15 Years of Fantasy: C2E2 2024

This past weekend was C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo).

I had a good time overall, but today is going to be a "gentle, gentle" day as I recover from so much socialization and walking. I'm both physically and socially tired, LOL.

This year, the overarching theme was "15 Years of Fantasy," since this was the 15th C2E2 to be held. I have now been to a total of 10 C2E2s

I thought my badge was particularly pretty this year, with a sweet dragon and a pretty moon watching over the Chicago skyline. 

Day 1

I cosplayed at Dream of The Endless.

Side Quest: Figurine Painting

Friday started with me painting a free Loki figurine via Side Quest. I really like how it came out. 

The figurine was from the Zombie Marvel box, but other than Loki being shirtless and looking like he is trying to be Poseidon, I'm not sure why it was labeled a Zombie. 

I did paint Loki in his Jotun form since there was blue paint but no skin color paint LOL.

Panel: "The Hero Doesn't Always Journey"

The first panel I went to looked at how stories can be structured around something other than the hero's journey. It looked at the benefits and negatives of using formal story structures and stories that break conventional wisdom.

For example, typically, authors are told that characters should have strong motivations or goals, but this does not actually have to be the case if the characters are in interesting worlds such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Alice in Wonderland.

Show Floor

 

I waved at my Paul from DePaul, who runs the DePaul Pop Culture Conference. We joked that I was a week early for our yearly meet-up. 

I ended up spinning their wheel and getting a light-up collapsible light saber, which will be nice to bring to the DePaul Celebration of Star Wars conference next weekend.

I also got a number of books throughout the weekend via "The Science Fiction Outreach Project.

I then spent some time in the Pride Lounge, coloring, listening to music etc. and won a box of little toys.

Panel: Autism in Comic Books

This panel was one of my highlights for C2E2 because, as someone who is autistic, there are not nearly enough panels centered around being autistic and other forms of neurodivergence.

It was a wonderful panel that listed all the characters in comics who are explicitly autistic. I liked the idea that, while some of these portrayals are problematic, they are salvageable. 

That the comic portrayals that are problematic (such as portrayals that suggest that being autistic is something that should be "cured") should simply be given over to autistic comic creators so that the problematic portrayals can be corrected.

Also, over all, the panel highlighted that we need to flood comics and other media with portrayals of autistic characters because, as we say, "When you have met one autistic person, you have met one autistic person." 

The more representation there is out there, the more nuanced portrayals of being autistic can become, which means more problematic representations carry less weight because they are not the "only" representations shared.

So in summary, Dear Comic Creators, please include more autistic characters, please and thank you. 

Panel: Artistic Cosplay: Reimaging Character Designs and Bringing them into Reality.

I went to this panel because the one I was planning on going to was filled. I will say that it was interesting to learn a bit more about cosplay competitions.

Panel: Ikebana

This panel was on an ancient type of Japanese flower arrangement.

Ikebana is the centuries-old Japanese art of arranging flowers. The practice, which roughly translates to “making flowers come alive,” uses carefully selected blossoms, greenery and other flora to convey a specific feeling or emotion to an observer – just as a painting or sculpture might.

C2E2 Prom

Day One's capstone was the first ever C2E2 Prom (and I think might have been one of the first "After Dark" event I have actually made it too. Normally I am too tired.

Honestly it just felt like a dance party but it did remind me how much more fun life would be if we all cosplayed all the time. 

I would say errands would be so much more enjoyable if you saw The Doctor and Ruby Sunday at the bank, or a princess or supervillain at the grocery store.

I also grabbed a pretty dragon egg that is multicolored changing color as you turn it which you will have to trust me on since there is no easy way to show that in a photo.

Day 2

I cosplayed at Death of The Endless.

Panel: The Science of Science Fiction

 

This was a fun panel, though the dude from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory was tied up in traffic, so it turned more into John Jackson Miller explaining how different franchises handle science. For example how Star Wars is NOT scientific since it is space opera, where as Star Trek does science sorta and science can be part of the plot, and when recently writing a batman book John needed to learn a whole new type of science like how do firetrucks actually work. In addition, he spoke about how when writing in shared universes or working on media tie-in books, you can't create; you have to cite. He gave an example with the question, Can Jedi do their mind tricks with someone who speaks a different language? The answer is yes, and he cited the place where it happened.

 

Panel: LGBTQYA

 

This panel looked at LGBTQ YA stories and why representation is so important. For example, LGBTQ YA stories are often internally called "suicide prevention books" by librarians. While there has been progress made, we still need a lot more LGBTQA+ stories, especially trans and nonbinary stories.

Panel: Bad Idea The C2E2 Panel

 

Honestly, I sat in on this panel as a filler between other panels. Bad idea is a publisher that prints to order, and that's it. No second prints, no trades, no digital. The panel spotlighted some of their new comics.

 

Panel: Battle of the Tropes

 

Two tropes were given to the panelists, such as Enemy to Lover vs. Friend to Lover, each side defending why their trope was better, and the audience judged and voted by handclap.

 

Panel: H.E.R.O.I.C. Awards

 

The Honoring Exceptional Renderings of Independent Creators (H.E.R.O.I.C.) awards.

They were fun even if I knew about zero of the comics that were nominated or won. 

You can watch the awards ceremony online. I have to say they gave away one of the nicest-looking awards. 

 

Show Floor: I ended Day 2 by dancing to DJ Powerhour

Day 3

 

I cosplayed as Delirium of the Endless.

(Which is pretty fitting; by the end of Day 3, I was feeling like I was in Delirium's realm.)

 

Panel: DePaul University Fandom Popular Culture Discussion Panel

 

This was the capstone presentation for students in a C2E2 course at DePaul. It was fun to support young adults as they study fandom.

 

Panel: Once More With Feeling

 

This panel explored how emotions are used in story-telling. Someone mentioned a Neil Gaiman quote: Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

 

Panel Spoken Blerds: The Intersection of Pop Culture and Poetry

 

This was a fun final panel for C2E2. Blerds reference Black Nerds. We got to hear a few poems that referenced fandom, which was fun.