Ace Comic Con is a fairly new con to join the con circuit with its third stop in the heart of Seattle. It was held at the Wamu Theater this past weekend. It brought fans from all over to geek out with the stars from their favorite Marvel/DC/WWE universes. In attendance was: Shinsuke Nakamura, Becky Lynch, Matthew Lillard, Kevin Smith, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Lenk, Grant Gustin, Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Camila Mendez, Hayley Atwell and Tom Hiddleston.
This show in particular seems to cater to their VIP guests. So if you plan to attend the next show you may want to invest in one of the VIP packages offered. The exhibitor floor is not as big as other cons as they seem to focus more on panels and photo op/autographs, I was able to walk the entire showroom floor in no time at all. The exhibitors they had though, were great and offered a variety of choices in purchases.
While the show can still be enjoyed as part of general admission; the seats for the panels with the bigger media guests were filled with the VIP ticketed guests and GA’s are left to sit way in the back only really being able to see the monitors. The nice thing though is that the monitors were located throughout the con so you could pay attention wherever you might be.
In speaking to others I found guests frustrated with the amount of security checkpoints they had. Though it is absolutely a must in this day and age to screen guests, two checkpoints might just be overkill. One located at the front before entering the venue and another located at the start of the photo and autograph lines. I also found a lack of staff on hand to answer questions. Conventions that are just starting out usually undergo years and years of improvements and though the con was entertaining it still has some areas to tweak.
Summary below by Neil Jordan who provided many of the pictures.
With all epic displays, celebrity line-ups, fan fare, and enough comics to stack-up and build an entire town with sometimes it’s cool to scale it down … just a tad. Everyone wants the ability to find those sought after comics, graphic novels, photo/autograph ops with their favorite celebrities but ComicCons have become so grand that they’ve gotten to a point where they take over entire cities. Sometimes … just sometimes it’s cool to scale it down and perhaps keep it in one event center or smaller stadium. Keep it all in one place so everyone has the chance to get to ALL the awesome events and take advantage of every opportunity.
ACE ComicCon has gotten pretty darned close to doing just that. ‘Skewed & Reviewed’ was given the opportunity to check out ACE ComicCon when it stopped in Seattle at the CenturyLink Event Center. In one spot you were able to find thousands of comics, celebrity guests, costume contests, comic illustrators and writers, famous cosplayers, you name it. Perhaps even a few hints or insider info as to the future of your favorite comics and the TV shows or movies inspired by them.
Like any of these events, you’ll need to save up and be prepared to throw down some coin. What better way to get away from everyday life just for a few days though than to throw oneself into the world of the fantastic though yes?
