Emerald City Comic Con 2011!

After completing an internship at comic and graphic novel publisher Fantagraphic Books, my interest for comics has only increased. This year I was able to go to my first ever comic convention right here in Seattle. It’s not as big and crazy as the San Diego con, but still pretty awesome.

I only attended one day, Saturday, but the con ran for three days. While there I sat in on a panel with some of the actors from The Guild, and another panel with some of the actors from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In addition to these panels I walked around the showroom meeting various artists, publishers, and writers. I even bought a few books.

The panels were pretty interesting, but the Buffy panel was a bit on the depressing side. The show has been off the air since 2003, and the only actors at this con were Nicholas Brendan (who has done practically nothing except get divorced since Buffy), James Marsters (who has a limping musical career), and Clare Kramer (who I had never heard of, and was only in 13 episodes of Buffy as a minor baddie). All in all, not the most vibrant crew. Brendan did a lot of the talking, and much like his Xander character, utilized quite a bit of self-deprecating humor in his comments and answers. Marsters played a show after the con, which I did not attend, and Kramer just sat there with a look of embarrassed confusion. Instead of going to a con and sitting through this mediocre panel (which started late and was thus cut short to make way for the following William Shatner panel) I would suggest just watching a video of an older Buffy panel, with more of the cast like this one.

They are still missing some of the major characters (like Giles and Willow) but it’s at least more complete than the one I just saw.

The Guild panel was better, as the show is still on and I learned a lot about the creator (and protagonist) Felicia Day. Not only does she write, act, and do comic books, but she was in some of my favorite shows like Dollhouse and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (albeit in minor roles).

I tried to watch the feature-length fan-made sequel to Serenity (called Browncoats: Redemption) but didn’t make it through more than a couple of minutes of it due to it being really terrible.

While there I chatted with the guys from SofaWolf Press (and bought the latest issue of their literary journal New Fables) and picked up a copy of Vertigo’s Cinderella and Volume 1 of Image’s Elephantmen which Richard Starkings autographed with a drawing for me.

I also gazed upon the face of Questionablecontent‘s Jeph Jacques, the man who has written a comic I’ve been reading since I was 15 years old. The line for his booth was ridiculous most of the day so I didn’t bother to wait in it, but I still saw the guy.

I had a great time at comic con this year, and can’t wait to crack open my new books.