There are two reasons I don't really attend many cons though, even though a lot are within driving distance. 1) For me, I don't really have anyone to attend these conventions with -- the people I used to attend these conventions with are either living in different cities or just plain not people I want to hang out with anymore -- and so that has meant I would have to go alone. I dipped my toe into the solo convention circuit with Fantasticon here in Milwaukee, but then once I went to the Chicago TARDIS alone, it opened the doors for me to just start doing cons solo all the time. 2) The cost at these is prohibitive because you pay for EVERYTHING. As I go, I will total it all up and you will see the cost of these things.
And so I decided to head to the C2E2 alone (I asked a few people if they wanted to go, but it wasn't a deal breaker if they didn't go).
I drove down to the convention. I hate driving in Chicago (the TARDIS con is in the burbs, not the actual city) and it was even worse because the area around the con is being worked on. That being said, I drove down early enough that it wasn't a big deal at all. When I got to the convention center, pricing was a whopping $21. I parked, walked through the massive convention center, and headed to the con.
COST: $21
I am usually a chatty person in line, and have made actual real friends at SDCC, but I just was not really in the mood today. I wanted to get in, get out, go pick up a couple of pizzas at Lou Malnati's and then head home. I popped in my overpriced Beats earbuds and waited to be let in.
I had a plan for the C2E2 because I wanted 7 autographs, so I decided to visit them all in a certain order to make sure the 'important' ones were out of the way asap. Once they let us in, I headed straight towards the autograph area for my #1 priority: Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter from the Captain America movies and her own tv show 'Agent Carter'). She showed up pretty much on time. I wasn't too far back, and she was cranking through them at a decent pace, so before long I was up there. I was really nervous for some reason. Maybe because it was the first autograph of the day, I don't know. I brought a blue sharpie with me in case she didn't have any because she was wearing blue in the photo I had, and sure enough she only had black. I pulled out the blue, asked her to add her character name, and left.
COST: $60 (TOTAL $81)
Next stop, Jason Momoa. I had my poster and my friend Mark's poster and needed him on both. He was almost an hour late, so I started to worry about my schedule. His agent (who happens to be former Babylon 5 actress Julie Caitlin Brown) came over to the line to tell us he was close. Finally he showed up and started cranking them out. The guy in front of me was from Iowa (turns out Momoa is too) and when he got up there, Conan was excited to hear someone made the drive from his home state. The guy also had a red paint pen, and Momoa loved it so much he offered to buy it from him and said he was going to sign everything with that pen. Then I walk up next and asked him to sign in silver, and he didn't seem too happy. He added his signature and a 'Drogo' inscription without me asking, and I went on my way.
COST: $120 (TOTAL $201)
The only free autograph I went for was next. I love MST3K, and I love 'Freaks and Geeks' and there is a new show called 'Other Space' on Yahoo! Screen created by F&G co-creator Paul Feig and starring MST3K creator (and nicest guy in the world) Joel Hodgson and original Crow T Robot Trace Beaulieu. I was worried the line would be capped before Momoa got there, but I wasn't very far back in line at all once I walked over. The signing was Joel. Trace, Paul and then Milana Vayntrub and Karan Soni (both of which you would recognize from AT&T commercials). I asked Joel about the rumored MST3K reboot (all he would say is 'my lawyer told me to talk about Israel everytime anyone asks me that question'). Trace told me it was nice to meet me and I jokingly reminded him that I met him before at a Cinematic Titanic show ('oh yeah, Jason in the fourth row?' 'no, I was the chubby guy in the balcony'). I told Paul that he needs to cast Jon Hamm in Sigourney Weaver's role in his Ghostbusters reboot. I then talked a little bit to the super adorable Milana (who misspelled friend on the poster and then went back to fix it) and Karan (and I told him I can't watch the show on my Roku box because for some reason it always loses picture at the same point). I like the poster, the cast was super nice, and I really like what I have seen of the show.
the only picture I took at the show
As I was walking back I saw that David Ramsey from 'Arrow' had almost no line left, so I headed up to get him taken care of. I had a large Suicide Squad photo I made up, and he was excited to see it and asked me if I bought it there. Don't be surprised if you see him with that photo at his next con. Super nice guy. I told him I thought Michael Jai White would be the hard one to get on the pic, and he said "we'll see him again". I thought he said "what's he in again?" and told him I didn't know, before he got a confused look on his face and I had to ask him to repeat himself.
