Spokane Comic Con 2011: A short report.

Spokane Comic Con

May 21, 2011

            This was the wife and my first “official” fandom gathering of any kind.  Our expectations were drawn from the little slices of such things we’d seen on television or in the movies.  We approached this as a learning experience.  And as such, we came away with a few suggestions.

            First, dress to shed.  You’re likely to find yourself in a mass of densely packed, chaotic motion.  I’m looking at these young people running around in heat-retaining costumes and wondering if that glow on their faces is excitement or the first stage of heatstroke.  Even if you’re not a kid in a costume, it’s going to get warm. 

            Secondly, I suggest you look over the list of guest artists and come prepared.  From the way some people had understated Spokane’s fan conventions, I hadn’t expected to be in the presence of artists of such talent — among them the creators of some of the most exotic, sensual images being produced today.  But there they were, perfectly willing to talk about their craft, and perfectly willing to add their signatures to whatever bit of fandom we had in hand.

            So — to get the most possible from these conventions, take your tranquilizers and be willing to wait in line.  Research the guests, vendors, and such, and pick out the ones you’re most interested in ahead of time.  And go in prepared to bag photos, answers to questions, or signatures on whatever seems appropriate.  But most of all, be receptive to surprise.  There’s some interesting things going on here, but you’ll need to ferret out a good portion of them for yourself.

            One of our finds was artist Dan Panosian.  We purchased a large format print of his cover-work for issue #27 of Dynamite Entertainment’s “Red Sonja”.

            We also had a short conversation with Spokane artist Colton Worley.  (I was so interested in talking, I neglected to snap his photo.)  Colton has been doing a lot of work on Dynamite Entertainment’s “Kato: Origins”.  For that title, one of his more satisfying covers is the primary for issue #9 — easily viewed by shuffling through Dynamite’s website.

            Both these kids are exceptional artists that I intend to keep close track of going forward.  I'm sure there were more worth watching.  I just hadn't done sufficient homework to find them.

An Umbrella Corporation SWAT Officer walking down the line of incoming Comic Con attendees and passing out invitations to the upcoming SpoCon convention scheduled for downtown Spokane this August.  It’s not wise to decline such an offer, as any Resident Evil fan should know.

The line at 10:20 this AM.  The convention doors have already been open for twenty minutes.  As noted above, it’s going to be crowded in there.

A segment of the “Artist Alley”.

Among these nerdy looking people are some of the most talented working artists in the country today.

A Tusken Raider — happy as a clam to pose for a snap.

And who knew an alien could be this cute?  Well, some of them at least.

Artist Dan Panosian.



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