Sunday Fly-By to Emerald City Comicon 2015--The "Preflight"

(Image:  Emerald City Comicon Banner)

Due to my work schedule, I could only attend the last day of this year's Emerald City Comicon (ECCC, 27-29 March).

My on-line activity during the week leading up to the convention was spent examining the website's Program, Exhibitors and Artist Alley sections to determine what my focus would be for my "Sunday Fly-By." 

(ECCC Program Guide with cover art by Becky Dreistadt)

Even though I could only attend 1/3 of the ECCC, I wasn't flying solo:  I invited my step-son Alex to join me.  I reserved our tickets back in January and our passports-to-adventure arrived in the mail two weeks before the show:

While I've managed to attend the 2012 and 2103 conventions, for one and three days respectively, this was Alex's first time attending such an event.  He was sporting enough to follow my lead. 

However, I didn't want Alex to be bored, so I decided to skip the panel discussions and celebrity guest appearances, and simply do a walk-about to give him an overall impression of the convention layout and activities.

My ulterior motive for doing a walk-about was to chat with some the writers and artists, and solicit some advice on how to improve my webcomic, Breakout from Bongolaan.

With this in mind, I wanted to look professional.  However, early that Sunday morning, I stepped out of the shower, looked at the business-casual attire I set out and thought:  The Hell with it...

...and donned my Punisher costume.

(Image from:  Comic Vine--The Punisher vs. The Saints)

Okay, nowhere near as cool, or heavily armed as the real Punisher costume. 

My version consisted of the Punisher White Skull T-shirt my wife bought me at ECCC 2013, black cargo pants, black jungle boots, a cargo-strap belt, a holster and an air-soft pellet gun replica of a Desert Eagle semi-automatic handgun. 

As to the effectiveness of my costume--I'll discuss it on my cosplay blogpost.

For now, it's back to the fly-by preflight...

...Alex and I met outside the Washington State Convention Center.  He rode his bike into Seattle and left his bike at work.  Meanwhile I drove.  Normally, finding a parking space in the Convention Center can be fairly easy, if you arrive early enough.  The center straddles I-5, so there are exits that lead straight to the facility's parking garage.

However, that weekend there were a series of construction projects going on that affected normal traffic patterns.  This can be bad enough, especially since Seattle took 5th Place among the nation's most congested cities. 

Fortunately, driving the highways & byways was smooth sailing--until took the detour exit for the Convention Center.  Due to the aforementioned construction, I had to take a roundabout way to find parking.  But since I had cash handy, I was able to snag a spot right back at the Convention Center.

Anyway, enough about Seattle's traffic woes.

After I discussed our "con-plan," we stepped into a nearby TARDIS...

...metaphorically speaking of course, and entered the "...strange new world..." that is the Emerald City's premiere comic convention...

...to be continued...so stay tuned!