Tales from the Con #1 collects the first years’ worth of Emerald City Comic Con’s weekly webcomic about…well, comic conventions and all that goes along with it-with a sense of humor, of course. The art style is something like you’d see in the newspaper’s comic strips (originally these were all single strips that have obviously been collected for this occasion). Personally I’ve never been to a convention, but after hearing and seeing lots about them (including the great CBMFP episode where Dustin and Kevin talk about their C2E2 “Toilet Burgers”), even I had a handful of chuckles at this comic. Some references went over my head like the ones referring to Star Trek and the like, but I think any comic fan would have a good time reading through this book.

One of my favorites and one of the first jokes occurred when a doctor is tending to a con-goer. The doctor says “I’ve seen golf knee and tennis elbow, but this is the first time I’ve treated quarter-bin finger.” Other topics covered include fanboys, fans of print vs. print of digital, and the dos and don’ts at conventions. Sure, some of the jokes are eye-roll inducing, but it’s all in good fun.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Brad Guigar Artist: Chris Giarrusso Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 5/14/14 Format: Print/Digital