This past weekend Seattle hosted the Ace Comic-Con, the second time it has been here. Ace Universe is new to the scene, relatively speaking, with many other comic conventions having been taking place throughout the country and even globally since the 70s. A couple of years ago Ace Universe embarked on a project to offer up some more conventions to capitalize on the increased popularity of the entertainment form and all that entails.
Does the world need another comic convention?
The short answer is “Yes.”
Ace Universe hosts a few different comic conventions in different cities (the next one will be Chicago in October) and I was eager to see what was offer here. The usual trappings of a comic convention were here, the booths of merchandise to buy, the celebrities with autograph and photo opportunities for purchase, panels along with artists and writers.
I took kids, different ones on different days, each enjoying their own time at the convention. What I find interesting is taking them and seeing how they each focus on different things. My older son was on a quest to find Josh Brolin to get him to sign his Thanos fan art. My daughter had more fun with the panels and looking at the artists work. One son was all over the merchandise and another was just happy to be there.
There were some other activities there as well. Some table tennis, a kid’s area, some VR demonstration which I think was from a game design school, among other things.
Phil Foglio (Girl Genius) was there and I got him to sign a couple of my Munchkin Steampunk cards, which was cool.
I met with Animaniacs storyboard artist Keith Tucker. He worked on such series as Tale Spin (a personal favorite), Pinky & The Brain, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and many others. So there we are, at his booth, watching him draw out a portrait of The Brain, and I’m chatting with him (his favorite characters to draw are Pinky & The Brain along with the Warner Brothers and Sister and no, he will not be working on the upcoming new Animaniacs series) when my kids decide to go off and explore the rest of the convention.
Not only do the older ones abandon Xavier, they actually sent him back to wait with me while they went off on their own. I decided it was time to get some artwork. I picked up a couple of prints and had the artist sign them, one personalized to Xavier.
We went to a couple of panels, one with actress Deborah Ann Woll, and another was a live taping in the Funco podcast. For many I am sure the highlight was Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Don Cheadle on stage reminiscing about making the Marvel movies. That whole panel was posted to Ace Comic Con’s facebook page.
I enjoyed some of the cosplay. By that I mean there were people in Spider-Man outfits, Captain Marvel, Batman, etc. They were not the ones I enjoyed the most. Below are the ones that I found particularly interesting. I am certainly hoping Ace Comic Con returns to Seattle next year. While many of these types of conventions are “family friendly” I found this one to be particularly easy to take the kids to and enjoy.