COST: $40 (TOTAL $241)
Next was Doctor Who's Neve McIntosh. Her line was also short, so I headed up. Disappointingly, I hadn't brought anything for her and all they had was one photo with the con logo on it. I was grabbing one for myself and one for my friend Lew. She was very nice, and when she saw my Chelsea FC hat she said 'why are you a fan of Chelsea?' (The British are big football fans.) I told her that it started because I liked Michael Essien, and we talked about how great Eden Hazard is and how much of a scumbag John Terry is, and I headed on my way. I wish I would have made up a photo for her, I wanted to start a Paternoster Gang multi-signed piece.
COST: $60 (TOTAL $301)
Then it was break time, so I bought a Walking Dead book and headed to the car to drop some stuff off.
I headed back to grab Jewel Staite for someone I know on the Rebelscum forum. Her line was short, and she added the inscription he wanted. She was a sweetheart.
COST: $40 (TOTAL $341)
I had about an hour to kill before my last autograph, so I wandered around artist's alley. I had brought two comics to be signed and thought I had missed my chance to get Batgirl #35 signed by the artist Babs Tarr (I thought she was going to sign at the DC booth, but there was no DC booth) until I saw her table and a note that said she was signing at 2pm. It was 1:45, so I hopped in the line. Good thing I did, it quickly got really long and by the time she got there at 2:15 it was stretched from artist's alley to the food court. I was planning on taking her picture, but I wondered if she would find it weird so I didn't bother. I told her that it was the longest line I had seen at the entire show and she modestly said 'no, it's not.' Yes, it sure was.
By the way, a huge and annoying issue at Comic Con is that people just don't know how to walk. Everyone shuffles, stops in the middle of traffic lanes, morons bring massive strollers and block people's way, etc. C2E2 is a thousand times worse. No matter where you are, no one moves. No one knows how to walk, they shuffle, stop, shuffle again, and block your way. I wanted to start shoving people out of the way as I walked back to the autograph area for my last signature of the day, Ming-Na Wen from 'Agents of SHIELD'.
I have gotten things signed by Ming-Na before. Once at SDCC for the Stargate Universe signing, where she seemed like she was having a blast (she was video taping everyone and had a huge smile on her face the entire time) and once before SHIELD started airing when we were standing outside of the Hard Rock Hotel and the cast of the show got off of a shuttle bus to a press event (and she was the only one who stopped to sign). I needed her again though because I recently started a cast photo for SHIELD with Chloe Bennett, so I got in line. This line might have been longer than Babs Tarr's line, but even if it wasn't, it sure moved slower. Ming-Na was talking to everyone, waving, and having a blast. A lot of people seemed to be getting Mulan photos signed. I got to the front of the line and she said 'how about we stop now?' A little panic shot into me (I did not want to keep waiting!) and then she said to me 'do you mind if I go the bathroom and come right back?' 'Go ahead, I would hate for you to be angry while signing this because I made you wait.' When she came back, she signed the photo and asked me if I had gone to Seattle to get Chloe Bennett to sign. I told her someone I knew online got it for me and told her I thought Iain De Caestecker would be the hardest to track down. She asked me my name, told me to have a great day, and off I went. Hands down the nicest and most enthusiastic person I met all day.
COST: $50 (TOTAL $391)
For my last stop, I headed off to artist's alley again to get my copy of Revival #1 signed by the writer Tim Seeley, artist Mike Norton, and cover artist Jenny Frisson. I also wanted Jason Latour to sign my Southern Bastards trade, but he was gone when I went over.
I thought about walking around a little more, but the damned shuffling was too much so I got out of there and headed home.
Other than the fact that they need to hand out a flyer to people telling them how the hell walking works, I had a fine time. They did not allow photos of the signers though (which is why Other Space was my only photo) and that annoys me. If I go back next year, I won't get so many things for myself -- taking out the autographs I got for other people, it cost me nearly $300 -- and I might post a help thread on the forums to recoup some of my costs. All in all, I was worried I would not have the time to get it all done but managed 7 signings and 2 comics in about 6 hours.
