Posted in: Comics | Tagged: las vegas, zenescope

Comic Store In Your Future – Zenescope VIP Event In Las Vegas

I went to my first ever Zenescope Event in Las Vegas and enjoyed the heck out of it. It had comic artists and writers on hand, no actors.

Out of all the comic book publishers I do business with in my store, Zenescope is the one that communicates with me the most. I had wanted to go to one of their VIP events last year, though with my ongoing divorce, I decided to wait. Finally, this year, I could go to my first-ever Zenescope VIP Event in Las Vegas and enjoy the heck out of it.

They held it on the same weekend as the Kansas City Planet Con, so I chose, after two years of going to Kansas City and having fun, to skip it. I wanted at least to try a Zenescope VIP Event; plus, it is in Vegas. Often, comic conventions have more actors that have nothing to do with comics than actual comic creators. The VIP Zenescope had just comic artists and writers on hand, no actors. It was a smaller gathering rather than crowded comic cons, but this made it so you could talk with comic creators and not feel rushed.

Zenescope in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

The casinos in Vegas are designed for people to get lost in, so they stay and gamble more. I had never stayed at the Paris hotel before and was primarily clueless about the casino and location setup, so it took me over an hour and a half to check in. I tried using the kiosk machine to check in at 7 pm, but it told me my room was not ready yet. I started wondering if I had the wrong dates.

But no, it was on, and there was a casual Zenescope welcome reception on Friday. I wondered if I would fit in, but I felt welcomed and chatted with people I had never seen before. I rarely drink alcohol, which is off-putting to some, and I was not drinking that night. Also, the drinks were $20, and I was too cheap.

On Saturday, the main event started at 1o am. I sat down at a table and was able to chat it up. I have been too used to waiting in line for what seems forever, so the short lines and ability to chat with artists and writers pleasantly shocked me. Who owns a comic store but was not intelligent enough to bring comics to get signed, fearing they would be damaged by being stored in their backpack on the plane? This guy. I bought some to get signed and put them in the gift box Zenescope gave away, and all comics survived the return flight. The staff was as pleasant as possible, and I had a great time.

Van Helsing vs Werewolf

Something else I was not used to was the interactive games. I signed up for Van Helsing vs Werewolf, and everyone playing got called up. One person is the monster, one person is Van Helsing, some are townsfolks, and one is a healer, and the monster tries picking them off one at a time. Van Helsing and the townsfolks try to figure out who the shape-changing werewolf is before they are mauled. Everyone picks a card to see what they are, and I, of course, managed to pick the monster. I got a few kills in, noticed the card I liked, and left it on my knee face down. I must have managed to fall on the ground face up, showing I was the monster. I tried picking it up casually without anyone noticing, and I might have pulled that off. The lady across from me accused me of being the monster because I was so quiet. I countered that I was new to this, and there were three others quieter than me, but she stayed on me and convinced the others correctly it was me. I asked her later if she had seen the card on the floor, and she said no…

The Zenescope Writer's Room Experience was neat. We brainstormed ideas for a possible future storyline. New words were born, such as "woodynisem". You can't go wrong with that.

A buffet for Saturday was included in the package for this event: a nice wide selection and good food. There was an after-party with drinks that were even paid for. I was the first raffle winner of the night, winning a limited edition Zenescope Light & Dark boxed card set. Two pieces of original artwork were given out to two other lucky winners, who were given lots more prizes. I did not manage to stay for the after-after party; I wimped out sadly., I was told it was for very daring night owls. Sadly, this dude from Iowa never fully recovered from the flight, and lack of sleep the night before flying out to Vegas made me less than daring enough to join them… Zenescope did an outstanding job.

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