C2E2 Day Two

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It's Saturday in Chicago, and you know what that means: Day Two of C2E2 2013. The lines are longer, the crowds are bigger, and the cosplayers are bringing their A Game. As part of my morning coverage, I conducted an interview with comic artist & writer Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash) and tried to avoid getting crushed to death by the maddening crowd.



Tim Seeley is a Chicago based artist & writer, and during his time with Devil's Due here in Chicago, he created the critically acclaimed series Hack/Slash, which follows the continuing adventures of serial killer hunters Cassie Hack & Vlad. He has worked for Image & Marvel, as well as Devil's Due, and has worked on such series as G.I. Joe, New Exiles and even wrote the mini-comics for Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics figures.

I caught up with Tim this morning before things got to crazy and asked him a quick series of random 5 questions...
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Who are your primary influences, either inside or outside the comic book world?
Wow, that's a really good question. I would have to say Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon, co-founder of Image Comics). John Carpenter, the horror movie writer & director, and definitely Alan Moore.

What is your favorite character that you've worked on that you didn't create?
Oh, Ant-Man, definitely.

If you could work on any hero, which one would you pick?
Tigra. (Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigra)

If you could work on any villain, which one would you pick?
Dr. Moon. (Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Moon)

And finally, give the readers of Pop GO five words...
Five words? Any five words. (Counting on his fingers) Too much cheese last night.

Awesome, thanks a lot.
Not a problem, thank you.

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The doors have been open for a little less than two hours now, and I think this clip best sums up the atmosphere inside McCormick Place...

Here's some crowd shots to give you an idea of what it's like in here right now...












I may be the only one here that got this cosplay, but for all the Tim & Eric fans out there, I found The Beaver Boys. Sadly, they were drinking beer instead of white wine, and there was no shrimp in sight, but still, I gotta give them credit...



The afternoon of Day Two was jam packed with activity. Patton Oswalt hosted a Q&A that was being twitter-bombed by Brian Posehn, Burt Ward & Julie Newmar took part in what could best be described as a disastrous Q&A, and I got to take part in some Sci-Fi Speed Dating.



Ryan Glitch owns & operates a company called Sci-Fi Speed Dating that tours to various sci-fi & comic conventions to provide "fun, safe, and awesome speed dating." I had the opportunity to take part in a session this afternoon that was fast-paced & fun.

Since this is a comic convention, the men participating in the speed dating outnumbered the women, but in the span of ninety minutes, every guy got to talk to about 20 women. The conversations or speed dates, are limited to three minutes a piece, and since it was a comic convention, the topics remained fairly geeky: favorite movies, tv shows, video games, etc. Here's some advice I can give any guys thinking of attending a session...

-Be yourself. It's tempting in a three minute time span to put on a show, but if you're serious about making a connection with someone, it's better to show who you really are.

-Abide by the rules. During my session, some poor schmuck broke the flow of traffic, and was called out in front of the whole group. It was embarrassing, and, to be completely honest, a tad unprofessional on Mr. Glitch's part to call him out in this way in front of the whole group. Geeks have enough complexes without being embarrassed in front of a group of their peers. So follow the rules, it'll save you time & potential embarrassment.

-Have faith. There's a ton of women in the world that are into the same geeky nonsense that we're into. Most of these women are also very attractive, so keep hope alive that you may indeed meet someone that you connect with in a very real way.

I was also happy to see that they conducted an LGBT session in the morning as well. One thing I can safely say about the geek & otaku community is that we're an incredibly inclusive group, and it's nice to see opportunities like this being given to people that aren't heterosexual. More information about Sci-Fi Speed Dating can be found on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SciFiSpeedDating/info. If you're at a con, by yourself, and looking for that special someone, I highly recommend you make this a part of your weekend.
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Okay, it's time for another installment of "Guess the Cosplayer" where your faithful correspondent poses for pictures with people who may or may not be cosplayers.

First up, Alan Moore cosplayer or just some poor, unassuming guy?


Next, V For Vendetta cosplayer, Anonymous hacker, or the real Guy Fawkes himself?


Lastly, it's DC Comics favorite Speedy... I think.


So that's it for Day 2 at C2E2. Tomorrow will be my final recap, along with a gallery of some of the best cosplayers I've seen all weekend. Until then, sleep well faithful readers...