Post by Randle-El on Jun 3, 2015 22:13:02 GMT -5
I neglected to make a thread for this before the event happened, but as CCF's Washington D.C. area representative thought I'd offer my quick two cents on this year's Awesome Con, which was held this past weekend.
First off, this convention definitely is closer to the "pop culture convention" side versus the "comic book convention" side, as evidenced by the wide array of celebrity guests. The convention organizers really stepped up their game in this area compared to last year, and managed to book some high profile guests. William Shatner and George Takei were both present, as were two members of the Fellowship of the Ring, Sean Astin and John Rhys Davies. Other notable guests included Alex Kingston and Arthur Darvill from Doctor Who, Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid), James Marsters (Buffy), Allison Mack (Smallville), several of the cast from the ABC show Once Upon a Time, the original voices of TMNT, and several of the original Power Rangers.
With that said, there was a decent comics presence both in terms of creators and dealers. I was happy to note that the comics side of the convention seemed to be better represented compared to the previous year I attended, particularly with regards to creators. On the creator side, most of them seemed to be creators from relatively modern titles vs. "classic" titles, and I'll be honest in saying that I didn't recognize a lot of the names. Herb Trimpe was supposed to have attended, but unfortunately passed away prior to the event. I got books signed by Joe Rubinstein, Peter Krause, Sarah Vaughn, and Jonathan Luna. I also got a sketch from Peter Krause, who is a really friendly guy and was really nice about taking time to chat with me.
There were plenty of dealers at the con, and I managed to come away with a nice haul of pre-crisis Superman books and a few bronze age Spidey books. My one disappointment was that a lot of dealers seem to be abandoning the $1 bins for older comics in favor of $2/$3 bins. There were $1 bins to be found, but most of them seemed to consist of unsold inventory of recent issues.
Overall, I thought it was a fun event. The organizers booked a much larger room compared to last year in response to some complaints of crowding and lines in the autograph area, so it felt much less crowded even though I'm sure they had more attendance compared to last year. They also mailed badges for anyone who purchased a 3-day pass, so you didn't have to wait in lines to get in. The organizers seem to really be on the ball and are keen to listen and improve things. I wasn't initially sure if this would be a convention I'd want to go to in future years if it meant that the broader pop culture focus would cause this event become crowded and disorganized and drown out the comics side of things. But after attending this year's con, if they can continue to manage the growth in the way they have, I'll be happy to continue supporting it.
If you live in the mid-Atlantic area of the East Coast, I think this is a great event to attend. With Baltimore Comic Con as a more specifically comics-focused event and now Awesome Con as a bigger, pop culture oriented convention, we have two well-run alternatives to the ubiquitous Wizard World conventions that offer a lot of variety between them.
First off, this convention definitely is closer to the "pop culture convention" side versus the "comic book convention" side, as evidenced by the wide array of celebrity guests. The convention organizers really stepped up their game in this area compared to last year, and managed to book some high profile guests. William Shatner and George Takei were both present, as were two members of the Fellowship of the Ring, Sean Astin and John Rhys Davies. Other notable guests included Alex Kingston and Arthur Darvill from Doctor Who, Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid), James Marsters (Buffy), Allison Mack (Smallville), several of the cast from the ABC show Once Upon a Time, the original voices of TMNT, and several of the original Power Rangers.
With that said, there was a decent comics presence both in terms of creators and dealers. I was happy to note that the comics side of the convention seemed to be better represented compared to the previous year I attended, particularly with regards to creators. On the creator side, most of them seemed to be creators from relatively modern titles vs. "classic" titles, and I'll be honest in saying that I didn't recognize a lot of the names. Herb Trimpe was supposed to have attended, but unfortunately passed away prior to the event. I got books signed by Joe Rubinstein, Peter Krause, Sarah Vaughn, and Jonathan Luna. I also got a sketch from Peter Krause, who is a really friendly guy and was really nice about taking time to chat with me.
There were plenty of dealers at the con, and I managed to come away with a nice haul of pre-crisis Superman books and a few bronze age Spidey books. My one disappointment was that a lot of dealers seem to be abandoning the $1 bins for older comics in favor of $2/$3 bins. There were $1 bins to be found, but most of them seemed to consist of unsold inventory of recent issues.
Overall, I thought it was a fun event. The organizers booked a much larger room compared to last year in response to some complaints of crowding and lines in the autograph area, so it felt much less crowded even though I'm sure they had more attendance compared to last year. They also mailed badges for anyone who purchased a 3-day pass, so you didn't have to wait in lines to get in. The organizers seem to really be on the ball and are keen to listen and improve things. I wasn't initially sure if this would be a convention I'd want to go to in future years if it meant that the broader pop culture focus would cause this event become crowded and disorganized and drown out the comics side of things. But after attending this year's con, if they can continue to manage the growth in the way they have, I'll be happy to continue supporting it.
If you live in the mid-Atlantic area of the East Coast, I think this is a great event to attend. With Baltimore Comic Con as a more specifically comics-focused event and now Awesome Con as a bigger, pop culture oriented convention, we have two well-run alternatives to the ubiquitous Wizard World conventions that offer a lot of variety between them.