Best bets for C2E2 for 2024, from people-watching to prom

The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, aka C2E2, fittingly held at McCormick Place, Chicago's own matrix of architectural perplexity, returns this weekend. It's the 15th edition, and the good thing is that not much has changed: if last year is anything to go by, it will still be extremely big, still crowded on Saturday, likely to drain your paycheck , will be dotted with celebrities (who will choose your own wallet (between $65 and $110 per autograph) and is still a window into contemporary fan culture.

But for a moment, the future seemed bleak, like that of a zombie apocalypse.

After a few years of pandemic, the comic con industry seemed doomed to extinction, doomed by its own model: Would Lou Ferrigno insist on seeing my vaccination card before hugging me? Was every Justice League cosplay destined to come together in the Hall of Zoom now? Gatherings of smarter, artist-focused geeks like C2E2 (and the indie comics-focused CAKE con in August) have remained vital for a simple reason: In a fractured digital world, this audience still needs a physical space to meet and an avenue to show your creativity. .

Inevitably, social media is not enough.

I feel like we came out the other end of the pandemic with a stockpile of these things and their communities hungry for in-person conversations, said Brien McDonald, vice president of content for ReedPop, producer of C2E2 based in Connecticut as well as Celebrating Comic Con and Star Wars in New York. At the end of each C2E2, he said, the company conducts many conversations with the participants, and what they have decided is that the future is like a cocktail party. With Pokémon cards and cosplay workshops.

As crazy as it sounds, what we're saying now in the company is focus on the friends.

With that in mind, here's a quick list of the best bets for C2E2 2024:

1. The heart of C2E2 is people observation. Specifically, the cosplay, the intensely realized latex uniforms, the inventive alternatives to Hollywood CGI and robotics, the remarkable number of people who still want to dress as the Joker or Harley Quinn. All of this will take place on Saturday for the Central Crown Cosplay Championships. (And it's a scene.)

2. Ball C2E2,Friday at 8 p.m. It's a cute idea, first launched in Chicago after ReedPops' success with two nerd balls at its Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. Costumes are highly encouraged. There will be photo backdrops and of course, there will be a theme: 15 Years of Fantasy in Chicago. Entrance is included with the ticket.

3. Josh Brolin. Guest of honor. Straight out of Dune Part 2 and a memorable guest on Saturday Night Live, with a memoir coming this fall not to mention, still feared as Thanos, the best villain in Marvel films. He's signing for $200 apiece, but on Sunday (included with your ticket) he'll also do a big Q&A with the audience.

4. Maya Hawke. One of the best parts of C2E2 is the inclusion each year of a star just before becoming a superstar (Chris Hemsworth, Steven Yeun, Millie Bobby Brown) and this year it's Hawke, daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, singer-songwriter, Stranger costar. Things, who will soon play Flannery O'Connor in Wildcat, directed by her father. She signs on Saturday and Sunday and talks with the public on Sunday.

5. Horror is the new science fiction. A generation ago, it would have been heresy to host a comic con without repeatedly bowing to Star Trek, the prototypical nerd-con subject. It probably says a lot about today's world that the hope of science fiction is being replaced by the survival horror stories. Here's proof: numerous panel discussions on horror as a growing literary genre, comic book, film, and podcast, including a conversation with Tom Skerritt and Veronica Cartwright from the original Alien and several appearances by James Tynion IV, paranoid reigning god of horror. comic books.

6. Hollywood reunions. Alien aside, there are also plenty of cast reunions, including Hannibal, Star Wars: Rebels, Clerks, One Tree Hill, Rick and Morty and the Shes All That movie (via photo shoots, with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook).

7. Related to the scene. A curious aspect of C2E2 has been its dedication to theater and improvisation workshops. This year, there will be panels on using superheroes and Dungeons & Dragons in improv, as well as a conversation between three Annoyance Theater stalwarts: Mick Napier, Jennifer Estlin and Susan Messing. Additionally, if you experience any malfunctions in your costumes, the DePaul University Theater Department has a prop repair booth.

8. Darren Criss. Speaking of theater, theater and television, actor Darren Criss, whose theater troupe Team StarKid was based in Chicago for a time, is back to discuss Glee, American Crime Story and probably his recent tour off-Broadway in Little Shop of Horrors.

9. Meetings. The best lesson from C2E2: if you like something, someone else does too. Check out the C2E2 website: there are meetups all weekend around McCormick for fans of Scott Pilgrim, Studio Ghibli, Our Flag Means Death, Tamagotchi, Dune. To infinity.

C2E2: The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo 2024 will take place April 26-28 at McCormick Place South, 2301 S. Martin Luther King Drive; tickets from $70 to www.c2e2.com

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