Batman and Vader and Vampires, Oh My!: Comic Con Round Up

So, as I may have mentioned in a previous blog post somewhere, Jen (of MTVP) and I attended the New England Comic Con two weekends ago. And, as promised, I’m here to recap it for you. It was three days of wild and wacky fun.

Friday began with me struggling to focus for my morning classes. I don’t think Evidence has ever made me so antsy. I really enjoy the class but I was ready to get the weekend underway and hang with Jen. We did a quick lunch and grocery run before heading to the venue. It was a relatively calm affair for the first day. I went with the intention of only getting Amber and James’s autographs. I walked away at the end of the weekend with everyone’s. We managed to get through the autograph line very quickly on Friday and so I snagged Clare Kramer (Glory), Mercedes McNab (Harmony) and Nick Brendan (Xander) in addition to Amber. As always, Amber was delightful and I miss chatting with her. She remembered me from April and we talked books a little bit. Book 3 in her Caliope Reaper-Jones series comes out in February or March and she’s planning books 4 and 5. I can’t wait. Jen and I also managed to get our photo with Amber. It came out quite well if I do say so myself.

Saturday was a bit crazier. Not only was the convention in full swing but Deval Patrick (our current governor in MA) was having a rally for the election next week and President Obama came by to lend his support. Needless to say, the convention center was barricaded to the hilt with every cop in Boston and loads of Secret Service patrolling the area. Our main focus for Saturday was James’s Q&A. We got to the venue around 8:40 (we were ushered around the building into the cold due to security for the rally) and were first in line. It was a good thing too because there were hundred of people in line behind us to get in. Not everyone did. Our seats could have been better but we could still hear everything. James was sweet and answered everyone’s questions. I’ll admit some were strange (one woman asking him to sing the end duet from Once More with Feeling). He also go very emotional when talking about the attempted rape scene in Seeing Red (Buffy season 6).

After the Q&A I got in line for my photo with James. He was just as much a sweetheart up close as he was in the Q&A. He said I was cute (I felt like I was in the old Claymation version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer). Once my photo was taken, Jen and I got in the obnoxiously long line for James’s autograph. We ended up foregoing his until Sunday because of time constraints. We had autograph tickets for Charisma and she was only there for Saturday. It was a strategic move but it worked. We ended up missing her and Nick’s Q&A panels but that’s okay. From what we heard on the grape vine, they weren’t all that good (lots of people asked Charisma about her hair. I mean…seriously?)

Sunday was a bit more relaxed, much like Friday. We got to the venue early again and got in 9with great seats) for Amber’s Q&A. She showed Chance (a film she did with James and Andy Hallett (Lorne from Angel…RIP) back during filming of Buffy season 5). I’d seen it before (shh don’t tell anyone) but I enjoyed it again. Seeing James in a dress and heels always cracks me up. He’s such a ham. I got to ask Amber some questions about publishing and was rather excited to hear she hates self-editing just as much as I do! I swear we’re like made for each other (in a non-sexual way of course). Afterwards, we headed back to main area to get James’s autograph. He made kind of a disparaging remark about John Barrowman (we knew he was joking because he pretty much professed his giant man-crush on the guy the day before). I also learned that he enjoys reading nonfiction books on science-y subjects. I tried to convince him to do my evidence reading but he declined. So sad. He did sign my photo that I got with him the day before. I’ll be framing both his and Amber’s photos whenever I find a frame shop.

Overall, I really enjoyed the weekend. Jen and I augmented our convention-going with some Doctor Who, Torchwood and Buffy watching. It was only appropriate you know. I’m entirely looking forward to any future conventions in either Boston or Baltimore that include Buffy cast (or Doctor Who…that’d be awesome too).

Comic Con Recap!

Hey all!

As promised, I'm back this week with a recap of my time at the Boston Comic Con.

I arrived at the venue around 8:40am and stood in line. There were probably 30-ish people ahead of me but it was fine. I chatted with a couple of fellow first-timers and read a bit of Death's Daughter, Amber's first solo book. Around 10:05, they finally let us inside the venue (which was great because it was a bit chilly out). I made my way downstairs and into the convention area. There were tables everywhere. Luckily I found a couple of people who were looking for Amber and we ended up scouting out her table. They left after we found it and she wasn't there. I waited, probably 20-25 minutes until Amber arrived.

That meant I was first in line. Pretty freaking cool! So once she got settled, Amber and I chatted for a bit. She autographed my copy of Death's Daughter and we snapped a picture together.

I have to say, she is probably one of the nicest, sweetest people I've ever met. She was really easy to talk to. I mentioned how excited I was for the Boston Independent Film Festival in a couple weeks and she said it was cool that I was going and maybe we'd see each other at the screening of her newest directorial accomplishment, DRONES. She also mentioned there's oging to be a Q&A. I predicct the 24th-25th are going to be LONG days. But it's totally going to be worth it.

On the book front, Amber answered a couple questions about her newwest book, Among the Ghosts that comes out in August and is publisehd by Aladdin books (imprint of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers). I'll be scooping that up once it arrives!

She wished me luck in my own submissions and said she'll keep her fingers crossed for me. How cool! Hopefully, if/when I see her on the 24th, I'll have an update.

Now, on to the two pictures I took at the whole event (I spotted a couple storm troopers but didn't pull out my camera fast enough).



Amber and I



Amber's autograph on my copy of Death's Daughter

I'll be doing a second blog post this week after I have my 3-month status call with Roger, my agent on the 14th. So fingers crosse for some good news there!