An Amazing Weekend at Fan Expo

I spent much of the last four days ensconced in pop culture fun at Fan Expo Chicago. It was a tremendous "debut" event.

Although technically this is the first year for Fan Expo in Chicago, its roots date back to 1972. What started as Chicago Comic Con became Wizard World in 1998. Late last year, it became Fan Expo. It still was loaded with celebrities, creators, vendors and more.

I was curious and hopeful to see how Fan Expo would operate. In one word, it was "smooth." Everything including check-in, celebrity schedules and lines, information posting, volunteer crew, layout and all other important elements ran incredibly smoothly.

My weekend started on Thursday with a mini-preview. I got my Media Credential from PR Manager Jerry Milani. A long time presence at Wizard World, Jerry handles the media process flawlessly. He really is the best in the business and I am proud to call him a friend after all these years.

Then I made my way to Artist Alley to catch up with the creator friends I have made over the years. Through my years of covering Wizard World, I have interviewed talented folks like author John Everson and comic writer Trevor Mueller, while also talking to them off camera and becoming friends. That's one of the really nice parts of the convention.

On Friday through Sunday, I worked my day around panels and photo-ops. In between those, I was usually in Artist Alley, reconnecting with some creators and meeting plenty of ones for the first time.

My first celebrity encounter was Carl Weathers. The young kid in me was screaming as I met Apollo Creed. I know most would know him from the Star Wars franchise, but Rocky remains one of my all-time favorite movies. Weathers was fantastic. He seemed to appreciate I mentioned Apollo, as well as his time with the Oakland Raiders.

Meeting Ashley Eckstein, also involved in the Star Wars franchise, took an unexpected pleasant turn. I recognized the gentleman sitting next to her as David Eckstein, former Major League baseball player and her husband. Although David played for the St. Louis Cardinals, I was a big fan of his during his career. I politely asked for a photo with him and he graciously agreed. Ashley and David laughed when I commented I was still a big fan of both, despite my allegiance to the Chicago Cubs.

I met so many creators I cannot list all of them. One special one was designer Jamie Koala. She has beautiful artwork and apparel. She is also a lot of fun to follow on social media.

I connected with fellow media folks Annie Banks and Gianna Belcastro. Although they have different areas of interest, they are on similar paths to success, as young, talented media personalities. This is another great aspect of this convention. I learned a lot covering Wizard World over the years and these two are well ahead of where I was at their age.

I met clowns (scary and happy) and cosplayers of all sorts. I even made a couple of bird friends courtesy of One Ring Engraver.

Last, I cannot finish without mentioning all of the friends I saw or made. This is an event for fans and friends to get together and just have fun and nobody has more fun than my friends Rob and Sue Kurek.

I expected Fan Expo to come out strong in Chicago and they delivered. I think it is only going to get better, too. I have already circled next year's dates (8-10-13/23). I am also looking into going to Fan Expo St. Louis next year.