Articles: Editor's Opinion... ChicagoCon 2003

I walked in the front doors and was quickly assaulted by the lights and action of the CrossGen booth. And a second or two later, I saw the Thing and Dr. Doom off to the side taking photos with just about everyone. The Thing was none other than Matt Geuther, whose work can be seen (and purchased!) on this site. Matt and I have talked electronically for some time now, but this was my first chance to meet him in person. (Dr. Doom was portrayed by another friend of his.) The two of them had already spent the past hour or so posing for fans, both thoroughly enjoying the attention, despite the extreme heat of a full-body latex costume. We talked for a while, and I helped Matt in and out of costume a few times, and took some photos for passerbys. Joe Quesada even stopped to look briefly, but I wasn't quick enough to drag him in for a photo as well.

Since the photos were taking up so much of Matt's time, though, I had to break off to explore the rest of the show. I was keenly interested in meeting Salvador Larroca (having enjoyed speaking with him electronically a few years back) and Tom Brevoort (with whom I've spoken many times over the past few years). I looked around up front briefly and was inundated with sights and sounds. The booths by DC, CrossGen, Hasbro, Toykopop, and Wizard took up a large portion of the front area and the line for Sean Austin took up a fair portion of the back. I pulled out my map to see where the artists might be located and headed off to the far side, past all the dealers. Once down there, after a very slow walk in and among the other visitors, I went up and down the aisles, looking for Salva. After a row or two, I began looking for simply creators I recognized as many of the ones back there were independant creators not affliated with big name books. I heard an announcement about Judd Winick signing at the DC booth, so I turned around, realizing that the "name" creators were actually being sponsored by the various companies, and would be signing at their respective booths.

Working my way to the front of the show via the far side was considerably easier, but still slow-going. It was only then that I happened upon the Marvel booth. I saw that although the line was fairly long, several creators were lined up at one table: Brian Michael Bendis and Paul Jenkins were the only two I could clearly identify from where I was. I shrugged and walked around the back to the start of the line, only then seeing someone official-looking reviewing portfolios. There was a shorter, but still-lengthy line here as well. Walking around just a bit further, though, I saw yet another table, this one strewn with copies of various in-development/upcoming comics. Sitting behind the table was a gentleman I immediately recognized as Tom Brevoort!

I stepped up and introduced myself, asking how he got shoved along the side away from the mainstream traffic. We chatted a bit and I got him to sign a couple comics for me. As we continued talking, I caught someone else slide in out of the corner of my eye. He casually joined our conversation and presently identified himself as "Jonah of Comic Book Resources." The three of us talked a little before Jonah took off and, almost before Tom and I were even able to continue, he looked behind me and said, "Hey, Salvador!" I turned to see Salvador Larroca standing beside me. Tom introduced us; Salva and I talked a bit as he signed some of his Fantastic Four artwork I purchased a few years ago. Salva exused himself to leave for a late lunch, and I began perusing the comic promos on the table. As I worked my way across, John Livesay -- who had apparently sat down behind the table when I wasn't looking -- asked to look at the artwork I had Salva sign. I obliged, and we talked briefly about his upcoming work on Namor.

At this point, I realized I only had less than an hour before I would have to leave, so I found myself quickly scanning autograph lines to see who I might be able to speak with given my time constraints. Everybody looked extraordinarily busy, and I made a quick round around the area to at least get the gist of the show. And, with everything still in full swing, I left my first Chicago convention.

All in all, I did like the show. I enjoyed that -- without even trying -- I nearly tripped over people I knew (either personally or professionally). If I had the full weekend, I'm sure I could have spent a great deal of it talking with a greater number of people and fully immersing myself in comicdom. On the other hand, a lot of the show was too... contrived for my tastes. The larger booths were clearly promotional and seemed designed more for handing out promotional material (flyers, buttons, autographs...) than they were for talking with the people actually seated there and passing out genuine information. Creators seemed hard to find outside of scheduled signing times (I kept tripping over them, simply because there were so many there!) and the lines were altogether obnoxious (because there were so many people there). In these last respects, I like the Mid-Ohio-Con much more. The professionals seem infinitely more approachable precisely because there aren't the large, extravagant booth set-ups. With only a few exceptions, the lines are quite reasonable and I trip over almost as many people I know.

But, the Chicago Con serves a different purpose, I feel, than something like the Mid-Ohio-Con. Chicago is about the major companies: Marvel, Time-Warner, Diamond... Mid-Ohio is about the fans. There's something to be said in being part of something so large as the Chicago Con (one of the reasons professional sports are so popular) but if you're a comic fan, don't worry so much about the larger conventions and focus in on the not-quite-as-large ones. They can't draw the big companies, so they have to look the other way -- towards you and me. I think you'll walk away with a much more satisfying experience overall.

But that's just me. Your mileage may vary.

Sean