The Super Powered Fancast

Greetings to everyone who attended this years Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) and those who didn’t get the opportunity to attend. This year I made the trip to the Windy City to check out one of the biggest celebrations of all things popular culture and I can say I had a fantastic time among my peers in multiple genres of entertainment.

Day 1

There and Back Again: A Lord of the Rings Cast Reunion

My first day at the convention was packed with experiences that I will remember for years to come with the reunion of the cast of Lord of the Rings with stars Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd. The cast regaled the packed crowd with stories from their experiences on set making the epic trilogy as well as taking questions from fans about their characters and the bonds they made during filming. It was a wonderfully high energy affair.

From Script to Shelf: The Life Cycle of A Comic Book

Moderated by the wonderful Taffeta Darling, panelists Andy Schmidt (BOOM! Studios), Atom Freeman (Prana: Direct Market Solutions), Filip Sablik (Ignition Press), Taylor Crowel Merkler and Rich Zwelback (Walsworth) educate those interested in getting into the comic book industry about the changes in the market and how there are several new steps that can be taken to get your work out there. The panelists also discussed the impact that new markets have on sales as well as the path of taking a comic book from story idea to the shelves.

From Tabletop to Page: Expanding the Critical Role Universe in STORIES UNTOLD

Critical Role is celebrating ten years of entertaining fans across multiple campaigns and an expanding world of stories. This year, they released a new anthology book titled Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold (you can read my review here) that tells new stories from the world of Exandria featuring characters who have been impacted by the adventuring party known as Vox Machina. The writers of some of those stories gathered to discuss the world of those characters, their inspirations and more. I loved hearing from Jess Barber, Becca Coffindaffer, Sarah Glenn Marsh, Nibedita Sen and Izzy Wasserstein about the challenges they faced as well as how inspired they are by the cast of Critical Role.

It’s a lasting testament to their creative vision that so many people from so many different genres have been inspired by and have become a part of their world.

Beyond the awesome panels, I got to spend time with fellow fans and members of the press. I spent a lot of time in Artists Alley speaking with comic book professionals and new additions to the industry that made the experience professionally and personally satisfying.