Today was the day J. Felbs and I got our nerd on and went to Planet Comicon in Overland Park, KS.
We got there early and found good parking and didn’t have to wait in line long at all, which was partially due to pre-ordering our tickets. We spent some early morning time just chilling near the entrance where we were able to get some pictures of Star Wars cosplayers and check out some of the other costumes coming in. I’ll be honest, I didn’t get a whole lot of pictures (admittedly, I was getting in some knitting-in-public time on the Trekkie hat). I did get this one of a couple younger cosplayers:
Then there was this guy, aptly named My Little Stormtrooper:
We sat in the atrium of the convention center for a bit, and at first it was relatively quiet. Then we were invaded.
We chilled for awhile longer and waited for the line into the exhibitor’s hall to go down. I’m not one of those people who need to be the first in the door, so I was more than happy to just wait until we could walk right in. We got in there before things got really nuts, which was nice. I picked up a discounted Dark Tower graphic novel right off the bat (couldn’t resist) then browsed the artists that were there.
One of the big highlights of my day was getting to meet Randy Milholland, the artist and creator of Something Positive, one of the webcomics I enjoy. I bought a print and a ChooChoo Bear plushie, and Mr. M was nice enough to do three quick sketches for us, one for each of us of our favorite character and a third that he offered to do for a friend who couldn’t make it.
We also met the creator of Chew and got a signed print from him and the creator of The Oblongs who signed and did a sketch of Milo in the book I bought. We picked up some other things that looked interesting too, so look for some future posts once I get acquainted with some new graphic novels.
We decided not to get autographs or pictures with the celebrity guests, partially because of budgeting and partially because of lines, but we did get to see a couple people from The Guild and Edward James Olmos from afar (EJO looked very stoic, I noted). We’d talked about staying for some panels but ended up leaving a little before 1 to find some lunch, cruise around town, and eventually come back to our hotel room.
The trip was definitely worth it. I had a blast at the con and we got some great prints I can’t wait to hang on the wall in our new apartment. I’d also like to note that I was able to walk the con for a full hour straight before sitting down, then another 45 minutes to an hour after we took a load of goodies to the car. I’m definitely feeling good and if this was practice for GenCon, I’m so ready.
The Romance Factor 