In the past few years, I’ve developed a real appreciation for ComicCons. My elevator pitch is that they’re conferences for people who enjoy any kind of entertainment, including comics, movies, TV shows, art, and increasingly board games, video games, books, and more.
ComicCons are quite welcoming to everyone, even if you’ve never read a comic or seen the latest super hero movies. However, there’s a great chance you might discover a book, film, or fandom that gets you hooked. You don’t need to cosplay. It gets a lot of fanfare, but the majority of attendees don’t do it. From the large ones I’ve attended, they’ve developed a strong code of conduct (example) to help ensure everyone feels welcomed.
But what is a ComicCon? What do you actually do at one? I’ll break them down into three major parts from my experience over the last few years of attending a couple big ones: C2E2 and Wizard World in Chicago.
Show Floor
The largest part of most cons is usually the ‘show floor,’ which is basically like a giant retail store for products related to entertainment. It’s a huge room, usually the size of a large warehouse. This is where a lot of companies and indies set up shop to sell their products, art, books, games, apparel, figurines, toys, and much more.
You can walk the floor, buy stuff, talk to these companies and makers (or not), learn about the stuff they make or get your nerd on. In general they are all usually quite welcoming and happy to talk to everyone.
For anyone with social/public anxiety, this might be a triggering area. If the con is popular at all, the floor can get pretty busy off and on throughout the day. Cons usually run Friday-Sunday, sometimes a Thursday too. In my experience, Saturdays are the busiest day, and Thu/Fri are the least busy.
Panels
Probably the first or second largest draw for most cons are the panels. These are usually in smaller conference rooms attached to the main show floor area, sized for groups of people from around 50 to maybe 100-300 for the big ones.
In general, panels are presentations or discussions involving people who work in entertainment industries. Topics can range from the educational, like “how to start drawing/writing/working in comics,” to live interviews with big-name celebrities from current and past media.
Art
Art is a huge component of ComicCons, and in a wide variety of forms. Artists and vendors from virtually every corner of entertainment industries sell all kinds of art on the show floor—fan art of existing media, officially licensed merch, original art, and more. There are usually art workshops for various medium and skill levels, and many artists take commissions if you want something specific.
Conclusion and honorable mentions
I think those three are the big tentpoles of most ComicCons, so I hope that helps. If you’d like to get a look for yourself without buying a ticket, ComicCons are usually in large conference facilities where you can get into the lobby for free to look around, get a feel for the overall event, and people watch.
If you’re into nearly any kind of entertainment series, franchise, book, film, or whatever, I definitely recommend checking out a ComicCon. I think they’re a lot of fun, and every friend I’ve introduced to them found something that captured their attention.
To wrap this up, I’ll leave you with a few honorable mentions.
Autograph area
Part of the show floor often has an autograph area where celebrities will sign autographs and merchandise. It’s usually a short window, maybe 1-2 hours, once or twice during the con. The bigger the star, the longer the line. Sometimes you have to pay, but I’m not an autograph person so that’s about all I’ve picked up about it.
Shop local
I don’t know about ComicCons outside of Chicago, but the two that come here usually dedicate a section of the show floor to local artists and vendors. I think it’s a nice gesture. It’s also a good way to start a relationship with a local shop if you want to become a patron or maybe source some specific products.
Artist Alley
One of my favorite parts of the show floor, Arist Alley is an area dedicated to small and indie artists. If you like fan art, interpretations of franchises, and original art, this is a great place. The artists themselves usually run their tables and usually accept commissions. I also just really like being able to meet the people who create the fan art I like.
Photo via C2E2
An unorthodox tip for mental/emotional health: create a MultiReddit
My life feels existentially crushing lately. Between my waking nightmare of a country and personal struggles I won’t get into for now, I am wildly varying levels of stressed, (socially) anxious, probably malnourished, sleep deprived, and exhausted both physically and mentally.
Some mental health tactics help. I have meds, I exercise more regularly, and I can deep breathe and meditate. Something else I have found to help lately is Reddit. No, seriously, hear me out.
