Oh, the smell of nerdy excitement, it’s unmistakable once you’ve known it. And the excited nerds were on parade in force last night. The inception of our very own midwest comic con is a pretty exciting moment for those of us who never had the time or money to go to any of the big, coastal comic cons. The lines for badge pickup were enormous, many of the costumes bordered on PG-13, and the creatives came down in droves to hawk their wares in the Artist Alley. There’s a lot of talent on display here, much of it for sale at prices ranging from reasonable to obscene.
I’ve been to cons in the past, but I’m a little ashamed to say this is my first Comic Con. So go ahead and tally me among the excited geeky horde.
The first evening of the DCC was pretty low-key. There were a handful of panels going on, but nothing too incredibly exciting. So it was mostly people looking around, checking out the exhibitors and artists, and showing off their costumes—keep an eye out for some cosplay pictures in the near future. There’s no people-watching quite like people-watching at a con, and DCC doesn’t disappoint. The combination of nerdy social ineptitude and the comfort level that comes from being around a ton of people who share your interests always makes for entertaining scenes.
As you might expect from a brand new con, the DCC suffers from some logistical issues. For instance, the panelists at a panel I went to this morning (Saturday) had no idea they were doing it until about an hour before hand. They had nothing prepared, and it was a bit of a meandering affair. The program guide is less than intuitive, and there is a serious lack of panel descriptions and programming explanations. Going to any given event was a little hit or miss.
Again, these hiccups are to be expected, and it’s probably safe to say that the next Denver Comic Con will be a lot more organized. Despite the few shortcomings, it’s a blast to be here. Keep an eye out for more coverage soon.
[Connor Cleary is an author, video game columnist and critic, and a freelance web-slash-graphic designer. He is a reviewer at GameShark and an occasional opinion and analysis columnist at Gamasutra. His freelance design business is Four Stair Multimedia and Design. You can follow Connor @The_Blue_Key, or at fb/TheBlueKey, or check out his writing archive on tumblr, The Blue Key.]