Phase Three...The Schedule

Other than encouraging all of you to vote...unless something major happens in the comic/movie/adorkable industry...I'm going to spend the rest of the week talking about the upcoming Con.

This will be my third weekend-long con I've ever attended. The first was Wizard Boston in 2010...yet to be repeated by the way...and the second was last year's First Annual C-4 event in downtown Portland, Maine.

Completely different feels. Boston included round-trip bus fare, a hotel (with bedbugs) and volunteering - which got me in free. Portland involved day trips with the wife and child, a much smaller artist/vendor alley, and events taking place in various locations around the city.

This year's event takes place in South Portland, across from the Maine Mall. This means parking is a non-issue, I can visit stores like FYE and Newbury Comics between events, and there's access to a ton of food.

So I'm excited.

I plan on taking notes throughout the weekend, along with my camera, and reporting what happened all next week.

Anyway - they've released the schedule for the weekend:

The Con starts Friday night with a Rave at Geno's in Portland from 8 to 1 a.m.

Part of me want's to go, but last year Mrs. Adorkification and I left after about an hour. I really felt my age. However, this year Coast City Comics is hosting an "all-ages" event at their store...right across the street from the Rave. I doubt they'll be open until 1 a.m., but to be honest - after working all day I probably won't be either.

For Saturday, the vendor/artist alley opens at 10 a.m., and the first panel I want to attend - about censorship - isn't until noon. That'll give me time to get my bearings, take some shots of cosplayers, see what deals are going on at the tables...and get some lunch. My next panel, the one about Valiant Comics, isn't until 4. More shopping/pic snapping and artist greeting. The Celebrity Draw-Off is at 6. I figure I'll camp out in line early for that one, but the Costume Contest - starting at 7 - is in the same room, so hopefully I won't have to leave to come back in. The final event of the day - the Drink and Draw - is in Portland. I really want to go to this because one of my best memories from Wizard Boston was the Drink and Draw event. It was Halloween themed, and I got many artists to sign my Volunteer shirt throughout the night - something I plan on repeating with my C-4 2012 shirt - and there was food (and drink)! I won't imbibe, but I will have dinner and hopefully snap some more pics.

For Sunday, the Vendors open again at 10 a.m. Sundays, by the way, are the best days to buy stuff from vendor tables. They want to get rid of stuff so they don't have to lug it all back home, and are willing to make bigger bargains (like 3 trades for $5) to do so. As for panels, I'm looking at two...Tales From the Marvel Bullpen at 3:30 (which is a must), and Celebrity Draw-Off II at 4:30. The vendors close at 6 p.m., roughly half an hour after the Draw-Off, so if I haven't gotten any deals beforehand, I'll have to run around to get what I can.

As I mentioned, there are two retailers in the Mall across the street. They may have tables at the event, they may not, but they will have deals going on in their stores I'm sure, so I'll be frequenting them throughout the event.