Albany Comic Con - Fall 2011
I arrived just after the doors opened. Even though I'd preregistered - which, in hindsight, wasn't necessary - everyone waited in the same quickly-moving line and was given a ticket (for door prizes) and a fuzzy wire (to tie around your wrist and show you'd paid; no badges).
Wandering the Floor
The first, and largest, dealer's room started immediately after the registration desk. There must have been at least twelve different dealers, mostly comic shops. A few booths were selling toys, t-shirts, or trades, and one had anime DVDs, but the most common sight was boxes upon boxes of back issues, ranging from new series to rare Golden Age issues. Some dealers had their inventory sorted roughly alphabetically, others had them in entirely random order. I flipped through about eight boxes before exploring the rest of the area.
The back part of the room consisted of artists and guests. I'd briefly glanced at the guest list and hadn't recognised anyone, so I didn't spend much time there. The local 501st Legion, an international Star Wars costuming group, had their table in the upper right. All of their costumes and props were very impressive, from a fully-functioning R2-D2 to Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, and (my favourite) Sand People (complete with sound effects and weapons!). The Legion had a video showing different events and a table displaying a variety of helmet and gun props. It made me wish I was more of a Star Wars fan than I am; I wonder why there isn't something like that for Star Trek, but I suppose most Star Trek costumes aren't considered that exciting.
Behind artist's alley and the 501st Legion was a nice balcony area from which you could see the entire dealer floor. Past the balcony was a pool (fenced in so only patrons could use it) and the gaming area. In addition to gaming tables, there were a few gaming-centric vendors. Some gaming demos and tournaments were held during the con, but not being much of a trading card or tabletop RPG gamer, I spent little time in the area.
A second dealer's room and artist alley was located off the main hotel entrance. This room wasn't nearly as large, but there were at least six dealers and the same number of guests. Again, mostly comic shops, but one booth was selling DVDs of old TV series.
The final room in use by the convention was a panel room, which looked just like any other panel room I've seen. There were four panels throughout the con (which ran 10 AM - 4 PM), but I didn't go to any of them.
Cosplay
Not that many people were in costume at the convention opening, but the number slowly grew throughout the day. The first cosplay I saw was an excellent Link (from the Zelda games). Later on, I also saw Malik Ishtar (Yu-Gi-Oh), The Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), a '90s Rogue (X-Men; I only glimpsed her briefly), two '90s Gambits (also X-Men), Deadpool, Hush (Batman), Snow White (Disney), Spiderman, and one man in Star Trek: The Next Generation uniform. There were many more characters that I wasn't familiar with. I saw a bunch of Star Wars characters in addition to the Legion cosplayers, including a young boy dressed as a Jawa, Princess Leia, and Queen Amidala.
Some of the attendees were dressed up in special styles (such as Lolita), but not specific characters. The majority, however, were in regular clothes, albeit with a high number of comics-related or geeky t-shirts and a few masks.
I cosplayed as Jenny Sparks from The Authority; the only person who commented on it was one of the dealers in the second room who knew of her through Planetary. Admittedly, her outfit is everyday clothes and my hair wasn't quite right though I dyed it twice.
Merchandise
Speaking of The Authority, the only Authority-related item I found at all was a sealed hardcover of Human on the Inside. Though I flipped through roughly twenty boxes throughout the day, I only bought comics from two different people.
My first batch was from Azusa Collectibles in the main dealer's room, who had a bunch of unsorted longboxes with the good offer of 12 issues for $5. I found all my twelve in the Image Comics section: WildC.A.T.S 1-2, Zealot #1, Stormwatch #0, 5, and 22, Team One: WildC.A.T.S #1, Team One: Stormwatch #1-2, Cybernary #1, and the Stormwatch and WildC.A.T.S sourcebook issues. Wildstorm represent! Though these are all pre-Warren Ellis/DC, it was the Stormwatch sourcebook that caught my attention as it had both early character profiles and a detailed layout of Skywatch.
The other thing I bought was the Witchblade volume 10 trade. I'd gotten my first Witchblade trade (volume 11) from a special deal with InStockTrades. Though the extreme cheesecake cover put me off somewhat, I actually quite enjoyed the book! It reminded me of how much I enjoyed Buffy the Vampire Slayer back in high school, though I don't want to given the impression that Witchblade is simply a Buffy rip-off because it's not. I bought Witchblade volume 10 from Ron Marz, who also signed the inside cover for me. Ron Marz, who wrote both Witchblade trades I've mentioned and is currently writing Voodoo for DC, one of only three series starring ex-Wildstorm characters (the others being Stormwatch and Grifter). At first, I couldn't believe he was really there, and then I couldn't believe I hadn't recognised his name on the guest list!
I had no idea what to say to him, but I knew I couldn't leave in good conscious without meeting him. As such, I was probably horribly awkward and flustered. I said something about being surprised by Voodoo's announcement and hoping that the title does well; Marz told me that DC was very supportive of him writing a non-traditional superhero book and, even though he'd received some mixed feedback, he was happy to be working on the title. Or something of that nature; my focus wasn't the best due to being so self-conscious. In hindsight, though, it was extremely cool to meet him. Marz also mentioned that he liked the size of Albany Comic Con and that they usually have a good guest selection.
