Wowza! KWVA DJ, Chief, recently attended Emerald Valley Comic Fest on behalf of the station. Go forth and read about his experiences seeing the many sights, hearing from the great, and his journey to find out what a Eugene comic-con is really all about.
I have witnessed the rebirth of the Eugene comic-con and its name was the Emerald Valley Comic Fest! Heralded as the first comic-con (or comic convention) to be held in Eugene in over 20 years, Emerald Valley Comic Fest is a place where fans can meet and buy autographs from their favorite actors and contributors from some of the most popular films, television series and (of course) comic series. I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to check it out and I'm really glad I did!
The first thing I noticed as I pulled up to the Lane Events Center (located on the Lane County Fairgrounds) were the many people in costumes. Cosplaying (the art or practice of wearing costumes to portray characters from fiction, especially from manga, animation, and science fiction) is a very common practice among attendees at the various comic-cons held throughout the world. Nothing shows your love and loyalty to a franchise like becoming the living embodiment of your favorite character and these fans are definitely doing just that with their often impressively complex costumes and props. Shaking hands with a walking, talking Iron Man, Storm Trooper or Ursula from The Little Mermaid is definitely a good part of the fun at Comic Fest.
The fun doesn't begin and end with just the costumes, though. Another popular attraction of a comic-con are its many and varied panels. These panels are typically Q & A's with many of the industries top celebrities and aficionados covering anything from the process of creating your own comic world to prop building to media in the digital age. I particularly enjoyed the voice over and puppeteering workshop (secret passions of mine, don't judge).
I also sat in on a panel with Russell Hodgkinson (the hilarious "doctor" from the zombie show called Z Nation) and heard him talk about the various mishaps that can be had on a Hollywood set. He was followed by Peter Dante (arguably best known as the pot dealer from the film Grandma's Boy) who was mostly using his time to advocate the widespread use of marijuana as a medicinal substance. After his hour was up, Dante declared that he was going to take bong hits in the parking lot and was followed out by a gaggle of pot friendly fans.
Peter Dante
I (being the responsible DJ and journalist that I am) decided to head off in a different direction than Dante to do some reporting on what is one of the biggest mainstays to any comic-con event: the merchants. And many, many merchants there were. Some booths were peddling dolls (sadly no one had the Dino the Dinosaur doll I was looking for) and some had shirts (of which I bought three, yes it's an addiction). What was more impressive were the homemade crafts: all sorts of replica weapons from Star Wars, amazing paintings and prints (a lot of booty in these I noticed), and all types of custom jewelry. At the end of it all, my wallet hated me but I walked out with some pretty great items. No regrets! When all was said and done, the Emerald Valley Comic Fest was an absolute blast and great for connecting with your fellow geek culture loving humans. I enjoyed talking shop with the various professionals and cosplayers (and professional cosplayers). I enjoyed haggling with the merchants who seemed to be genuinely good people and who were enjoying being a part of the whole grand event. And I loved conversing with my fellow average attendees, all of which seemed to agree that they would be back to check out the next big comic-con. All of this, and I don't even read comics...