Last weekend was Baltimore Comic Con, and I attended with a BZPower Press Pass on my shirt and comics in my backpack. I hung out with 55555 on Friday and went solo on Saturday. Both days I had a blast, got many autographs, bought some stuff, and attended some fun panels. (And I interviewed Bionicle's Pop Mhan.)

And just as I was hoping, I got to meet Charles Soule again, and Greg Pak and Mark Waid finally. They're all really cool, and some of the panels I attended featured them.

Unlike New York Comic Con, panels here are much more accessible and definitely don't need to require waiting in line for an hour to get in (just show up on time). BCC is a tenth of the attendance size of NYCC, so there's that. It was much more feasible to fill up my time with panels at this event, which made the overall experience more enjoyable. NYCC was more of a scavenger hunt to get autographs on comic covers without waiting in line for an hour, but this was an even mix of everything I wanted to do because the time allowed for it.

Which included getting some awesome swag! A favorite online artist, Mike Maihack, from the webcomic/graphic novel Cleopatra in Space, was there and offering a great deal on watercolor commissions, so this was my best chance to finally get a custom piece of Kitty Pryde by him. (His style is really cute, especially his Batgirl and Supergirl comics, and as you can see he does a great Kitty Pryde too.)

He also had a Rey and BB-8 print he just did recently, so I picked that up too (but it was really hard to choose between that and something with other heroins he's known for). The Sandman print is from another artist (Angela McKendrick) who has a great style, and I wish I could have afforded the 3-for-$25 deal. (Another issue: wall space.) I also got to meet Otis Frampton, who works on the art and animation for the How It Should Have Ended videos!

As you can see, there a few comic covers with autographs, which is a great way to show who I've met:

Someday I'll frame a bunch of these.

Finally,I also bought some fake LEGO. (Gasp!) It's not like LEGO will ever make Fantastic Four minifigs anyway...

Though hopefully they'll eventually do Reverse Flash. Daredevil will hopefully happen too (Marvel Collectible Minifig Series?), and I skipped a few other figs like Doctor Strange out of hopes for official figs come Avengers 3 and 3 Part 2. And the FF Spidey is something I would expect in a DK LEGO Marvel guidebook like LEGO Batman has, if I'm allowed some wishful thinking. (These are from Amazing Heroes Minis.)

Alas, I missed out on getting Scott Snyder's autograph. He's a big name and a great writer, but there just wasn't enough time to get to everything and get to him. But that's OK, because the panels matter more. It's the con experience! Plus I like Charles Soule more, and I saw him plenty.

It was a good comic-focused weekend, and I had a blast. It's more comic-oriented than San Diego Comic Con is, or even NYCC is. Though NYCC is big enough to have panels and stuff on the comic-inspired movies and TV shows while still being about comics and geekiness. A broader audience. If there's ever something like this locally that suits your interests, I definitely recommend it! It's a great way to connect with your hobbies.

What's next for me? Probably BrickFair NJ.

-CF