In Which The Warlock Brings the Wind Back!

Whew!  What a whirlwind weekend in the Windy City, fellow gamers!  C2E2 was an utter blast, with a ton of things to do, people to see, and swag to pick up.  L-Train, the PlatinumChick, CosplayKit managed to drive up on Thursday evening, with Kit's husband David joining us on Saturday after flying in.  And, man-oh-man...what a time!

This was only our second time out at C2E2 out of the three years it's been held, as WittCon conflicted with the date last year.  However, even after only three years C2E2 has really swelled, born upwards on great support by Marvel and TopCow, among others.  The McCormick Place is a really great venue, even if the price for parking and the like is a bit of a shocker.  There's tons of space and lots of brilliant views out over the Great Lakes for photography and more.

I spent most of my Friday hopping between panels.  There were several that I had designs on visiting, but the most useful for me was undoubtedly The Legal Aspects of Becoming Famous--How to Protect Yourself and Your Creations, hosted by Michael Lee--a noted intellectual property attorney.  Lee did a great job of running through a solid introduction to copyright and trademark law, as well as what the up-and-coming creative mind might have to do to protect himself!  This one really gave me a lot of faith about what I need to be doing in terms of Cold Steel Wardens.  Definitely, within the span of this year, keep your eyes peeled for some news on that front!

Black Canary meets the woman
who redefined her!

The PlatinumChick, however, spent the days hunting down her favorite artists and writers around the main show hall.  She was squeeing with delight after meeting up with Phil Hester and Adam Hughes, but the real treat for her came on Saturday, when she got to meet up with her comics idol:  Gail Simone!  Also, she broke out not one, but two of her costumes, going as Black Canary on Saturday and Speedy (Mia Dearden) on Friday.

I was honestly somewhat astounded, though, at the crowd.  While Friday and Sunday were about what I expected, Saturday was utterly jammed!  I had intended on sitting in on the Marvel Television panel, as I'm a huge fan of the new Marvel animated series, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.  However, when I arrived at the room--20 minutes early, mind you--the line for the panel stretched all the way down the hall, into a nearby atrium, around the walls of that atrium and down another hall!  I was flabbergasted and, unfortunately, walked away.  Guess I'll just have to wait for the new episodes like everyone else!

A new venue for some
upcoming freelancing?

If there's one complaint that I had about C2E2, it's the lack of a real gaming presence on the show floor.  While Wizards of the Coast had a fairly large presence two years ago, there were no games going on and only one publisher--Margaret Weis Productions, the producers of the Marvel roleplaying game--in attendance.  I wasn't about to let that opportunity slip, though, as I picked up their corebook and managed to even chat up Cam Banks--the lead designer on Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.  I'd absolutely love to take a crack at putting out Rise of the Midnight Sons as an 'occult' themed Marvel event for them...maybe it's time to make some submissions?

Cam Banks wasn't the only game designer there, however.  L-Train and I sat in on another panel, The State of Play in Tabletop Roleplaying Gaming, hosted by Kenneth Hite (of Trail of Cthulhu and Fiasco fame, among numerous other games) and Will Hindmarch (one of the lead designers on Green Ronin's Dragon Age tabletop game).  While a little more casual and q-and-a than the prior panel, the two really put down some great ideas and reflections on what they called a "mini Golden Age" for RPGs, here in the era of Kickstarter, PDFs, and print-on-demand.

After three full days of walking, buying, and eating our way around Chi-town, I think we were all well and truly ready to get home.  While I'm a little worried about next year's dates for C2E2--April 26-28th, dates usually common to FOPCon--I'm looking forward to another go-round!

For some visuals of all the mayhem--and a ton of pics of the great cosplayers out there!--take a look at my Facebook album here:  C2E2 Album!