Recently, I attended Fan Expo Chicago for the first time at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. This event was packed with celebrities, comic creators, and comic vendors which was beyond my expectations. It was also jam packed with congoers!
Many of the attendees came to see their favorite celebrities. Making a rare con appearance and most likely his first ever appearance where fans could purchase autograph and photo opportunities with him was actor, Kurt Russell. Fan Expo offered a new exclusive comic for Escape from New York that could be signed by Russell and director John Carpenter. Other highlights included actors from Supernatural headlined by Jared Padalecki. There was also an opportunity to meet and get a paw print from Peggy the Dog aka Dogpool from Deadpool & Wolverine. Smallville cast members Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, and Erica Durance were also there meeting their fans. The impressive list of celebrity guests also included Lord of the Rings stars Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, and John Rhys-Davies. Oh, and I also got a pic with Kerri Green (of Goonies fame) who coincidentally went to the same creative arts camp I did as a kid (but not at the same time).
As a lifelong comic reader and collector, my favorite aspect of the con is meeting the comic creators and artists. The artist alley section included top industry talent including Frank Miller, Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Dan Mora, Clayton Crain, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner among others. Scott Snyder’s line was long all weekend long showing the popularity of Absolute Batman. I also got Maria Wolf to draw Axe from Barbaric on her cover of one of the issues of Barbaric: Hell To Pay from Vault Comics.
Fan Expo Chicago, formerly Wizard World Chicago, with a tremendous guest list, amazing panels, and a fair share of comic vendors is once again becoming one of the best comic cons in the country.
