Big Wow Comic Fest 2013 Recap

I knew that Big Wow Comic Fest was going to be pretty fun, but I have to say I had a blast. Like Yoda says, “Size matters not” and even though Big Wow is a smaller con, they really brought it this year with some awesome guests and fun panels. Seriously, how often do you get to meet people like J.Scott Campbell and Stan Lee, but without the enormous lines? Or even sit front row to watch Adam Hughes or Frank Cho draw right before your eyes? It definitely beats having to watch them on a big screen in a 5,000 person room, that’s for sure. I mean, places like SDCC may bring the movie stars, but I’m starting to realize that you have to do 10xs the waiting in order to see maybe a guest that’s only a little bit cooler.

Since the con was just a car ride away, I decided to bring one of my most treasured art pieces by J.Scott Campbell in order to have him sign it. I don’t even know what to call this thing, but it’s basically a printing cell that has 4 layers in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). These 4 layers make up the artwork for 4 pages of comics and I believe it was used to print comics back in the day. This one is from Gen 13 and because I pretty much spent all my savings at the time to buy this, I’ve kept it in mint condition for a good 15+ years. I figured this was the perfect time to have JSC sign it and maybe tell me exactly what the thing is! Meeting JSC again was amazing and even though I was still nervous meeting one of my favorite artists, I found the courage to actually have a conversation with him instead of being a nervous fangirl.

As for the panels, I got to see a geeky fashion show, had a cosplay making Q&A with Ridd1e while Frank Cho sketched her, and got to learn all about Copic Markers and coloring with Adam Hughes and Allison Sohn (Mrs Adam Hughes) – I never realized coloring in grey could look so amazing! I also attended a really interesting panel called “Sexuality in Cosplay” featuring some highly respected cosplayers such as Meagan Marie, Abby Dark-Star, Keith Zendragon, Roxanne Meta and Belle Chere.  With all the talk about “cosplay =/= consent” and more and more cosplayers getting harassed or talked to inappropriately these days, I loved the idea of this panel. They discussed the do’s and don’ts of cosplaying, how to handle unnecessary comments or touching, and really empowering women (and men) on how to deal with this stuff. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the people who actually needed to be educated were probably not in the audience!

Anyhow, I had such a great time being a fan and even meeting some of my readers and I can’t wait to see what Big Wow has in store for next year! On with the pictures!

The Geek Fashion Show

Designers not shown b/c I was still adjusting my camera – The Mermaid Atlantis, Mia Ballistic, Nerds with Vaginas, Unicorn Sushi by Rachel Elsten.

Pics below from designers Carlyfornia, Castle Corsetry, DameFatale by Annisse Designs.

And the rest of the shenanigans!