Aquaman and Mera @ C2E2 2016

Aquaman and Mera were well represented at this year's C2E2 show!


(Photos: F.O.A.M.er Luke Daab)

Baltimore Comic•Con 2015

Event: Baltimore Comic Con (baltimorecomiccon.com)
Location: Baltimore, MD
Dates: September 25-27, 2015
Venue: Baltimore Convention Center
Price: $25-$150 depending on the ticket type
Years: Began in 2000
Attendance: 15,000+
Guests: Nearly 200 comic writers and artists plus media guests 

Overview: Baltimore Comic Con has quickly become one of our favorite conventions. The con started back in 2000 and has grown to more than 15,000 attendees. It is a great traditional comic convention with a nice balance of vendors selling comics and toys coupled with a variety of comic writers and artists. The convention is held at the Baltimore Convention Center and is within walking distance of the beautiful inner harbor, which is a great place to escape for a good meal or just a walk in the sunshine.

Inside, the convention makes good use of the cavernous show rooms for the vendors and guests, while discussion panels are held in conference rooms upstairs and a large ballroom on the top floor was used for various media guests including Katie Cassidy and Paul Blackthorne of Arrow.

The excellent organization is clear from the moment you walk into the convention center as dozens of con greeters welcome attendees and quickly verify tickets and strap on wrist bands making registration painless. While many cons put all of their guests in one area causing congestion as multiple lines overlap, BCC avoids this problem by spreading the con guests throughout the large room intermixing the guests with the various vendors. This helps reduce congestion and encourages attendees to walk around the entire room instead of congregating in one area.

Another nice thing about this con is the Year Book. Each year the book focuses on a different character and many of the guest artists contribute original drawings of the character in their own style. Attendees are then encouraged to go on a treasure hunt by taking the books around for autographs from the contributing guests. For every ten autographs collected, an attendee can get a free print from the con.

There were great panel discussions throughout the weekend and we were able to attend several of them. Myth, Legend, and Literature in Comics featured guests Walter Simonson, Ron Randall, Grek Pak, Jamal Igle, and Peter Storrie. Walter Simonson talked about his love of Norse mythology and how he used that in his work on Thor and Ragnarok. Ron Randall and Peter Storrie both worked on the Graphic Myths and Legends series and had a chance to speak about adapting legends and myths from around the world into a comic format for elementary age children. The role of Greek myth in Wonder Woman was another highlight from this panel.

Mike Grell, Mark Buckingham, Charles Vess, Brandon Peterson, and Robert Greenberger discussed Drawing Fantasy Worlds. Mike Grell talked about creating his long running series Warlord and his love of the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Mark Buckingham spoke about his extensive work on Fables and Charles Vess, who also worked on Fables, shared how he tries to extensively use nature in his fantasy art. The discussion was lively and there were many thoughtful questions from the audience.

A panel called Superheroes Under a Microscope featured Ramona Fradon and Mark Waid talking about the science of comics. They spent some time exploring the chemistry of Metamorpho, a character first illustrated by Ramona Fradon, and discussed what it would be like to live underwater like Aquaman. The panel was hosted by chemistry teacher Christopher Preece of Atomic Universe who was well prepared with great slides, terrific questions for the panelists, and scientific facts for the audience.

Other discussion panels included a celebration of The Spirit's 75th Anniversary, Writing Great Characters, and a panel honoring the 50th anniversary of the first Captain Action figure. There were also several industry spotlights including IDW, Valiant, and Boom. There is also an open pavilion area on the convention floor where many artists present workshops. We attended the session by Andy Runton and were able to learn the basics of drawing his family-friendly signature character Owly.

For Aquaman fans, highlights of the convention would be seeing Jeff Parker, Ramona Fradon, and Mark Waid. We had a nice conversation with Jeff Parker who said he would have loved to have written more issues of Aquaman and he had several more stories in mind for that character.

Our two favorite comic artists are Mike Grell and Ron Randall and having both of them at the convention certainly made this a great event for us. Both are extremely nice and we've had the opportunity to become acquainted with both of them in recent years. In fact, Ruth was surprised one day at the convention when browsing on her own to hear a voice say "Where's your old man?" It was Mike Grell who had recognized her in the crowd and came over just to say hello and chat for a few minutes.

The cosplayers were once again amazing this year. People of all ages dressed as their favorite characters. Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, and Batman were popular heroes. We were pleased to see several Agent Carters along with terrific Green Arrow and Black Canary cosplayers. There were also amazing robots from Lost in Space and Forbidden Planet.

There was fun for everyone at this convention including panels, art workshops, costume contests, vendor tables, and excellent guests. If you ever get a chance to attend, we highly recommend it. And if it is too far away, look for a local convention near you and see what fun you can have.

