The stars are aligning and heading north to Seattle for Emerald City Comicon 2014. With just 2 months and counting and tickets going fast as The Flash here’s a quick geek guide of my top 14 reasons to go to Emerald City Comicon 2014.
Yes, it’s hard to pick with such a great roster but let’s start with these 7 celebrity guests:
Karen Gillan Yes, Whovians you are being rewarded! The first Doctor Who cast guest ever at Emerald City Comicon is “the girl who waited.” Gillan played Amy Pond opposite Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor. Marvel fans will see Gillan go bald and bad as the evil Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy this Summer. You can see Gillan LIVE Sunday only at ECCC.
Karl Urban Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Dredd – the actor with tons of sci-fi cred comes to Seattle for the first time! Urban is now starring in the hit Almost Human and some fans will remember his role as Caesar in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. Urban beams to Seattle for Saturday and Sunday.
Ron Perlman HELLBOY! That’s enough for me! The actor is known for playing Mike Mignola’s comic book creation in two feature films plus roles in Pacific Rim, Blade II, Alien Resurrection plus two iconic television series, Beauty and the Beast and Sons of Anarchy.
Stephen Amell of ARROW! Amell hits the target as DC Comics vigilante archer Oliver Queen on the smash series on The CW. Amell appears Saturday only. Kelly Hu played China White on the first season of Arrow and fans loved to hate her as Lady Deathstrike in X-Men 2. Hu will be appearing all three days.
Steven Yuen plays the heroic Glen on The Walking Dead and will appear all three days along with co-star Emily Kinney who portrays Beth Greene on the smash AMC series based on Robert Kirkman’s Image comic book series.
Nichelle Nichols the latest member of Star Trek royalty to visit the Seattle. I was lucky to see the groundbreaking actress perform at a NASA/Pacific Northwest Ballet event two years in Seattle. Believe me this mashup worked! Now the actress who the groundbreaking Uhura opens hailing frequencies with fans. ECCC has classic and Star Trek: The Next Generation fans covered: Michael Dorn brings his iconic voice, charm and incredible stories of making two Trek series and four movies.
Plus, Michael Biehn, Richard Dean Anderson and here’s the entire list so far along with information on autographs and photo ops.
Now for the really, really hard choice: picking just 7 comic book guest picks but here goes:
Emerald City Comicon continues the tradition of bringing comic book greats to meet Pacific Northwest fans. Legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont inspired huge lines last year. Here are 7 great comic book guests on my wish list for 2014:
Arthur Adams The incredible artist who co-created the original Longshot limited series is making his first ECCC appearance. Adams has iconic runs on X-Men, The Authority, Batman, Godzilla and created covers for the X-Men 50th Anniversary crossover Battle of the Atom. It will fun looking through my collection to pick which Adams issues to have signed! Longshot co-creator Ann Nocenti (currently on Catwoman) is also attending.
Klaus Janson Legendary artist who worked with Frank Miller on The Dark Knight Returns, and Daredevil: The Elektra Saga. This is decade defining and industry inspiring work. Janson was part of the Batman arcs Cataclysm, Gothic and Knightfall. I have to find my copy of the DC Comics/Image Comics crossover: Batman/Spawn: War Devil drawn by Janson.
Peter David The fan-favorite writer with amazing runs on Incredible Hulk, X-Factor, Supergirl and Young Justice. For me it’s David’s 12-year run of Hulk that is one of my all-time favorite comic book experiences. David explored the Bruce’s multiple disorder with the grey Hulk and the merged Banner who led the Pantheon. One of my favorite moments in David’s career is the wedding of Rick Jones and Marlo with a hilarious Bachelor party thrown by the Hulk. David just relaunched a brand new version of X-Factor.
Jason Aaron of Scalpled, Ghost Rider, Wolverine and the X-Men, Amazing X-Men. Aaron is still a new kid on the block compared the living legends above but I absolutely love Aaron’s strange and wonderful stories of Logan and the kids of the Jean Grey School plus he’s bringing my favorite X-Man back from the dead. I may ask Aaron for a hug and an autograph for bringing back Nightcrawler.
Ed McGuinness is the fan-favorite artist working with Aaron on Amazing X-Men. His career includes the first Superman/Batman run with Jeph Loeb that should be a movie and Hulk with Loeb that introduced the Red Hulk. McGuinness and returning guest Dexter Vines have worked together on Hulk, JLA Classified and one really special issue to me, Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America.
Mark Bagley is one of the definitive Spidey artist. Bagley drew Ultimate Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, New Warriors, Thunderbolts for Marvel and Justice League of America, Batman and Trinity for DC. Fellow fans will join me in praising Bagley for his collaboration with Brian Michael Bendis on Ultimate Spider-Man and the Death of Spider-Man arc. The duo launched Avengers Assemble and have their creator owned title: Brilliant.
Jock Writer/artist of The Losers, Green Arrow: Year One and recently Batman and Savage Wolverine. Jock is one of my favorite cover artist right now with a unique style. Just look at his cover for New Avengers #1 – just one of my favorite covers by him last year. Now the debate begins – which issues to bring to hopefully have signed?
Those are just 7 but there are more new and returning comic book writers, artists and celebrity cosplayers coming. Here’s the complete list. Emerald City Comicon is March 28, 29, and 30th at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Here’s the link to buy tickets to this full 3-day event.
By Editor