Comics and Pop Culture Conventions can overwhelm first-time visitors. As a first time attendee of Emerald City Comic Con, I was pleased to find that creators take center stage at Emerald City (ECCC). Perhaps because of the maze-like setup of the convention center, there wasn’t a huge publisher presence at this show and artist alley took up the entire top floor. From the panels to artist alley, visitors had access to creators and the opportunity to forge relationships that can be assets in the classroom.
The Thursday panels at the beautiful Seattle Public Library focused on content specific to the classroom and library. Pop Culture Classroom knows the way to teachers’ hearts and provided free coffee and breakfast pastries. Scholastic supplied copies of several free advanced reader copies (ARCs) of new titles, including End Games by Ru Xu. Panels ranged from introductory to topic-specific, with many suggestions and helpful hints. The personal favorite for me was the last panel of the day, Inclusive Comics 101: Comics for The Rest of Us. The panel had incredible natural chemistry and brought diverse knowledge to the discussion. You know it’s a great panel when you want to continue the conversation down the street at a coffee shop. The panel included Dr. Katie Monnin, Paige Braddock, Colleen AF Venable, Ellenshaw, and S.W. Sondheimer. Be sure to check out their work.
Another plus for teachers at ECCC was Pop Culture Classroom curating handouts of title suggestions, resources, and panel slides for the audience to download. Often panelists will rattle off suggestions and resources so fast that the audience cannot keep up or become victims of information overload. With the download link, I could focus on listening to the panels and download the handouts for reference later.
Gaming panels were another big feature of the weekend. Meeting Ethan Schoonover from the Lake Washington Girls Middle School was the highlight of the convention. “Mr. E” is building young, female D&D gamers in a powerful way that fits into the mission of the school and is empowering student voices. If you have been interested in incorporating gaming into your school, be sure to follow Ethan on Twitter to get a glimpse behind the curtain. I was lucky enough to visit Lake Washington Girls Middle School and meet some of his amazing DMs and players. If I lived in Seattle, Lake Washington would be high on my list to seek out a teaching position. The staff, young women, and intellectual energy in that little building were impressive and contagious.
The books that I was most excited about at Emerald City:
- End Games by Ru Xu
- Kiss Number 8 by Colleen Venable and Erin
- Bitter Root by Chuck Bell, David F. Walker, and Sanford Green
- Life of Frederick Douglass by David Walker
- Thousand Words by Meryl Jaffe &
- Sea Sirens by Amy Chu and Janet Lee
- Illiad by Gareth Hinds
Emerald City is definitely on my list of top conventions for teachers and I look forward to returning.
If you attended ECCC, what were some of your highlights?