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This past weekend I attended the 2nd annual Rose City Comic Con here in Portland. Year 2 was much, much bigger and better than Year 1. They partnered up with Emerald City Comic Con out of Seattle to make the event better. They moved from the Doubletree Hotel to the Oregon Convention Center. They had a lot more panels and a lot more celebrities. Even the cosplay was greatly improved.

On Saturday I got there about half an hour before it opened up at 10 AM. They had a special line for people who had picked up their badges early (I did at a kick-off party the night before). The con workers told a lot of us to get into the wrong line. When the exhibition hall opened, I could see people walking around, but we weren’t being allowed in even though they realized their mistake. I was annoyed already. Once I got in I saw the place where you could pay for photo ops. I paid to get photos with Jewel Staite, Avery Brooks, and David Giuntoli. I saw the area where celebrities were signing autographs. Even though I said I wouldn’t get autographs, I decided to get Jewel Staite’s autograph for my friend John. He’s a big Firefly fan and one of the main reasons why I became a fan. Jewel was fashionably late to her table. I checked her Twitter account and she had tweeted earlier that she was in Portland, but she had a sore throat. Everyone cheered when she got there. She was very nice and gorgeous. After that I caught the end of the Christopher Judge panel while I waited for the Avery Brooks panel. Christopher Judge was funny and entertaining, but Avery Brooks was just weird. I had heard that he was crazy, but it was still a site to see. The moderator was afraid to ask questions after the first couple. I think most of the audience was uncomfortable at times. Jewel Staite had her panel next. She was adorable. She’s very good at taking bad audience questions and giving good answers. She’s obviously been doing this for a while. After that I went to Kelly Sue DeConnick’s panel, which was great. My last panel of the day was David Giuntoli’s. It was fun, but I had to leave early to get in line to get my photo made with Jewel Staite. I got there 15 minutes early like they told me to and the line was already huge. This line moved quickly though once they started taking photos. I might have been a little curt with her. I was tired, I hadn’t eaten in almost 12 hours, and I was trying not to take up a lot of time especially since I had already spoken to her earlier in the day. She’s probably seen it all, so it probably didn’t register with her.

I didn’t have to be there as early on Sunday as I did on Saturday. I think I got there around noon. The first thing I did was go to the exhibition hall to get Kelly Sue DeConnick’s autograph. She’s so cool! Then I went to Matt Fraction’s panel. Also, very cool! He’s a really funny guy. At some point during the day I got his autograph for the 2nd year in a row, but I can’t remember when. I also saw a bunch of people from work. After Fraction, I went to the Stargate panel. Seeing Stargate people all weekend made me decide that it’s finally time to watch this show. I ordered it from Amazon last night. I left this panel a little early to go to my photo op with Avery Brooks. His line was much shorter. While I was in line, I could see him sitting at his table. I felt bad because no one was coming to get his autograph. Did he scare people off the day before or are people just not interested in Deep Space Nine anymore? I bet there would have been a long line for him 15 years ago. I was in and out of the picture area quickly. I was a little afraid to say much. He was cool though. Then I went to the Greg Rucka panel. He went off on an angry tangent on politics and blah blah blah. I was a little bored. I had to leave early for my photo op with David Giuntoli. Once again I could see Avery Brooks looking sitting at his table and I felt bad again. They made an announcement that he was leaving early. Maybe one or two people came to his table after that and then he left. David was a little late, but the line moved quickly as expected. He was really nice. I thought it was funny that he asked for my name and introduced himself like I didn’t know who he was, like I didn’t pay to have a photo made with him. After that, I was done with the con for the year. On my way out of the exhibition hall, I almost ran right into Jewel Staite, who I think was on her way to her last autograph session.

One again, I’m exhausted, but I’ll definitely be back next year unless something major comes up. I hope this and the competing Wizard’s World Portand Comic Con can both continue for a long time to come. Portland’s a nerdy city and there’s room for both.