To follow Darrin and Ruth on Twitter, click here!

Dragon*Con 2015

DragonCon 2015 Report by Shrine Convention Correspondents Darrin and Ruth Sutherland

Event: DragonCon (www.dragoncon.org)

Location: Atlanta, GA

Dates: September 4-7, 2015

Venue: Downtown Atlanta hotels including the Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, and Weston, plus the AmericasMart

Price: Tiered. Starts @ $75 if purchased months in advance. Increases overtime to $150 at the door

Years: Began in 1987

Attendance: 65,000+

Type: Multimedia Convention

Guests: 300+ guests including film and TV actors, comic writers and artists, musicians, and novelists.

Overview: Labor Day weekend each year means it's time for DragonCon in Atlanta, GA. While the convention officially runs four days from Friday - Monday, thousands of attendees arrive on Thursday to get registration out of the way and get the convention off to an early start.

DragonCon is divided into various programming tracks including Comics, Sci-Fi Classics, Star Trek, Star Wars, Middle Earth, Fantasy Literature, Anime, Horror, Steampunk, Podcasting, and Video Gaming. Attendees can choose to focus on a single track such as Comics or they can choose to attend events from a variety of tracks. Either way, there are always too many events going on around the clock at DragonCon to take in everything.

Events this year included 50th anniversary celebrations for both The Wild Wild West and Lost in Space. Kier Dullea and Gary Lockwood were on hand to talk about the making of2001: A Space Odyssey. Carroll Spinney, Steve Whitmire, and other puppeteers held panels throughout the weekend about the Muppets. Following up on Terry Gilliam's two previous appearances, this year fans were treated to fellow Monty Python alum Terry Jones who answered questions and performed classic skits with audience volunteers.

Television shows based on comics were well represented with Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, Matt Nabel, and John Barrowman from Arrow along with Robbie Amell and Danielle Panabaker from The Flash. Comic fans could also attend panels featuring George Perez and Andy Runton's Owly while Peter David and Jim Steranko were on hand in Artist Alley for autographs.

Many other films and television shows were represented by guests including Dean O'Gorman, Peter Hambleton, and Stephen Hunter from The Hobbit, Karen Gillan from Doctor Who, Richard Hatch and Terry Carter from Battlestar Galactica, virtually the entire cast of Lost Girl, and Tom Mison, Nicole Beharie, and John Noble from Sleepy Hollow, which had been filmed in our home state of North Carolina during its first two seasons, but is now filmed in Atlanta.

While the panels generally end about 11:00 PM each day, the con doesn’t stop that early. In the evenings cosplayers pack the lobbies of each of the main hotels for fun conversations and lots of photo opportunities well into the night. As the con gets larger each year, finding space to snap a good photo becomes ever more challenging. However, it's worth the effort with great and varied costumes including the traditional Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, and Captain America, which this year were joined by many iterations of Agent Carter and Constantine.

Aquaman and Mera were both on hand, though in smaller numbers than last year. Sadly a problem with our camera left the section of photos that included our beloved hero and heroine unusable.

Cosplay doesn't end with comics however. Sci-Fi in film and television was well represented with many Star Wars and Star Trek costumes and a great group cosplaying as the entire crew on Farscape. There were Anime costumes based on the works of Hayao Miyazaki and dozens of video game costumes. Even British comedies such as The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The IT Crowd, and even Absolutely Fabulous were on hand.

A unique feature of DragonCon is the Saturday morning parade when the city closes the streets of downtown Atlanta for one of the largest parades on the east coast. News outlets report more than 75,000 spectators turn out to watch the nearly two-hour event featuring more than 3,000 participants in cosplay. This year the city had closed down two additional city blocks to accommodate the increasing number of spectators.

A highlight of our weekend was the opportunity to meet Laurie Sutton, a fellow Aquaman fan and long time follower of the Aquaman Shrine. She is a writer and former editor at DC, who has worked with Mike Grell, Ron Randall, and many others. We enjoyed learning about how she got her first job in the comics industry, what it was like to work at the Comics Code Authority, and how exacting proof reading comics can be. She currently writes the "You Choose" series of children's books featuring several DC characters as well as Scooby-Doo. The books are perfect for young readers, so keep them in mind for presents as Christmas approaches.

Another highlight was meeting George Perez, who was very enthusiastic and happy to meet his fans. We took two books for him to autograph, and he drew an original sketch in each. In the Wonder Woman Omnibus he drew an elaborate profile of Diana racing into action. We asked for something unique in our copy of The Art of George Perez and he drew a sketch of Mercy St. Clair from our favorite sci-fi series Trekker by Ron Randall. Both pieces were stunning and it was great to meet someone who appreciates his fans so much.

