a were-whale running for public office, an ineffective adventurer, and a bemused weatherman doing late-night radio, for 40’s style podcast short-audio-shows. And I did it all with John enjoying it, too.
PS: Sock Dreams has a booth! OMG SOCKSSSSSS! (that’s a whole nother post, promise.)
A twitter buddy of mine is committing to writing 500 words a day on some topic, and invited others to join her. Feel free to write alongside us, exercise those grammar muscles, and do a little wordsmithing. The hashtag on twitter is #500wordsAbout.