Emerald City Comic Con

So on a whim I went to Emerald City Comic Con, like quite literately at 4pm March 3rd I decided to go and went and withdrew US dollars for it, and 5:48am the next morning I was on the Skytrain to Pacific Central Station

Pacific Central Station

My first experience taking the train, so I didn't know what to expect. I paid 51.00USD (50.03CAD at the time) after waiting in line for what seemed like a half hour. Really what happened was the ticket agent said "If you're here to pickup tickets, go over there" points across the station. Then all but one person in front of me then went over there. So after that I bought the ticket and went to where everyone was boarding the train.

Amtrak Security, border pre-clearance

Not quite what I expected. To get on the Amtrak in Vancouver, all you have to do is talk to the people doing pre-clearance, they look at your passport, ask where you're going and when you'll be back, and where you're staying. For future reference, book online and save a bundle and hassles coming back :D Then proceed to the x-ray machine, that only your luggage goes through. There were a lot of bags of nuts/trail-mix that were dumped there.

On the Amtrak Cascades.

Sat beside someone who works for Shaw that was also going to ECCC, spent most of the trip on the train there just talking about random job stuff. When we got to the physical border crossing, the actual US border guards come on the train, take the customs slips from you and ask you the same "where you going?" question. I also turned off my phones 3G network access so I wouldn't be billed any roaming charges once we crossed the border. WiFi is available on the Amtrak. When we got off the train, we did the "lost tourist" bit and wound up walking to Pioneer Square Seattle and then to the LINK station there instead of the station that was right behind King Street Station (It was up the stairs past the construction.) We both got onto the LINK station at Pioneer Square and got off at Westlake. He went to his hotel and then I wound up losing him at the ECCC sales line since he pre-registered and I didn't.

ECCC Day 1

The non-preregistered line was empty for cash, so I paid cash. Then I was directed to another line and was like... now what until about 2:10 when they actually let us in. If you haven't pre-registered, I recommend coming after the Convention starts, since the line up for ticket sales was not very long at all. Though pre-registering might be a better next time. Save more money. Also, if there is something you especially want, come on Friday, as everything highly desired will be gone on Friday. My main goal was to purchase at least one item from everyone who has a comic on the internet that I like first, followed by those of comics I know of, but may have not yet read. Also because I was limited to 400$ I had to to pass on some bundles.

When talking to an artist, I let them deliver a sales pitch, so whatever they encouraged me to buy the first time around, is essentially what I bought. If they didn't make a sales pitch, I bought only the first volume. The exception being Danielle Corsetto whom I purchased McPedro because he was selling rather fast.

Once let inside I immediately spent about 300$ in about 3 hours. Here's the approximate order I saw everyone and spent money on Friday (which there is pattern):

• Aaron Diaz (Dresden Codak)- bought the 2010 sketchbook 10$ Online 8.50USD, no ISBN), I couldn't think of anything to say. PS "Spinal chord" (pg 4?)
• Danielle Corsetto (Girls With Slingshots) - eventually I bought McPedro 20.00USD (McPedro 19.95USD onine) when there was about 4 left later in the day, I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to get, and didn't want to spend all my money in one spot. Danielle is probably the most approachable person of all the people I talked to, who primarily publish their comic online. I was like "Let me purchase something first that I can put McPedro's speech bubble in so it doesn't get crushed.
• Dylan Meconis - I purchased "Bite Me" , Dylan is also a very easy person to talk to and she made some recommendations. Also this was the largest (dimension-wise) I book I purchased from anyone. (Online 15.00USD ISBN 9780982343739)
• Erika Moen - purchased both volumes of "Dar", 15.00USD/ea (Online 15.00USD ea, ISBN 9780982343708 (Book 1), 9780982343715 (Book 2)) couldn't really think of anything to say, but I came back after the panel she was on and she repeated her sales pitch to me again and I was like "I was just at your panel, and haha, you already sold me your books already."
• Angela Melick (Wasted Talent), talked to for a bit, but her section of her booth was wrapped around Joel Watson's section (Hijinks Ensue), which made it a bit awkward to talk to since she had to split her focus on the two parts of the table. It also made me completely forget Joel was in the middle, so I somehow mentally checked off having visited when I didn't. Anyway, purchased Angela's book 15.00USD ( Online 14.95, ISBN 9780986659102)
• Mary Cagle (Kiwi Blitz ), funny story. I only discovered her comic at about 2AM that day (via twitter,) so when I recognized the book cover at the halfpixel table I got a bit excited and told her about it. I purchased the book there (Book is not purchasable online yet ISBN 9781456420673 )
• Alina Pete (Weregeek ) Purchased volume 1 and 2 (Online 15.00, ISBN 9780980974607 (Vol 1), 20.00, 9780980974614 (Vol 2)) talked about site performance and comicgenesis/keenspot history.
• Spike - Templar, Arizona (Templar, Arizona) Purchased volume 1 (Online 12.00USD ISBN 9780979408007) Spike thought I looked familiar and I was like "probably not unless you've been to FanExpo, but would you like to know who I am anyway?" and casually mentioned I do the tech work for Keenspot. That got comments from everyone at the Blank Label table with "Is Keenspot here?"
• David Willis (Shortpacked ), right next to Spike. I swear he did the "Puss in Boots(Shrek 2)" big eyes thing before he made a good sales pitch. Anyway purchased the three books and the mini-comic (Online (Vol 1 15.00USD: ISBN 9780979674334, Vol 2 15.00USD: ISBN 9780979674310, Vol 3 15.00USD: ISBN 9780979674327, Dexter & Monkey Master 5.00USD) Also I came back on Saturday and grabbed a Batman comic from the DC book for him (cause I just happened to wind up in the DC line and it was convenient.)
• Kel McDonald (Sorcery 101 ) also at the Blank Label booth, seemed kind of tired. (Where as Spike was rather lively) I purchased Sorcery 101 vol 1 and From Scratch (Online Vol 1 15.00: ISBN 9780692007785, From Scratch 7.00USD: ISBN 9780982786406.) I remember setting these sites up on Keenspot and how complicated the setup was (her sites were more like the exception to how everything gets setup.)
• Joseph Kovell and Alex Kolesar (No Need for Bushido ) and Pascalle Lepas (Zap), of which I talked to them for a bit too. Purchased NFB 1 ( NFB is not available on the store, 116pages, no ISBN)

