For their birthdays, many women might ask for a day at the spa, or a shopping spree, or at least a fancy dinner. While I can have my girly-girl moments, I really wanted some time when I could bond with my family, and make some lasting memories, before my first-born heads off to college next fall. So I asked for what any good mother to a family of geeks would ask for – a trip to Comic Con.

Last weekend we took a road trip to Wizard World’s Comic Con in Chicago, held at Donald E Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, home primarily to all things comic book, but also sci-fi, fantasy, and generally geeky in nature.  The Con was a very decent size, and took us about 5 hours to get through. We could have spent longer, but that was all our trip itinerary would allow.

The view from the entrance was quite impressive and a little overwhelming.

We decided to just go through each of the aisles, making note of interesting things, before attacking with our wallets.  And always considering our GeekCrafts readers, I put everyone on photo duty for all the interesting cosplay (costume-play) adventures. You’re welcome.

My husband has over 100 pics posted in a Google Album, but here is a sampling to whet your appetite [after the jump].

There were quite a few celebrities at the Con – if you wanted an autograph or photo with any of them, there was a long line, and an extra fee. We contented ourselves with “brushes with greatness” as we passed their tables. We saw Patrick Stewart (“Star Trek: The Next Generation), Bruce Campbell (“Burn Notice,” ARMY OF DARKNESS), Felicia Day (“The Guild”), Vivica Fox (KILL BILL, VOL 1, INDEPENDENCE DAY), Lou Ferrigno (“The Incredible Hulk”), Erin Gray and Gil Gerard (“Buck Rogers”), Peter Tork (The Monkees), and Christopher Lloyd (BACK TO THE FUTURE, “Taxi”). We were quite tickled to see them in person – pretty cool.

I would have liked to see the Q&A panels with Patrick Stewart and Bruce Campbell, but timing just didn’t mesh up. Fortunately, there is this thing called YouTube.

Chicago Comic Con 2011 – Bruce Campbell Panel

Chicago Comic Con 2011 – Patrick Stewart Panel

The Artist Alley was also really cool, and we wished we had had more time to really browse through their examples, and chat with the indie artists. If I had had another day at the Con, I would have interviewed each of the female indie artists, to bring some more attention to our Geek sisters. Alas, we were moving through so fast, I didn’t even think to grab business cards to at least link to them. So in lieu of links, here’s a list of the artists that were there (along with celebs and vendors). We all thought it was very cool that the Con gave so much real estate to promoting indie authors. Of course, without any of the big name publishers there, like DC Comics, Marvel, or Dark Horse, there was some space available to give.

Finally, I’d like to give a quick shout-out to our friend Jeff Miracola, who had an artist table there. Jeff is the husband of a good friend of mine from college, so it was really neat to see him there in his element. He has had some lovely success with his art – my son recognized a good number of his Magic cards.

Since this post is getting long enough, I’ll save the crafty pics for another post! :)

Links of Interest:

• Chicago Comic Con 2011 homepage
• Comic Con cosplay Google album
• Chicago Comic Con 2011 – Bruce Campbell Panel
• Chicago Comic Con 2011 – Patrick Stewart Panel
• Jeff Miracola‘s homepage

BONUS LINK

• Wizard World Chicago Comic Con 2011 Flickr group pool