The registration lines seemed to be moving quickly on Saturday morning. Badge or wristband pickup was very easy. Even at ten in the morning (before panels opened) the convention was already buzzing with energy. With five panel rooms plus a kids area there were plenty to do even in the early hours of the convention.

Writing for Comics Panel
For those aspiring to be comic book and graphic novel writers there were several panels dedicated to the written aspect of the industry. “Writing for Comics” had a panel made up of Joshua Hale Fialkov (I, Vampire), J.T. Krul (Mindfield, Green Arrow), Brian Buccellato (Flash), and Jim McCann (Mind the Gap). The panel began with a discussion of how they broke into the industry and the importance of developing new ideas. The primary focus was on the importance of always writing and always coming up with new ideas. On an interesting note it was revealed that showers do help focus the mind allowing for ideas to develop faster. After the panel several of the writers were available to chat about their work.

Valiant Comics
One of the interesting parts of the dealer hall is the small stage that was set up to do small presentations. The first dealer stage panel we came across featured Valiant Comics. The rebuilt Valiant Comics had an informal interview where they talked about picking up the old titles and restarting the company. They also talked about the new found popularity of X-O Manowar with the current run of the series. In addition to that, they revealed that the US Luge team for the 2014 Olympics would have uniforms based on Manowar. It was a nice addition to the dealer hall and made shopping somewhat entertaining.

Cosplay Q and A with Luck in Spades
One of the friends of our site Miko Simons (Luck in Spades) held a cosplay panel that focused on audience questions rather than a beginner how to panel. After a brief introduction about her qualifications and experience the questions began. The discussion hit key topics like where to find people who can make costumes or props, what fabric works better for specific conditions, and how to develop costume production abilities. The discussion was lively and fun, everyone really enjoyed themselves. This was a great panel for beginners and experienced costumers.

Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors Panel
On the horror side of the convention there was a great panel for those who love 80s slasher movies. Several cast members from the fan favorite Nightmare on Elm Street 3 came to talk about their time working on the classic movie. The actors included Ken Sagoes (Roland), Rodney Eastman (Joey), Jennifer Rubin (Taryn), Bradley Gregg (Philip), Ira Heiden (Will) and, Penelope Sudrow (Jennifer). It was great hearing their stories about Robert Englund (Freddy) and the strange transition into part four in the case of the few survivors from part three. It was fun hearing about the on set adventures and how the cast grew to feel like family. It seemed like there was plenty of stories and discussion to have warranted a second hour, hopefully later events have this as a two hour panel. However, if you wanted to see the cast up close they were at a booth in the dealer hall for further discussion and autographs.

Raw Studio Video Shorts and Q&A
While many people might not be too familiar with Raw Studios they are the group behind the popular short film Dirty Laundry. The panel was going to be a promotion of Dirty Laundry and the upcoming Old West project, but sadly the equipment did not work right. There was some discussion of their projects and a few questions from the audience. It is a shame to see the technical side of a panel fall apart because it would have been great to see the new trailers and clips from the creative team of Thomas Jane and Tim Bradstreet. It was nice to have some Q and A, hopefully the technical problems wont happen next time they run this panel.

Pierre Bernard’s Sexy Cosplay
One of the events that looked odd on the schedule was “Pierre Bernard’s Sexy Cosplay” a non-instructional drawing workshop. The workshop was run by Pierre Bernard Jr. of Conan O’Brien fame and he got a couple models to pose for the gathered artists to draw. It did not matter how good or bad you are at art, it was more about having fun and hanging out with other artist people. The press members that arrived were also commanded to draw, though Jared started before being asked because he wanted to join in the fun. After an hour the models took a break and the artists were allowed to mingle and relax. It was a very different type of workshop and it was fun doodling while old timey jazz music played in the background. Hopefully, this event will come back to more events as it was enjoyable to hang out with other people doodling models. Jared's art has been lost in the Scarlet Rhapsody archives (aka - Victoria's ref).

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