As is the tradition at the end of March each year, I (and the rest of the CrankLeft team) attended Emerald City Comic Con 2014. This is the 7th year I’ve attended and the 4th year in a row I’ve been an exhibitor in the Artist Alley. Over 75,000 people attended this year, a new record. Comic book fans have gone mainstream in a big way.
One of the things I really love about Seattle’s comic convention is that it’s truly focused on comics. This is a convention where comics and art still rule. Some of the other conventions have become much more focused on movies and TV shows and while there’s still a lot of that at Emerald City, most exhibitors and nearly every booth in the Artist Alley is full of comics and unique artwork.
For those of you who haven’t been to a Comic Convention before (or Emerald City for that matter), here’s the lowdown:
- It’s a giant costume party. On average, about half the people attending dress up as their favorite characters from comics, movies, TV shows, and video games. This is called “Cosplay” (short for costume play).
- It’s an art & media show. You’re going to find all kinds of unique art you won’t see anywhere else. Even if you don’t read comics, there’s a lot of other art related to movies, TV shows, video games, and even nostalgic pop culture stuff.
- It’s fun. I’ve attended more trade shows and conventions than I’d like to count and Comic Con is always orders of magnitude more fun and exciting than any other type of convention.
- It’s friendly. The type of people that attend these shows are kind, a bit introverted in some cases, but friendly and almost everyone is having the time of their lives. I also love that Emerald City in particular is so family friendly as well. There’s something for everyone.
One of the funnest things is seeing all the people dressed up. We take photos of some of the best costumes and put them up at crankleft.com after the show but here’s a few pictures I took that give you an idea of the diversity of costumes at the show. It may be a “freak show” to the untrained eye but it’s more like a second Halloween to the attendees.
I shared a few photos on my Instagram / Twitter feed but here’s a couple of others I took while I was walking around that were particularly unique:
Here’s a few of the highlights from this year:
T-Shirt Blowout: We sold out of all our Big Trouble in Little China T-Shirts. Every single one, even the bunch of Double-XL’s that we’d printed too many of. Super popular item and we’ll be doing another run of those for this coming year for sure.
Shutter & Bukeey new issues: Both Shutter and Bukeey released new issues. Excited to see all the new readers picking up the books and all the people who have bought issues in the past searching us out at the Con to get the next. Grateful for so many awesome fans and I couldn’t be more excited to get right to work on the next issues.
Friends and Fans: I was blown away by the support from so many fans. One of the best things about going each year to Emerald City is seeing all the other artists and friends you’ve made along the way. I wish I had photos of all of the other friends and their booths to share here. Truly, that’s one of the most special things about Comic Con.
If you’ve never gone, give it a try. Comic Con’s are super fun. If you’re a veteran of Con’s, glad to have you along and can’t wait to see you next year at Emerald City!
Cindy Grigg
That Bumblebee costume is epic. This write up makes me excited for upcoming Comic Cons and it sounds like you all had a wonderful time. I’ve been thinking about conference is general, how they are always more valuable than the sum of their parts. A wonderful energy is created by so many people interested in similar art. It seems like you and your team really contributed to that!!
Ben Lane Hodson
Thanks! I definitely feel like there is something special at these Con’s. People are there just to have so much fun and celebrate the things they love. A lot of positive energy. It’s great!