For all its (gradually improving) faults, I think Reddit has some redeeming qualities, one being a hyper focus on topical subreddits. I can go to r/AnimalsBeingBros or r/ImaginaryLandscapes and know that I will see nothing but cute animals being awesome and gorgeous fictional art—I know that I can get a respite from near-daily mass shootings and Trump’s barrage of hate and racism.
I subscribe to quite a few subreddits, but I recently decided to look into MultiReddits, a way to group multiple subreddits together. Then I experimented with creating a MultiReddit of nothing but happy things—stuff like cute animals, beautiful art, and whatever r/BeAmazed is. I use Apollo on iOS, but I think you can make these on the official site too. See the gallery below if you could use help with getting started.
Sure, it isn’t a therapist-approved emotionally centering 20 minute walk or relaxed breathing exercise, but I’ve found my little MultiReddit to be… helpful? Relaxing, in its own right. Now, when life annihilates my calm, it’s nice to have a ‘happy place button’ as an option.
Thank you Oscar
Jessi and I got you before we got married. You came into our lives at eight weeks old and graced us with over 14 years of companionship, caring, and love. You were loyal, friendly, and brilliant, sometimes too smart for your own good.
In fact, you were so friendly and delighted to meet people that you even turned your fair share of “I’m not a dog person” folks into fans. And yet, you could be so gentle and patient that you passed the emotional therapy dog test with flying colors.
Thank you for the tail wags, playing catch, kisses, walks, and naps. You were our first dog and the best dog ever.
Love you buddy. Rest in peace.
Art: vibrant lights, by ZandraArt
ZandraArt is one of my favorite artists on Tumblr. I think you should buy one of everything in her store.
If you have trouble breathing through your nose, go see an ENT as soon as you can
Back when I was finishing college part time in Denver, I gradually lost the ability to breathe through my nose. My left nostril was almost always closed, and my right was mostly closed most of the time. I also was stuffed up fairly often without other symptoms of sickness. It was one of those body things that just happened over time and I never gave it much thought; it just gradually became my reality.
One day, I mentioned it to my older brother. Turns out he had the same problem most of his life, but he eventually went to an ENT (ear, nose, and throat doctor) who diagnosed him with a deviated septum. In short, this is when the inside of your nose didn’t quite form right, and apparently a lot of people have it to varying degrees.
If your septum is deviated enough, like my brother’s and mine was, you might have a septoplasty in your future. It’s basically a corrective surgery to realign the septum in your nose to open the passageway and allow you to breathe through it.
Now, physically, I’m a relatively healthy person. I’m overweight, but I don’t have any serious physical problems. I got diagnosed and had the surgery in 2017 and it is probably the single best thing I’ve ever done for my body. It had been so long since I could breathe through my nose, I forgot how wonderful it is.
If you have trouble breathing through your nose, or you think you might have a similar problem, I highly recommend getting it checked with an ENT. Because of our insurance, I needed a referral from my general doctor first. But I’m fortunate enough that it wasn’t a difficult process, and it truly was a life changer for me. I hope you can treated too.
Art: What’s Up Danger
It’s also available in a larger wallpaper size.
I’m going to start sharing art I like
In my efforts to get back to blogging, one thing I want to do here is share more art that I like or find inspiring. I’m scratching some creative itches again, and one of them includes getting back into art with my iPad and Apple Pencil.
I really like this piece. It’s from Bashabez on Mastodon, and it’s called At the Brink.
My New Year’s 2019 Resolutions
An essentials playlist for Mike Doughty and Soul Coughing
My friend Jamie Phelps asked me how to get started with Mike Doughty. I grew up on his Soul Coughing band and solo work, so I said challenge accepted.
I created a playlist of studio songs I felt were emblematic of Doughty’s style, quirkiness, and amazingness. It starts with Soul Coughing greats, then launches into his wonderful solo stuff. I’m no music aficionado, so I’m happy to take recommendations for additions and changes.
You can check out my playlist on Apple Music and Spotify.
Sidenote: I don’t use Spotify, but I used SongShift to sync my Apple Music playlist there.
