C2E2 2021: My review

I made it to C2E2 this weekend. It was the first in-person convention I have been to since the before times. Everyone was required to be vaccinated and to wear masks the whole time and it had a much smaller turnout than past years so I felt comfortable going. 

(I know many others who did not feel comfortable enough to go especially with uncertainty around Omicron but doing a risk assessment and talking to those I have regular contact with I felt ok going)

This year C2E2 was much smaller than in years past and even so I was very gentle on myself. Since this was the first extended period with a large number of people in two years I knew I was going to get tried much easier than normal. This meant spending shorter days at the convention.

I went to 7 panels (which is much less than some years but I found sitting and trying to focus for hours on end was challenging this year)

1. Coffee & Comics: Writing Masterclass 101
2. Amplifying Black Voices and Bold Stories in Comics and Creative Tech
3. Witches, Gods, & Monsters
4. Celebrating & Creating Diversity in Pop Culture (featuring one of my friends)
5. Caped Crusaders: Creators talking About Crimes Alleys and Dark Knights
6. Hip Hop and Comics: A Dynamic Duo
7. Tis the Season: Hack the Holidays (and Save Your Sanity) (this was an interesting panel but for various reasons the topic of the holidays did not really come up it was more about mental health in general)

This year I ended up spending much more time on the show floor. I was glad that it was spread out more than in past years (in part because there were fewer vendors) so I very rarely felt like I had to get within 6 feet of anyone else. Many of the traditionally big names were not there such as Marvel, DC, or the larger book publishers but it just made it feel like a smaller more local con instead. 

I ended up with a few of the free books offered by the Science Fiction Outreach Project.  One that stood out was the above magazine that covers Legends of Tomorrow and even included two photos of my Captain Cold. I also ended up walking up and down artist alley much more than is typical for me which felt like going to a free fandom art museum.

While there were clearly fewer people there still were good costumes including a whole range of Loki variants, and several holiday based cosplays. Since C2E2 has traditionally been in early spring all the holiday themed items kept surprising me. Overall I had a good time and I am glad I decided to go this year. Now I will need a few days to decompress from so much people time but that is fine.