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After several years of “e for effort” turnout at for C2E2, today’s show seems to have actually broken the floodgates and sent a ton of cosplayers, media fans, comics readers and general nerd army participants into the cavernous McCormick Place. It was easily the busiest day we’ve seen here.

Like we keep saying, this place is huge. This is just HALF the seating area where you can choose between a chicago c-dog dusted with pickles and white pepper, and the truly alarming foodstuff known as “deep dish pizza” — a concoction equal parts cheese and bread with a thin ribbon of tomato buried somewhere within.

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Show runner Lance Fensterman retweeted this overhead shot from Con high tide around 1 pm.

Sales really depend on where you are. On the sides seem to be dead traffic or cut off by crowds. In Artist Alley, if you’re at the back of the room some fans may have died of exposure or exhaustion on their way to get there and so never have a chance to buy a print from Geof Darrow.

After talking to the locals, we finally understand that people in the Midwest don’t like going to McCormick Place. Indeed, this is not a place for consumer shows. However the need to strut around dressed as Mysterio or meet Sean Astin seems to have overcome that natural reticence in a lot of people.

No Shia LaBeouf today, so people were lined up for George Perez instead. Also a huge line for Claudio Sanchez.

1 COMMENT

  1. Nicely done, C2E2. I still want to go. I register every time… in hopes that I’ll get there, but alas… I’m still stuck on the West Coast. This looks like a fun event.

  2. 1. I absolutely LOVE going to McCormick Place. The facility is eleventy bazillion times nicer than Rosemont (“Come Downtown! We put carpet everywhere people actually walk!”). Parking is hassle free. Driving there is as straightforward as possible for anything that’s downtown and the distance from train stop to convention floor is only a few hundred feet.

    2. The con was jam-packed today. Wall to wall people. Other years have never had the overwhelming crush of people, but the place seemed packed by around noon. I loved how full artist’s alley seemed to be, both with artists and with attendees.

    3. I have to say that the webcomics panels are fantastic every year. A huge, huge highlight of the con every time I go to one. I love that C2E2 has such a diversity of panel offerings, including the ones with cultural, academic or literary focus.

    4. To everyone in the 5:15 Geek Dating Panel: Thank you all so very much. That was REALLY a room full of love.

  3. Jimmie- You gotta come out next year! Now that I know where things are and what-not.. any way, I missed today but Friday (when I finally showed up at around 5) was good- though I didn’t have nearly enough cash to get (anything) from artists- and both of the people I’d hoped to specifically get a sketch from had already left for the day. I hope tomorrow the weather isn’t as foreboding as it’s looking on the forecast (hotter/humid/thunderstorms) so I can make it down at a reasonable time. But yeah, not a lot around McCormick Place so it’s kind of lousy to get to- but at least it’s not toooo far from the main drag(s)

  4. Jonathan, dude… it would be great to go next year and hook up with you. I haven’t seen you in a dog’s age (since Comic Relief).

    I’m hoping that next year will be my East Coast year (C2E2, New York, et.).

  5. I agree with likefunbutnot, in that McCormick place is a much, much better locale than Rosemont. The only thing Rosemont has going for it is it’s proximity to O’hare.
    It seems like c2e2 has been held in a different hall each year, and I couldn’t tell if this years was smaller, or there were just more people. It was truly jam packed on Saturday. I can’t wait for next year!

  6. scuttlebutt is that Wizard is bringing their A-game…. All five Star Trek captains, Stan Lee…

    Could be a con war…. A tempest in the midwest!

  7. A bunch of assholes charging $150 to sign a photograph, no worthwhile panel content, no publisher support and a horrifically uncomfortable venue do not an A game make.

  8. I’ve got to say, as a person who lives in suburban Chicago, McCormick Place is just about the perfect venue for a show this size. Good parking, easily accessible from all directions by public transport, actually in the City of Chicago, I’m really happy that there’s finally a show there. Rosemont is just too far out if you don’t live on the north side or in the northern suburbs. WizardWorld is about a 2 hour trip each way from my house and just isn’t going to happen.

    Have attended C2E2 all three years and hope that this year’s con was a success so it returns next year.

  9. The Rosemont Convention Center allows attendees to buy their stacks of stuff and then walk to the parking garage to dump and then head right back to the show to get more. I usually make 3-4 trips back and forth per day at the Wizard show. For me, that’s the biggest benefit. As for the panels, company representation and other con goodness, C2E2 destroys Wizard World Chicago.

    I didnt hit C2E2 this year (too many things going on in real life) but did any of you have an trouble storing things at the coat check/locker?

  10. How is walking a quarter mile to your car at Rosemont better than walking a quarter mile to your car at McCormick?

    I do want to moderate my previous comment a bit by saying that I don’t think celebrities are assholes for charging to sign, but the combination of rates and VIP status tickets and other crap that seems to be imposed by Wizard is ridiculous.

  11. Here’s my perspective:

    When I lived in the Chicago suburbs – I liked Rosemont as a location better.
    When I lived in Chicago – I liked McCormick as a location better.
    Now I live out of town, and while I stayed with friends who lived in the burbs, next year I might get a hotel room.

    I think C2E2 is better organized than Wizard World, and still focuses on comics more (which I prefer).

    McCormick as a whole has been poorly managed by Chicago politicians and they’ve lost a ton of conventions over the years. So in that regard the place sucks. But physically? It’s fine. It could use a hotel or two closer to it, however.