This Chicago lounge has trophies for Most Resourceful Sport, Sumoball, Animal Revenge, more
I hang out and work quite a bit at The Drawing Room, a lounge/hotel lobby of the Chicago Athletic Association (now, a hotel). As I’ve heard it, the person who bought and renovated the building wanted to do something… unique with the trophy cases in the room.
That means there are trophies for Most Resourceful Sport – Skateboarding, and One-on-One Sumoball, and Animal Revenge: 1st Place – Bear, 2nd Place: Man, and more.
The room is so large and has so much character, it was easy to gloss over these for the first couple months I started coming here, since I usually sit down and get right to work.
If you get the chance, definitely check this place out. It’s amazing.
What is a ComicCon?
In the past few years, I’ve developed a real appreciation for ComicCons. My elevator pitch is that they’re conferences for people who enjoy any kind of entertainment, including comics, movies, TV shows, art, and increasingly board games, video games, books, and more.
ComicCons are quite welcoming to everyone, even if you’ve never read a comic or seen the latest super hero movies. However, there’s a great chance you might discover a book, film, or fandom that gets you hooked. You don’t need to cosplay. It gets a lot of fanfare, but the majority of attendees don’t do it. From the large ones I’ve attended, they’ve developed a strong code of conduct (example) to help ensure everyone feels welcomed.
But what is a ComicCon? What do you actually do at one? I’ll break them down into three major parts from my experience over the last few years of attending a couple big ones: C2E2 and Wizard World in Chicago.
Show Floor
The largest part of most cons is usually the ‘show floor,’ which is basically like a giant retail store for products related to entertainment. It’s a huge room, usually the size of a large warehouse. This is where a lot of companies and indies set up shop to sell their products, art, books, games, apparel, figurines, toys, and much more.
You can walk the floor, buy stuff, talk to these companies and makers (or not), learn about the stuff they make or get your nerd on. In general they are all usually quite welcoming and happy to talk to everyone.
For anyone with social/public anxiety, this might be a triggering area. If the con is popular at all, the floor can get pretty busy off and on throughout the day. Cons usually run Friday-Sunday, sometimes a Thursday too. In my experience, Saturdays are the busiest day, and Thu/Fri are the least busy.
Panels
Probably the first or second largest draw for most cons are the panels. These are usually in smaller conference rooms attached to the main show floor area, sized for groups of people from around 50 to maybe 100-300 for the big ones.
In general, panels are presentations or discussions involving people who work in entertainment industries. Topics can range from the educational, like “how to start drawing/writing/working in comics,” to live interviews with big-name celebrities from current and past media.
Art
Art is a huge component of ComicCons, and in a wide variety of forms. Artists and vendors from virtually every corner of entertainment industries sell all kinds of art on the show floor—fan art of existing media, officially licensed merch, original art, and more. There are usually art workshops for various medium and skill levels, and many artists take commissions if you want something specific.
Conclusion and honorable mentions
I think those three are the big tentpoles of most ComicCons, so I hope that helps. If you’d like to get a look for yourself without buying a ticket, ComicCons are usually in large conference facilities where you can get into the lobby for free to look around, get a feel for the overall event, and people watch.
If you’re into nearly any kind of entertainment series, franchise, book, film, or whatever, I definitely recommend checking out a ComicCon. I think they’re a lot of fun, and every friend I’ve introduced to them found something that captured their attention.
To wrap this up, I’ll leave you with a few honorable mentions.
Autograph area
Part of the show floor often has an autograph area where celebrities will sign autographs and merchandise. It’s usually a short window, maybe 1-2 hours, once or twice during the con. The bigger the star, the longer the line. Sometimes you have to pay, but I’m not an autograph person so that’s about all I’ve picked up about it.
Shop local
I don’t know about ComicCons outside of Chicago, but the two that come here usually dedicate a section of the show floor to local artists and vendors. I think it’s a nice gesture. It’s also a good way to start a relationship with a local shop if you want to become a patron or maybe source some specific products.
Artist Alley
One of my favorite parts of the show floor, Arist Alley is an area dedicated to small and indie artists. If you like fan art, interpretations of franchises, and original art, this is a great place. The artists themselves usually run their tables and usually accept commissions. I also just really like being able to meet the people who create the fan art I like.
Photo via C2E2