Welcome to the end of day one of ATL Comic Convention in beautiful Atlanta, GA.
After a late-night arrival last night, we started today with the obligatory breakfast at Waffle House, which was spectacular.
Don’t judge.
After spending the morning over at the Center for Puppetry Arts checking out the special exhibit on Jim Henson’s work (in honor or Steve Whitmire being at the event), we went over to the Georgia World Congress Center to check in and pick up our wristbands.
It was around an hour before the doors opened, and it wasn’t that busy, which was a little surprising, but it wasn’t like it was empty.
Once the doors opened, we were greeted by a pretty well-organized vendor area, with plenty of aisle space.to move around in, which is always a welcome state of affairs.
In speaking with some of the volunteers and vendors, I got some insight into the behind the scenes stuff.
If you aren’t a FanX loyalist, or a pop-culture fan in general, you may not know that that organization recently purchased several other conventions, including ATL Comic Convention, so I was interested in seeing what kind of changes they might have seen.
A first-time vendor was surprised by how busy the load-in area was on Thursday afternoon (but that’s why typical of any convention center, I think). She was also surprised by the amount and quality of event branding that showed up between her loading in on Thursday and her arrival this morning.
That level of organization and detail is something I would expect, knowing how FanX traditionally operates, but the fact it was noticed by the vendor was cool.
Anyway, the event itself seems to be running smoothly, and everyone seems to be having a great time.
Also, I got to serve as moderator for William Katt’s Q&A, which seemed to go well if I am to believe both several audience members (one a professional journalist) and William himself. Wonderful man, BTW; loves to talk and is very genuine with fans’ questions.
Tomorrow I will be moderating the Q&A for Quinton Aaron and Robert “IronE” Singleton’s The Blind Side reunion.
THAT is going to be a challenge. A terrifying one.
I didn’t go after any autographs or anything today, so I can’t really speak to any of that yet, but tomorrow I will be trying for a couple of those, I think, so we’ll see how that works out.
More to come.
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Oh, hey! You know what I DIDN’T see here? Lego mini-figs.
Crazy, right?