Final Thoughts and Comparisons to Anime Conventions
That was mostly my day. I left around 1:50 PM; there was a props panel at 3 PM I was somewhat interested in, but there wasn't anything left I wanted to do for an hour and I'd wandered through all the rooms enough times to start feeling awkward.
Since the convention was nearby and I only spent a total of $15 ($5 for admission and $10 on comics) I consider it a good experience even though there wasn't as much to do as I had hoped. Though, really, I probably did about as much the first day of PortCon last year. I don't know how many attendees were there, but I'd guess at least 2,000. It would be awesome if Albany Comic Con expanded enough to have a rave as that, Extreme Geek, and some of the people (Jekka, Shampoo, . . .) are what I missed most about not going to PortCon this year, but I think it unlikely.
Lastly, the Holiday Inn the Comic Con was held at had a Pizza Hut next door! (Ahh! Memories of PortCon 2005!) There's also a mall down the road several blocks, but I intentionally avoided driving in that area as it can get pretty busy.
Compared to PortCon, Albany Comic Con had many more dealers. Also, more of the artist's alley guests were professionals who work in the industry. All of the rooms were of more than sufficient size and never felt as crowded as PortCon's could get. Then again, Albany Comic Con didn't have as many activities to find places for. PortCon is also older (this is Albany Comic Con's third year), bigger, and probably has more cosplayers. For example, while I think Albany Comic Con did have costume awards, and there were cosplay groups taking photoshoots outdoors, there was no Masquerade.
On the other hand, Albany Comic Con attendees were certainly more diverse. There were more parents with young children and more older adults than any anime convention I've been to. While men were in the majority, there were still a good number of women. I saw everyone from 1-year-olds up to people in their 70s and 80s. (All going by my vary rough age estimating abilities, mind you.) The average age was probably late 20s to early 30s, so definitely skewing higher than my anime convention experiences. Anime conventions tend to have a good number of teenagers and, as someone who feels pretty divorced from the teenage experience now (thankfully!), in some ways I felt more comfortable at Albany Comic Con than at PortCon.
Albany Comic Con was the first convention I'd gone to on my own; even my first year of PortCon I took two high school friends with me. It's great having someone else to talk to and bounce reactions off of, especially for my fairly introverted self. Looking through my photos, I don't have as many as I thought and didn't ask anyone to specifically pose. I also didn't really connect with anyone, especially as most people were in groups with their own friends.
The Comic Con experience brought it home to me that my comics tastes run a bit obscure. I'm not much interested in any of DC or Marvel's books outside of Vertigo and Wildstorm, for one. What I haven't been able to figure out is why this should feel any different from anime cons, where the series I liked often weren't the most well-known. Sure, I was vaguely familiar with the most popular anime/manga series at the time, but I'm vaguely familiar with most of the major comic books, too. Maybe it's just that I've been reading comics for less time that I was watching/reading anime/manga. Or maybe it's that I have more diverse interests in more diverse mediums now. One thing that has remained consistent is that I have a few favourite series I stick to long-term and a periphery group of series I like but don't get involved in fandom for.
Albany Comic Con has two events per year: one in the fall and one in the spring, both one day each. It's cheap enough that I would consider going back and it's certainly easier to do comics shopping there than to visit shops individually; my favourite dealers at the show were located further away than the convention hotel. To be fair, online shopping is still the easiest and cheapest, but it's nigh-impossible to simulate the convention atmosphere.
I think the spring convention might actually be more fun as that's when all the excitement for the upcoming comics movie season will be in full force, especially with both The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises due next year.
There are two things I would change if I do go back to Albany Comic Con. First, while I adore Jenny Sparks, I think having a cosplay that was more recognisable as being a cosplay, as well as one I'd put more personal effort into, would have made for a better experience.
Second, I would do a better job checking the guest list! I hope I never, ever meet Warren Ellis -- I wouldn't be able to say a single intelligible thing to the man.
So that was my first comic convention experience. Though it was a small con, I think PortCon might have been smaller or the same size the first year I attended (2004).
(Apologies for both this write-up and the photos; I'm not entirely happy with either, but have edited enough and want to get it posted.)
The Church of Pentecost at Stonehenge AD was my favourite part.
From my favourite spot (the balcony). Look at all those long boxes!
Overlooking part of artist's alley.
More of the guests
Overlooking the 501st Legion area.
501st banner.
Fully-functional R2-D2.
Edge of the balcony and pool with the gaming area in the far back.
No idea who these cosplayers are, but the outfits are cool and I like the effect of snow alongside trees still with their leaves.
My stash: completely devoid of DC or Marvel.
Some Jenny Sparks images I took post-con. I accidentally left my fake cigarette at home, so it worked out.
I used a blond dye that specifically said it wouldn't increase the red tint in hair. It kind of does anyway. (My hair loves red.) I really should have used a highlighting kit instead of regular dye for true blond, but I didn't want to keep my hair blond and it's much more of a pain to dye long hair than short. That said, it did look more blond in real life than in the photos.
Full body shot.
General autumn photos. We have two squirrels that live in our trees and a bunch of others in the area; they like eating their nuts on our deck and leaving the shells behind.
Leaves.
