Earlier this month I traveled out west to the Pacific Northwest, the wonderful city of Seattle, Washington, to attend Emerald City Comic Con! Unofficially known as the start of “Con season,” ECCC offers a wide array of convention fare ranging from panels, to exhibitors, to celebrity sightings, and live events. This year was a little light on the Star Wars specific items but I am still here to report back on all the happenings.
Taking place in Downtown Seattle, Emerald City gives off the feeling of a more ‘hometown’ convention than the giants like San Diego and New York. That’s certainly not to take away anything from the con’s draw power as the entertainment, literary, and comic guests are still household names. The names that attended that you would be most familiar with included BB-8 puppeteer Brian Herring; writers Delilah Dawson, Chuck Wendig, Charles Soule, Jody Houser, John Jackson Miller, Kevin J. Anderson, and Kevin Hearne; and artists Jen Bartel. Kris Anka, Katie Cook, Karen Hallion, and Cryssy Cheung.
On Thursday, there wasn’t all that much on the schedule but I went to watch Charles Soule partake in a live interview on the SyFy Wire streaming stage. He talked a lot about his current writing projects, including Poe Dameron and Darth Vader from Marvel, as well as his upcoming debut novel called The Oracle Year. I am a huge fan of Charles’ work and am really looking forward to picking up his novel when it releases in April. If you have the chance to see a panel or anything where Charles talks writing you should always attend. Also on Thursday I visited the DelRey/Penguin Random House booth while Chuck Wendig and John Jackson Miller were signing copies of Aftermath and A New Dawn respectively. Watching those two interact with convention attendees is a treat.
The following day had the first of few Star Wars specific panels, The Universe of Star Wars, a review and speculation discussion. Hosted by Jeff Ayers and featuring a panel consisting of Leo Roberts, Kevin J. Anderson, Delilah Dawson, E.K. Johnston, Amanda Cherry, Chuck Wendig, and Greg Hyman. The panel was really fun with the writers talking about their experience of writing and creating Star Wars stories along with the whole group discussing what they would like to see in the future of Star Wars and what they would like to work on if given the chance. I think Delilah and Chuck should be given their own talk show. The two of them together are pure entertainment.
Moving onto Saturday there was another cool panel that I attended from DelRey publishing. Hosted by DelRey editor Elizabeth Schaefer with a panel of Chuck Wendig, Delilah Dawson, and John Jackson Miller, the group talked about writing in Star Wars, what it’s like seeing the movie scripts in order to work on their projects, and what they would like to work on if they had the choice. Again, Delilah and Chuck together are absolute magic. Then on Sunday it was time to wander the convention for the final few times and check out those things you might’ve missed. Chuck and John had another signing at DelRey that is always fun and after that I went to an Image Comics panel that featured Charles Soule which again is a must see. And then it was time to go home!
Emerald City Comic Con is one convention I would highly recommend attending at least once if you can. The environment and atmosphere make for a really fun time for fans of all stripes. I’m already looking forward to rest of the convention circuit for 2018. Have you visited ECCC or have other convention plans for the upcoming year? Comment below or email in at mikea@coffeewithkenobi.com.
The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of Coffee With Kenobi, its hosts, respective writers, or its affiliates.
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