Motor City Comic Con 2016 Wrap-Up

I had the privilege of attending Motor City Comic Con again this year, and it was nothing short of pure awesomeness. The three-day event is held annually at the Suburban Showcase in Novi, and brings scores of comic collectors, cosplayers, and media personalities to Metro Detroit. This is easily one of my favorite shows of the year, and this year most certainly didn’t disappoint. Here’s my breakdown of what made this year’s Motor City Comic Con one of the biggest yet.

For the Nerd News Crew, we always spend the first day of any con doing sight-seeing, and scoping out potential purchases. We arrived on Friday, picked up our press passes, and away we went. The con floor was alive and buzzing when the show officially kicked off, and just based on the first day of attendance, it looked like this year was going to be BUSY. As Maria and I walked aimlessly around the show floor for what seemed like hours, we decided to start scoping out the panels schedule. Noting a few panels that we’d want to attend, we came to the immediate realization that everything we wanted to see was on a Saturday. The Busiest.Day.Of.The.Con. Scheduling insanity aside, we decided to scope out where the celebs would be placed so we could strategize how we’d attack photo ops. It was here that I first saw it. The GIANT sign advertising for the first time in years, THE FOUR HORSEMEN. Flair, Anderson, Blanchard, Windham AND even JJ Dillon, all in one spot. I knew I had to meet them, but I had my eye squarely on meeting one of my favorite wrestlers of all time: Ric Flair. The freaking Nature Boy. 16 Time World Champ.

There were a ton of media guests this year, both new and old. Headlined by the first public appearance in years by The Four Horsemen, Jon Bernthal, Lena Headey, and Adam West and Burt Ward, the guest list was off the charts. A pretty solid chunk of The Walking Dead cast was in attendance as well, as Seth Gilliam, Michael Cudlitz, Sonequa Martin-Green, Alexandra Breckenridge, and Josh McDermitt all met with fans. There was a planned panel featuring the cast of TWD but it was abruptly cancelled (We’re hearing AMC actually had the panel pulled). The Punisher panel was amazing as Jon Bernthal and Elden Henson dished on making Season 2 of Daredevil, and engaged fans questions about off-camera shenanigans. Lena Headey held her own Game Of Thrones panel, which was also very entertaining, but she remained tight-lipped about potential season 6 spoilers (although the audience did try to get her to crack).  After the panels we hit the floor again, and it was time. I walked past the Horsemen and where they were set up and seen Flairs line was dwindling down. This was my chance. I snagged some cash from our “Con Bag” to pay for the photo-op and eagerly hopped in line. As I get up to the front of the line, I hear the line attendant reassure Ric Flair that I “was the last one”, and they’d be able to depart right after. Great…… Usually the last guy in line gets either the absolute worst experience, or the absolute best, I was hoping for the latter but got somewhere in between. I finally got up to Flair, Shook his hand and thanked him for all the memories and posed for my shot, I attempted to make small talk about his podcast, or even plug my own, but he was so hardcore despondent and checked out, I’m pretty sure every word I muttered sounded like the adults from a Charlie Brown special. Ah well, I still got to meet Ric Flair!

Maria and I walked the floor a while longer and before we knew it, the con was almost closed for the day. We made our final rounds and I noticed that the line for AMC’s Comic Book Men Stars Ming Chen and Mike Zapcic was still pretty decent, so I hopped in line hoping to maybe snag an impromptu interview briefly, but wound up with a bit more than that. For starters, both guys were super cool and welcoming. They’d actually spent some time to talk to me about my experience with the con so far, and when Ming noticed my badge, he immediately asked about my podcast. After some more small talk, Ming actually suggested that if they had time, I should swing back by their booth with my recorder, and they’d do a segment for the Nerd News Show with me! Score! I was elated at the prospect of getting to chat with these guys for a few, but then a sudden realization hit me like a Ric Flair knee drop. I didn’t have my recorder. Wait, do I even own a recorder? Dammit! I don’t own a recorder! How could I call myself a journalist if I don’t even have a recorder?!?!?! Ball. Dropped. The most non-epic way to end an otherwise stellar day. Bummer.

The last day of the con was devoted primarily to snagging some last-minute cosplay photos until the Walking Dead panel at noon. We also usually reserve the last day of MCCC for executing all our purchases that we’d scoped out throughout the weekend. We missed out on an Amazing Spiderman comic that Maria had her eye on for a while now, but we ended up finding a different variant for a lower price, so we still walked away winners. I looked down at my watch and freaked out about the time, it was 11:35 and the Walking Dead panel started at Noon…I figured there was absolutely no way there’d still be seats available, but that didn’t stop me from trying. As we approached the speaking room, there was NO LINE, which is never a good thing. We walked into the room, and sure enough it was a packed house. We literally sat in the last two seats all the way in the back of the room and waited for the panel to start. 11:55 comes and people are already starting to get antsy. It’s now 12:10, and the panel still hasn’t started. 12:20 and I start to get a little worried. 12:30 and one of the MCCC staff members take the stage, she tries to talk to the crowd about the latest happenings in the Walking Dead universe with one GIANT problem: She’d never seen the show. Once she revealed this fact to the rabid fan base that’d already waited almost an hour to get their Walking Dead fix, there was almost a riot. No less than five minutes later, another staff member hit the stage to deliver the unfortunate news that due to “Unforeseen circumstances” the Walking Dead panel had to be cancelled. The crowd almost lost it. Hundreds of bummed fans stormed out, in what had to be the largest recorded nerd tantrum in history.

All three days at MCCC were super fun, and with the exception of the cancelled panel, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I’m looking forward to seeing what next year’s installment has to offer.