When I went to the hotel accross the street (because my feet hurt oh so much) which happened to be the Sheraton, way expensive, but the room quality was above average.

Though I have to wonder about being ODERED to evacuate

You can tell when you've spent too much time on the internet, because typos jump out at you. I have to wonder how such a large hotel could miss this.

Friday's books.

Friday panels watched:

6pm: LGBT Comics Panel

Saturday

I purchased the "Machine of Death" from the Topatoco booth (Online 18.00USD ISBN: 9780982167120) and then went on a "find the artist" quest. Now here's the thing, the book lists the writers, and then the artists alphabetically by last name on the back cover. The comic book given away at ECCC lists all the special guests alphabetically by last name as well. Except not everyone is listed if they were at a booth.

Again, approximate order

• James L Sutter - Page 366
• Danielle Corsetto - Page 193
• Dylan Meconis - Page 341
• Aaron Diaz - Page 187
• Scott C. - Page 239, apparently I was like the first or second person to find him for it.
• Dean Trippe - Page 35
• Kris Straub - Page 317

People I missed either because I was facing the wrong direction or weren't listed on the guest list page, or left early.

• KC Green - Page 137, probably didn't help much that he's not listed on the guest list, and topacoto's banners were well above my line of sight. I actually didn't know he was here until I got back to Vancouver.
• David Malki ! - Page 287, Topacoto booth, same as above, though I do recall seeing the Wondermark banner.
• Matt Haley - Page 427, was only at the convention on Saturday, and only for about 2 hours according to the guys at booth 1007, I was probably the only person to ask up to that point.

Hopefully they are there next year and I can get them to sign it then.

Evan Windsor ( You Need To Eat! ) gave me a postcard for his site. I asked him which episode/season was best to start watching Dr.Who on Netflix.

Gordon McAlpin (Multiplex) I picked up a sketch from, all his stuff was sold already. Talked about webcomic stuff.

I picked up all the free stuff from the DC booth and not much else, it took me right to the end of the day.

Saturday Panels watched

• 2pm: Oni Press
• 3pm: Webcomics Weekly Live!

Sunday

On Sunday I took out the camera from the backpack because all the books purchased to this point would no longer fit, at least not without crushing McPedro. This made things interesting...

I had breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel that was directly across form the Washington State Convention center. It was good, but typical restaurant prices.

Sunday Panels watched

• 12pm: Kids comics interactive reading. I walked in while they were doing Smile.
• 1pm: Boom Studios did a replacement panel for the scheduled one and there was only about 10 people in the audience. I asked about crossover between the Darkwing Duck and DuckTales. I later purchased one of the customized cover versions at their booth.
• 2pm: Comics in Hollywood , I actually left before the panel started to get the Darkwing comic, but I realized I left my camera in the room and made a dash back to the panel room and just stayed there.

Talked to Ian Boothby (Hell Kitty) in Artists Alley. About taking the trains from Vancouver to Seattle and he wanted spacecoyote to come to the convention.

Talked with Casey Curtis (Gin and Comics ) about webcomic stuff too.