We had hoped to once again meet up with the Irredeemable Shagg during the weekend, as we did last year, but sadly our schedules never matched up. Hopefully we can rectify that next year.

And so DragonCon comes to an end for another year, but that's a good thing as our wallets need time to recover!

Heroes Con 2015

Event: Heroes Convention (http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon/)

Location: Charlotte, NC

Dates: June 19-21, 2015

Venue: Charlotte Convention Center

Guests: Dozens of comic industry illustrators and writers

Size: Approximately 35,000 attendees

Overview: Heroes Con in Charlotte is one of our favorite comic conventions.  It has been around for more than 30 years and has maintained its focus on comic industry guests and discussion panels.

The event takes place in the large convention center in beautiful downtown Charlotte and fills the cavernous rooms on the bottom floor with comic guests, vendors, and a large artist alley.  Panel discussion rooms are held throughout the building, and because of the large number of attendees, several fast food restaurants are onsite including Einstein Brothers, Bojangles, and Starbucks so that fans never need to leave the building during the weekend.

Certainly the big draw for the convention this year was the appearance of Stan Lee.  Nearly one entire wall of the 200,000 square foot hall was set aside for the zigzagging line for autographs and photographs with Stan the Man. Coca-Cola was even on hand providing free soda to help the wait be less grueling. However, in the end that caused a bigger dilemma when having to go to the restroom and then dealing with skeptical line monitors who wanted to send you to the end of the line rather than letting you get back in line where you were. Once finally through the ordeal of the line, Stan Lee proved to be a polite gentlemen with a wink and a smile and everyone left the line smiling themselves before immediately getting in another line to have their freshly signed comics certified and sealed away.

On our list of people to meet was writer Cullen Bunn. Unfortunately, the convention was held the weekend before the release of his first issue of Aquaman. We had hoped to take along issue #41 for his signature. Instead, we substituted a printed copy of the cover from the recent preview. At his booth, Cullen was joined by Brian Hurtt and the two were surrounded by copies of The Sixth Gun, their acclaimed western adventure series. As soon as we said we were Aquaman fans, and handed him the picture to sign, a broad smile spread across his face and he immediately began apologizing for what was going to happen to Arthur and Mera next and begging us to please be patient and give him a few issues to see what he was doing.

We proceeded to have a delightful conversation with Cullen and left definitely looking forward to seeing what was ahead for our heroic couple. Plus, we picked up a copy of volume one of The Sixth Gun signed by both Cullen and Brian.

We were pleased to meet Andy Runton again. He is the creator, writer, and artist behind the family-friendly series Owly (http://www.andyrunton.com). We met him a few years ago at DragonCon and it was great to have an opportunity to pick up copies of his latest books for our niece… and ourselves of course! We highly recommend this wonderful series for anyone buying books for children. Reading his books evoke the same whimsy and charm as Winnie-the-Pooh and The Wind in the Willows.

We had hoped to see Pat Broderick of The Fury of Firestorm fame, and while he was supposed to be on hand, we sadly missed seeing him somehow.

We were pleased to see that Aquaman was well represented by several vendors. Jay Brant of www.headsupstudios.com had a display of stylized prints featuring the individual members of the Justice League and we were pleased to see Aquaman on display with the other members. Jay was pleased we purchased the Aquaman print and commented himself that he thinks Aquaman doesn’t get the respect he deserves and said that he loves the look of "classic" Aquaman.

PopCycled Baubles had a Perler bead figure of Aquaman prominently displayed on their table.  They shared that at their last convention, AwesomeCon, there was an amazing Aquamancosplay complete with a golden trident. Baby Rabiez (@baby_rabiez) had a string-art Aquaman key chain on display at their booth and were delighted when we said it was the one we wanted.  They were keen fans and while packing up the purchase they delightfully explained this classic look is what Aquaman is supposed to look like.

We stopped by the table of Sajad Shah (@Sajad_Shah) when we noticed a beautiful print of the Justice League that featured Aquaman prominently placed in the group.  When we told the artist that was what drew our attention, he then produced an equally great print of Aquaman himself as well as an original drawing of Aquaman. All were stunning.

As with most conventions this size, the cosplay was top notch and we were pleasantly surprised that several obscure characters were better represented than usual. Doctor Fate, Star Sapphire, Raven, Booster Gold, and Captain Boomerang were there along with the more traditional Batman and Wonder Woman costumes. There was also a unique Superman cosplay specifically representing the George Reeves version of the character and an interesting Captain America/Spiderman fusion combination costume.

