Oh my goodness. Salt Lake Comic Con was HUUUUUUUUGE.
It was my second time being in Salt Lake City – I traveled there in 2014 for Salt City Steamfest and had a great time. As a loyal attendee of C2E2 I fully expected a similar setup. The setup was indeed similar… but on a much larger scale. The attendance was through the roof, guys, and the guest list was unbelievably outstanding. I attended as a vendor, sharing a booth/table with several fellow authors from Xchyler Publishing to sell our books, but I also made sure I was participating as a cosplayer and attended at least one panel. You know. The full con experience.
I was struck by how friendly and diverse the SLCC crowd was. Cosplayers as simple as Pokemon kigu suits and as complex as gigantic oversized Doctor Octopus armor and arms wandered the halls. There was a lot more animation cosplay here than at C2E2, I thought; I saw tons of Steven Universes and anime characters milling about, which made me happy. I started playing I Spy with Mistborn and captured at least five separate Brandon Sanderson superfans in their own homemade Mistborn cloaks, and one fine sir decked out as Pattern from Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives.
The vendors ranged from artists to authors to anime wigs to fine leather goods, with outrageous appearances by live snakes, an escape room, a haunted house display or two and some awesome food stalls as well. The panel schedule was jam-packed with cosplay help and discussion, writing advice, fan-driven debates and nostalgic explorations of a broad spectrum of topics.
I attended a writing panel about fantasy lit, given by such greats as Terry Brooks, R.A. Salvatore, Jessica Day George, Jim Butcher, David Farland and James A. Owen. Our booth was next to that of wrestling legend Ron Simmons – super nice guy. I glimpsed Chris Evans with my own two eyes (and screamed involuntarily), and I shook hands with Felicia Day and Hayley Atwell. And I met tons of amazing fans and con-goers, and sold a few copies of my novel in the process.
Everything was awesome.
If you’re thinking about hitting up the third-largest con in the nation (not to mention in the utterly beautiful state of Utah) when it swings around for 2016, I highly recommend doing so.
Now, I’m off to research fabric for my own Mistborn cloak. ❤
Alyson Grauer 