[UPDATED] C2E2 2016 schedule highlights! Panel schedule is up!

The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (better known as C2E2) is one month away! This is one of my favorite cons since there’s lots of variety and plenty to do, but the place isn’t stupidly crowded. There’s lots of time to get to everything and to hang with your friends. The C2E2 website happens to hate visitors and hides all the information (if you’ve visited, you know what I mean), so here’s a look at schedule highlights!

Updates:

  • 2/22 – Mailing ticket deadline is extended to this Friday (2/29). Added new movie, TV and literary guests based on the panel schedule.

Also, the mail order ticket deadline is this Friday so grab your tickets now if you don’t want to pick up at the show!

Chicago Comic and entertainment expo c2e2 banner logo rare

Movie and TV guests

Most pop culture cons give you the chance to meet some of your favorite movie and TV stars. C2E2 has a collection of stars with more to be announced!

  • John Cusack – The Chicago native is making an appearance so bring your own boombox and ask him to re-create the Say Anything scene for an epic photo op.
  • John Ratzenberger – He may be best known as Cliff from Cheers or Pixar’s good luck charm with a role in every single movie
  • Supergirl – Sisters are doing it! Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh will represent
  • Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD – The Immortals are here with Chloe Bennet and J. August Richards
  • Flash – Wally West in the Midwest! Keiynan Lonsdale will be around
  • Battlestar Galactica – The admiral and the president! Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell
  • Mighty Morphin Power Rangers – It’s Morphin time! Austin St. John (who has a separate, ticketed event), Karan Ashley
  • Adventure Time – No, it’s Adventure Time!  Hynden Walch, Jeremy Shada
  • Sons of Anarchy –The show may be over, the Tommy Flanagan and Ryan Hurst are still traveling on.
  • Sailor Moon – Go over the moon with Michelle Ruff and Stephanie Sheh!
  • Lost Girl – As the final episodes play out, say hi to Ksenia Solo (also from Orphan Black) and Rachel Skarsten (also from Reign)
  • Sasha Roiz of Grimm makes his first C2E2 appearance
  • [UPDATE] DB Sweeney – The man who learned to use a toe pick in The Cutting Edge will be signing for a half hour on Friday.
  • [UPDATE] Svengoolie – The local Chicago equivalent of Elvira (but with far less cleavage) is also appearing at C2E2.

All of the above guests will be available for autographs, photo ops and a panel. The photo ops schedule and prices are up now. If you’re coming for only a day, double check the schedule since not everyone is around all three days.

C2E2 2015 (5)

Unlike some other cons which are basically just autograph shows, C2E2 has a lot of other programming with the support of publishers and manufactures. This is where a lot of the fun happens!

Comic guests

There are tons of incredible creators on the guest list include Chris Claremont, Mike Mignola, Mark Brooks, Arthur Adams, Ben Templesmith, David Petersen, Katie Cook and a whole lot more!

It’s too early for booth and signing schedules, but Marvel will be represent with in-booth signings and the Super Happy Giveaway Hour which closes the show every day with masses amounts of exclusives, variants and stuff.

C2E2 2015 (15)

Literary guests

There’s a Star Wars book panel on Friday! The books are an official part of the Star Wars universe and will tell the story in between movies. For example, Bloodline focuses on Leia after Return of the Jedi and before The Force Awakens. Head to the panel and try to interrogate author Claudia Gray before Bloodline launches on May 3rd! Her fellow panelists include Adam Bray (Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know), Jeffrey Brown (Darth Vader and Friends) and John Jackson Miller (Star Wars: A New Dawn). [UPDATE] Elizabeth Schaefer (Star Wars The Force Awakens: Rey’s Story) was added to the panel.

Epic Reads is bringing five authors for a YA panel on Saturday. There’s a nice mix of authors from popular series (Danielle Paige of Dorothy Must Die and Sara Raasch who wrote Snow Like Ashes) and three debut authors. While you may not be familiar with Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie, A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro or The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Helig, there’s lots of buzz about these debuts. Also, these books (and others) appear on the mail-ordered C2E2 badges so you’ll be seeing a lot of these books around!

While Epic Reads (aka HarperCollins) does not have a booth, C2E2 will host a post-panel signing.  Anderson’s Bookshop will be at C2E2 so you can probably buy books on-site. Danielle Paige’s latest book, The Yellow Brick War, launches that week while the three debut authors will have their books out already.  Sara Raasch’s newest book in the series, Frost Like Night, doesn’t drop until the fall so fingers crossed that there may be some ARCs!

[UPDATE] The full panel schedule has quite a few more literary panels including:

  • Spooks and Specters – Alex Gordon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mikki Kendal, Tim Lees and Jeffrey Brown
  • Page to Screen – Irvine Welsh, Sara Paretsky, Neil Hayes and Grady Hendrix
  • Fight the Power – Michelle Hauck, Rachel Caine, Kristen Simmons, Arwen Elys Dayton, Lisa Yee and Michi Trota
  • Deleted Scenes -Bishop O’Connell, Mark Thompkins, Brad Beaulieu, Michael J. Sullivan, Steve Bein and Rachel Dunne
  • Sidekicks – Kelley Grant, Lynne M. Thomas, Judd Winick, Christina Henry, Jaleigh Johnson and Lexie Dunn

Penguin Random House has its usual booth in the exhibit hall so check in there about any signings (namely the Star Wars authors) and for news and previews of their latest books. Quirk Books, also a C2E2 regular, will be back with more previews and author signings (to be announced).

P.S. The Anderson’s Bookshop booth also includes hundreds of signed books so make sure you visit!

It’s great to see publishers attending C2E2 when they will all be back in Chicago for Book Con in May. Yes, Chicago is hosting Book Expo America (BEA) and Book Con! BEA is an industry trade event, but Book Con is open to the public. Tickets and a partial guest list for Book Con are available now and includes a slew of authors (Cassandra Clare, Leigh Bardugo, Sarah J. Maas, etc..) and random celebrities with books coming out (eg…The Property Brothers).

RL Stine, the writer of Goosebumps signing autographs at the Chicago Comic and entertainment expo c2e2 banner logo rare

Exclusives

This year, C2E2 welcomes Funko and WETA to the exhibit floor. There’s no word yet on what sort of goodies they’ll be bringing, but its exciting news that they are coming! (Current speculation is that Funko will be bringing some of their past exclusive boxes.)

C2E2 is also putting together its own mystery box with its partner, Nerd Block. The convention-exclusive will include 8 collectables including a Marvel shirt. The retail value of the individual items sums up to over $90 but the box will be for sale at $40.

Cosplay

The second Crown Champion of Cosplay will also be crowned! With thousands of dollars in prize money on the line, there is stunning craftsmanship and creativity. Stephanie Maslansky, costume designer for Marvel’s Jessica Jones will be the head judge.

Marvel book with iron man cosplay The convention floor at Chicago Comic and entertainment expo c2e2 banner logo rare

Whew! All this and we’re still a month away from the show which means we still have some new announcements on the way!

The convention floor at Chicago Comic and entertainment expo c2e2 banner logo rare

Stay tuned!

Comment below or email me at Erica@MikeTheFanboy.com
For more adventures, follow me on twitter: @Cambear

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Comments(2)
  1. Melissa February 24, 2016
  2. The Lovely Erica February 24, 2016

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