Sadly we never saw any Aquaman or Mera cosplay, but there was a stunning Black Manta with glowing eyes representing the series. We did see two fans wearing Aquaman shirts. One was very familiar with the Shrine and follows it regularly while the other hadn't heard of the Shrine but said he would be checking it out since Aquaman is his favorite character.

In closing, Heroes Con is a consistently fun convention with great guests each year and we highly recommend that anyone in the area give it a try in the future!

Wizard World Raleigh 2015

Event: Wizard World Raleigh

Location: Raleigh, NC

Dates: March 13-15, 2015

Venue: Raleigh Convention Center

Guests: More than a dozen television celebrities and a small number of comic industry guests

Overview: Wizard World has been expanding the number of conventions they hold in recent years and this was the first time they brought an event to Raleigh. The Raleigh Convention Center is a beautiful and relatively new facility that is ideal for these events with a large open basement that is perfect for the main vendor floor, a ground level floor with meeting rooms for small groups and panel discussions, and an upper floor with huge ballrooms perfectly designed for packing in crowds to listen to the latest news from beloved celebrities.

The convention featured many celebrity guests. William Shatner entertained a large ballroom filled with fans with stories of driving at one of the Nascar tracks near Charlotte, NC as well as tales from Star Trek and Boston Legal and memories of recently departed Leonard Nimoy. The seemingly ageless Cassandra Peterson talked about her varied career from being a dancer in Vegas where she received career advice from Elvis Presley, to learning to cook while singing with a band that was touring Italy, to the creation of the enduringly popular Elvira. Sean Astin opened his panel by reading a passage from the first Discworld novel by renowned author Terry Pratchett who passed away only days before. He then shared about becoming friends with Terry while filming the movie adaptation of The Color of Magic where he had the opportunity to play Twoflower, his favorite Discworld character. Kevin Sorbo was on hand to talk about Hercules and Andromeda and goof around with dinosaur puppets from Dakota and Friends. John Schneider was there to sign Smallville photos for comic fans or Bo Duke photos for the many fans wearing orange Dukes of Hazzard t-shirts.

The first Wizard World in Raleigh had a big premiere in store for fans with the first ever US convention appearance of Tenth Doctor David Tennant. Tickets for his autographs and photo ops were expensive, but that didn’t appear to limit the number of people waiting in his lines. The Wizard World team handled the crowds well and kept the lines moving smoothly giving every fan their chance to meet the Doctor face-to-face. David was a real entertainer during his panel, answering fans questions with kindness and humor.

Of course, Wizard World does use the phrase "comic con" in their name and a few comic industry guests were in attendance. Two in particular would appeal to Aquaman fans. Peter David was there and happily signed a copy of his Aquaman #1 from 1994 for us. He enthusiastically chatted about how much he liked the recently released design of Aquaman for the upcoming movies. He definitely sees the similarities to his Aquaman and he is pleased to see the return of that version of the character. He said his only disappointment was that Aquaman didn't have a harpoon hand. Also on hand was animator Tom Cook who worked on many classic cartoons during the 1970s and 1980s including Scooby-Doo, Fat Albert, He-Man, She-Ra, and…for the Aquaman fans...Super Friends. Many fans who stopped by his table commented that looking at his drawings was like revisiting their childhoods. We had a pleasant conversation with him and picked up a Super Friends print for ourselves as well as an original Skeletor sketch for a friend who is a big fan of He-Man.

There were many great costumes on display with multiple characters from the Marvel Universe movies in view down every aisle and around every corner. DC characters were represented by a few dressed as Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and TV's Arrow. Amazingly the first costume we saw at the con was Aquaman himself and we hoped that meant we would see many others throughout the weekend. We did see a truly stunning Aquawoman costume on Saturday, but unfortunately couldn't get a photo ourselves. However, thanks to the world wide web, we were able to find a photo of her in costume on Twitter and Instagram where she goes by Jenna Say What.

We also met two fans who were wearing Aquaman t-shirts. Neither was familiar with the Shrine, so we gave them cards with the web address and waxed eloquently about the great fan community Rob has built. We hope they visit the site soon.

In closing, we must mention an unexpected and truly amazing event. The city was holding its annual St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday and after the parade the local Raleigh Pipe Band came into the main lobby of the convention center where they stood holding the Vulcan salute and followed it up with an emotionally powerful rendition of Amazing Grace that reverberated throughout the convention center. Fans packed around the players just as if we were all attending Spock’s funeral. You can read about it and see a video at their website: http://raleighpipeband.com/news/

All-in-all, Wizard World Raleigh was a big success and we hope to see it return next year!

Thanks once again to Shrine Correspondents Darrin and Ruth Sutherland for their awesome con report!