The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) ran from April 13 through the 15th in the North Building of Chicago’s McCormick Place. I attended this year’s event, and I had a blast! I also learned quite a bit.
After collecting my press badge, I was ready to rock the third incarnation of the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2). // All photos by Holley Y. Bakich
The annual convention (this was the third one in Chicago) covers breaking news in comics, movies, television, toys, and video games. And while I attended panel discussions, walked through “Artist Alley,” and was part of the audience that judged costume competitions, I really went to find out what was happening in the comic world that ties into astronomy.
Here’s the main thing I learned: Our beloved science continues to influence stories that appear in comics. And not just comics. I chatted with the folks from Nerdist Industries, the self-proclaimed “center of the nerd universe,” which produces blogs, podcasts, tweets, and videos dealing with lots of weird stuff — and, as it turns out, science.
The group has featured Phil Plait, from our sister publication Discover, in a podcast talking about bad astronomy. Neil deGrasse Tyson from the Hayden Planetarium in New York City did one on the importance of space exploration. Other podcasts have focused on giant solar flares, Mars, the aurora borealis, the Cassini mission to Saturn, and much more. It’s safe to say that astronomy is well-represented in nerd culture.
Costumed “superheroes” were everywhere at C2E2. Here, the Invisible Woman has just started to cast a force field around us, probably to protect me from the swarm of devoted Astronomy magazine readers about to mob us.
The highlight for me was chatting — albeit briefly — with American writer and television producer J. Michael Straczynski. I stood in line for about half an hour at his signing event. I don’t collect autographs, but, as I told him, I thought it important enough to stand in line just to thank him for the years of entertainment he’s provided me.
This is the man who created the television series Babylon 5, and who, during its five-year run, wrote 90 percent of its episodes. He’s probably better known as a legendary comic book author, with titles like The Amazing Spider-Man, Superman, Thor, and Wonder Woman in his resume.
And Straczynski also has written for the silver screen. He wrote the 2008 film Changeling and co-wrote the 2012 blockbuster Thor. More projects lie ahead.
At the end of our chat, I asked him if he had time for a brief interview, but he replied that the C2E2 organizers had booked him pretty tight. No surprise there. Maybe I can catch up with him at Comic Con in San Diego later this year.
Chris Hardwick, host of AMC’s Talking Dead and BBC America’s The Nerdist, hosted a lively discussion of Nerdist Industries newest venture: the Nerdist Channel on YouTube.
Author J. Michael Straczynski graciously posed with me during his autographing session at C2E2.