Love them or hate them, conventions have become the industry standard for fan-engagement and giant announcements. Of course, very few fans can make it to any one con. Fortunately, Retcon Punch is there when you can’t be with our exclusive con coverage, ComicConPunch.

Drew: Day four saw Patrick off to LA, leaving me to my own devices. First up on the agenda was the Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo signing, which was obviously quite popular. I had a decent enough place in line to get into Artists’ Alley (where the signing was being held), but was too proud to run to the signing booth when they finally opened the doors (but not too proud to walk quickly). Unfortunately, no other fan seemed to share that pride, forcing us all the embarrassment of being filmed and snickered at by the other creators sitting at their booths.

Anyway, waiting in line without Patrick more or less forced me to interact with other fans, but mostly the two college students behind me. I managed to convince them that Retcon Punch might be a thing worth checking out, and put business cards in both of their hands. I also gave Snyder a business card when I finally got to the front of the line, and shook Greg Capullo’s surprisingly soft hands.

Up next was the Lazarus panel — remind me next year to only go to small panels for creator-owned stuff. The smaller audience made the panel feel much more intimate, without any need for the microphones that had to be set up for audience questions in the big rooms, and Greg Rucka and Michael Lark struck a great conversational tone. Most of the fan questions were process-oriented, meaning most of the answers could be more than simply “wait and see.” Rucka got a little yell-y any time the conversation veered towards the political (not that I disagree with any of what he was yelling), but it was easily the best panel I went to all weekend. (Oh, and Gino: they said that the back matter material will be included in some later version of some trade — I wasn’t sure if the first two arcs will eventually be collected, or if it will simply appear in the second trade, but it definitely will be available in some trade at some point.)

Next on my docket was actually Rucka’s signing at the splash page booth. Waiting in line afforded me the time to look at some of the fantastic original art they were selling. I could never afford any of the things they were selling, but it was neat to see these originals up close. Rucka signed all four issues of Lazarus for me, and left me some folksy (if generic) advice:

The last event I had planned was the Superior Spider-Man and Friends panel which was basically the Stephen Wacker office panel, featuring all of Wacker’s assistant editors, as well as Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, Nick Spencer, and Kelly Sue DeConnick. The panelists was a little loopy, making the tone openly jokey, from Slott threatening to kill every character he was asked about, to Wacker openly pandering to the crowd (“Wouldn’t you agree that New York audiences are the best audiences?”). The lateness of the panel in the weekend also made the audience significantly smaller, allowing for a much more intimate panel than I’d come to expect from the dreaded E-1 stage.

When the panel let out, things were starting to close up around the convention, bringing our coverage to a rather unceremonious close. I was overcome by what I can only describe as postpartum depression: the con had somehow become my life in those four days, leaving me strangely listless without it. It was nothing a visit to the bar with my friends couldn’t fix, of course, so that’s exactly what I did. Please excuse any typos because of that.