A Brief But Enjoyable Convention Visit

Saturday, Alex and I went to the St. Louis Comic Convention. It was actually in St. Charles, but whatever. We didn't get to stay long, since Alex had two gigs that afternoon and evening, but it was pretty nice. In terms of number of artists and vendors, I think it was about on par with Cape-Con. I'd imagine it had greater attendance, given the proximity to St. Louis, so more people in easy driving distance. It was starting to really fill up about the time we left (roughly one).

I was pretty excited because Chris Claremont was there, but then I dicked around too long and by the time I was ready to get my copy of Uncanny X-Men #218 signed (the second half of Rogue, Psylocke, Dazzler, and Longshot's fight with Juggernaut in Scotland), there was a long line, and we couldn't spare the time, unfortunately. Too bad, I had wanted to tell him I liked his recent, brief Nightcrawler ongoing with Todd Nauck. I mean, I could have done without the Shadow King, but you just have to accept that guy is going to be a thing when you're reading Claremont's stuff. Could have been worse. Could have been Mr. Sinister.

Alex was more excited about the presence of David Yost, the original Blue Power Ranger, but apparently froze it when the opportunity presented itself to walk up and say hello. So we both whiffed. Maybe next time.

I abandoned any idea of looking for back issues fast. There were a lot of vendors selling comics at 5 bucks a pop, and advertising that like it was some kind of a deal. Maybe if I had remembered to hit the ATM the night before, so I had more than 50 bucks once I got in the door, but as it was, no. There was a moment of massive letdown when I thought I found someone which multiple shelves of superhero trading card collections, only to find out each plastic case had one (1) card, plus a Lego version of the character on the card. A crushing reversal of fortune.

The whole Lego version of characters thing feels like it's exploded recently, which is probably not the case. I just noticed a lot of people selling them here, and the same was true at Cape-Con. Not really my bag.

I did pick up a couple of pieces of artwork. No commissions, I didn't have the cash for that, but a couple of nice prints, including a really nifty Samus. I almost talked Alex into buying a Black Panther print from the same fellow, but Alex said he didn't have any place to put them, so what's the point? I figured the point was you like it, and at some time, he will have a place to put them, so have it for when that day comes. He would not be swayed from his financially practical decision.

There were a lot of interesting vendors and artists, just a lack of time and funds to do more, really. There was a nice lady who paints using coffee, there was a glassblower there, just a lot of cool stuff.

One thing we both thought was weird, and maybe it changed after we had left, but we didn't see anyone dressed up as Wonder Woman. Not even any little kids. I figured with the movie being a big success and all, we'd see tons of them, but not the case. But I wonder if the cosplayers were holding off on getting there until a little closer to the costume contests. It was not a day to be in any kind of heavy apparel, or to be covered head to toe in spandex. June in Missouri is rough that way.

Hopefully the convention comes back around next year and we can spend a little more time there.