When Emerald City Comicon announced that it was merging with ReedPop, everyone who knows and loves the Seattle-based convention had the same question:
“Will ReedPop change Emerald City Comicon?”
I mean, after all, exhibitors and attendees alike have loved this show — run by Jim Demonakos and an amazing staff of dedicated comics-lovers — for years.
Ask anyone who has ever exhibited there. and they’ll tell you that they’ve never been treated better. Ask the attendees. They’ll tell you the show is a highlight in their year. This show was special. And there’s more than a few people who felt a little worried that this Good Thing had come to an end earlier this year when the merger was announced.
Scott, Cory and I wondered it on a recent episode of Surviving Creativity. We got both Jim and ReedPop VP Lance Festerman on the line to assuage our fears.
They told us that Emerald City was going to continue unchanged.
We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.
So imagine my surprise — my downright elation — when I walked into the ReedPop-run Special Edition; NYC convention this weekend. This was the first Reed show since incorporating the Emerald City staff, and it was — for all intents and purposes — Emerald City East.
Better! It was like one of the old Emerald City shows. Remember being in the bottom of Mariner’s stadium? Remember those old comics-centric Seattle shows — those shows where the hardcore love of comics was as palpable as the smell of Silver Age quarter bins?
That’s what happened at Pier 94 in Manhattan last weekend.
Exhibitors got all the one-on-one attention, the shuttles to and from the show, the care, and the respect that they thought only happened once-a-year in Seattle.
ReedPop may not change Emerald City, but from what I saw this weekend, Emerald City is changing ReedPop.
And that’s good news for people like me who love those old-school comic-book comic conventions.
I asked the former-ECCC staffers who stopped by my booth in their new roles with ReedPop the same question: “With this show proving such a success, what are the chances for Special Edition: Chicago… Special Edition: Oakland… Special Edition: Boston… and so on?”
All I got were smiles.
Wide smiles.
There was a lot of that going around last weekend. Today’s page takes us back to Ralph’s Diner, where Captain Heroic proves—once again—that nothing rattles him… not even a surprise soup bath.
Hailey is mortified, Captain Heroic is dripping, and somewhere across the diner, Yazmine Velour is livestreaming the whole thing as heart emojis rain from the internet. It’s a small moment, but one that says a lot about who Cap really is—and why people can’t help falling for him.
Transcript
Panel 1
Hailey (distraught that she has dumped hot soup on Captain Heroic): Omigod Omigod Omigod…
Captain Heroic (turning to another person eating at the diner): Excuse me. Would you hand me a napkin, please? (The person hands him a napkin)
Panel 2
Hailey: I’m so sorry Captain Heroic, sir. I didn’t mean to — {sob}
Panel 3
Captain Heroic (handing her the napkin): Here. Please don’t cry.
Panel 4
Captain Heroic (continues): Most of my first impressions involve disintegration rays. And actual impressions. In concrete.
Panel 5
Captain Heroic: This was far more pleasant — not counting the bay leaf in my shirt.Yazmine Velour (as she livestreams the interaction from the other side of the diner, a torrent of heart emojis flow from her phone as the audience reacts): Omigod Omigod Omigod
After Dark
This week's commissioned MicroFic delivers exactly what you’d want from a pairing between Dynasty and Father Christmas.
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Yes, he lives up to his name.
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Yes, Dynasty knew exactly what she was doing.
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No, the North Pole will never be the same.
I also posted the Goblin Girl MicroFic from the Monster Girl poll — and the response was so good, I might need to make these poll-powered MicroFics a recurring thing!
