C2E2 Day 2: Report From The Floor

If Day 1 of a con is getting the lay of the land, Day 2 is about finding as many cosplayers as possible to take pictures with. Saturday of a con is traditionally the busiest day and its' when all the cosplayers bring out their A-Game. Believe it or not, this is my first time cosplaying at convention. Well, unless you count that one time I dressed as Jun from Morning Glories at New York Comic Con (which I will be repeating tomorrow so I can get my picture taken with creators Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma.) So I had a lot of fun pics of myself as Glenn from THE WALKING DEAD with people plus some other great costumes.

It's also the day where the best panels happen, so you gotta queue up pretty early or else the room will fill up. It's kind of awesome that the interest for Fierce Women In Television (featuring personal hero Jane Espenson) filled up right away. Also sucky because I had to miss it because I queued up too late. Thankfully, I did not make the same mistake with Marvel: From NOW to Infinity, which will be posted first thing tomorrow!

Artist Alley is also one of the best places at a con. You get to interact and buy prints from both established and emerging artists. And if you get there early enough (or prearrange with an artist, like I did) you can get a custom commission from your favorite artist. My goal is to get a commission of my three favorite characters Peter Parker, Bobby Drake, and Johnny Storm drawn together by my favorite artists. My first one is deliciously NSFW work of art from my pal, the amazing Rey Arzeno at least year's New York Comic Con. And at C2E2, I was lucky enough to get Joe Eisma to create one of the Morning Glories guys as my three favorite heroes. Here's how far along he is and I can't wait to bring this bad boy home with me.

I've also been having an awesome time coming back to visit the Geeks OUT booth, our first convention presence outside of New York. The most amazing thing about seeing the interactions at the booth is seeing the eyes of queer geeks light up that they're not alone, that there's an emerging community about locally and nationally that they can call their own! It's just a testament to how important it is to spread the message of acceptance and community for queer geeks all over the country and I am so proud to be a part of one of the first initiatives to expand and spread the message!

Right next door is ModHero one of my favorite artists around right now. His sleek and inventive images are taking C2E2 by storm. Definitely grab some prints before they run out!

Speaking of increasing queer presence at conventions, this year is the first year that the convention staple Sci-Fi Speed Dating has offered up a special LGBT speed dating round. Speaking to founder Ryan Glitch amongst sixty LGBT geeks deep into a two-hour round of speed dating, he noted that this was a need he's seen coming over the past few years. LGBT geeks could come to a session but be discouraged that there was not enough representation and leave disheartened. He answered the call because "everyone should be accepted and have the chance of love, especially gay geeks," and added a session especially for us! The numbers for attendance have way exceeded his expectations and he's hopeful of continuing this tradition for conventions to come.

Alright guys, it's time for me to head out and get ready for Geeks OUT's first C2E2 party, Mutant High Prom at Spin Nightclub tonight from 9 PM to close. There will be a prom photo booth courtesy of a/s/l media and an attendee elected cosplay prom court! We've pretty much run out of postcards here at the con, so we're expecting it to be the most epic geek party Chicago has ever seen!

And here's some awesome pics of cosplay, cuteness, and more from the tail end of yesterday and the early part of today:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

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Feel free to follow my adventures the rest of the weekend on twitter or instagram

GEEK ON!

Photo credit: David Dorton