At this point I realized that if there was anything else I wanted I better get it now because I was pretty close to the 400.00USD limit.

I went back to the Halfpixel booth to get a few books:

• Kristofer Straub - I purchased Vol 1 of Starslip Crisis (Starslip Crisis ) ( Online ISBN: 9780979722202 16.00USD), didn't really say much.
• Brad Guigar - (Courting Disaster) (Online, 16.91USD no ISBN )

Behold, last-minute run around with the camera taking pictures (pictures are scaled down because they were taken poorly in bad lighting.) If i've made a mistake/omit a name it's because I'm not sure. Lots of back-of-peoples-heads.


Aaron Diaz



Angela Melick


The book of Biff(Chris Hallbeck ?)



Danielle Corsetto and Alina Pete (right behind the column)


Brad Guigar, Scott Kurtz, and Mary Cagle (and Kristofer Straub's shoulder)

Brad Guigar, Scott Kurtz, and Mary Cagle
Kristofer Straub, Mary Cagle, Scott Kurtz

JW Kovell and Pascale Lepas


The best picture I could get of Erika Moen (they're all fuzzy)

Erika Moen and Dylan Meconis

Picture of the Topatoco booth, but I don't know who's in it.

Kel MacDonald,the backs of David Willis and Spike's head, and Joel Waton (accross the aisle.)

Random Pedobear cosplayer staring at random kid.

Overall 1/3rd of the photos are too blurred to to be useful, I didn't prepare in advance so I didn't change the timings on the camera for indoor no-flash photography.

At this point I calculated in my head that I was within about 20$ of the imposed spending limit. So anything else had to be sketches. So I got a sketch from Danielle Corsetto, and then went outside so I'd have enough time to catch the train.

Going back North

Before going to the LINK station, I decided that I should see how much it would cost to get a 3G/4G prepaid device/sim-card, and the closest store was the T-Mobile shop. So I asked. They have a no commitment data pass for laptops (USB stick) which doesn't quite help until you realize there is a "webConnect SIM ONLY KIT" which costs 6.99 online. So add that to the 10.00 for the prepaid mobile broadband pass and it easily costs less than the convention's wifi, and less than the hotel's 10$/day access. Particularly if you only want to update twitter, check email and maybe send a few photos. The question is, will it work on a device sold in Canada like the iPhone or is it only good on manufacturer unlocked phones. Hmm. Might want to wait and see if the next iPhone/iPad works with T-Mobile (US)/ Wind Mobile(Canada) before hopping on that or purchasing the MiFi device.

On the return trip, the train trip took much longer. I arrived at King Street station 2 hours before the train was even going to board (Seat assignments were at 6:10pm) so I spent most of that time trying to eat a snack from the vending machine, that clearly was in the machine too long.

When I got onto the Amtrak Cascades train northbound, I went to the Bistro car and ordered a hamburger. It was actually rather good. Finished that off and then went back to my seat. I don't recommend trying to use the train's bathrooms, as the side-to-side motion means that anyone who used it before you has made a mess of it. They're like airline bathrooms otherwise, but a bit larger.

The train went right to the Pacific Central station (no stopping at the border crossing), but was delayed by the rail bridge being up over the Fraser river.

At the customs point (which was the same booths used by the pre-clearance on the way south, except they were sitting on the opposite side) the customs guy must have thought I was trying to smuggle something (Sorry McPedro the cactus plushie has no immigration papers (GWS ) :p lol) and I wound up standing around for quite a while until the customs official then came over and searched my backpack bag, coat, camera bag, and stuff that was in my pockets. Next time... remember to get the receipt for the hotel by checking out (not express.)

All in all, total costs: 466$ Cash USD (Includes ticket into the convention and AMTRAK ticket back to Northbound(60USD), and 390.20CAD (390.72USD, Sheraton hotel)+50.03CAD(AMTRAK ticket southbound) on the credit card. So around 900$ this trip cost. I could have saved money if:

1. Purchasing the train tickets in advance: So instead of 51 and 60, it could have been 36 in both directions. Plus there was a 10% off promo on ECCC's website.
2. Pre-registering for ECCC in September would have been 10$ cheaper
3. The hotel could have been much cheaper (Sixth avenue inn was 95.00USD regular, 59$ for convention rate.) Plus sharing it with 1-3 people would make it cost even less. I paid 196$ (after tax)/night for the Sheraton for a King size bed, no discount (125$ before tax was the convention rate.) Also consider that all the discounted hotels sold out except the Sheraton. I didn't check expedia or priceline before going to Seattle, and it was impossible to do so once I got there.

So next year will probably try book everything in advance, and do more. This year was primarily to see all the people who do webcomics that I've never seen. I actually ran out of time because of getting distracted looking at things.