Emerald City Comic Con rolled out of downtown Seattle after four days of panels, celebrities, shopping, and shenanigans. Here’s a look at the highs and lows from the March 2025 event.

HIGH: Firefly Reunion. The main stage reached new levels of testing the capacity limits during the Firefly reunion. Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, and Sean Maher took the stage first thing Sunday morning. Not only did fans fill the seats, staff allowed those in the standby line to shift into standing room only along the walls. The cast was hilarious as they shared that they did not steal enough from set and the prank that Nathan Fillion now thinks of whenever he sees gummy worms. Morena Baccarin was originally scheduled to participate, but pulled out of the convention a few days before it started.

HIGH: Ticketed author signings. With big bookish names on the schedule, like Cassandra Clare and TJ Klune on the schedule, opting for free tickets to the signing lines was a smart call. Staff allowed readers who didn’t get a ticket to wait in a standby line, with many of them able to get their books signed. Signing lines tend to allow a maximum of three signatures per person, but there are reports of the line banding together to help one reader who brought 20 Cassandra Clare books to the event. Several people who had less than three titles took a book or two through the line for her, and she was able to walk away with a fully-autographed collection.

HIGH: Staff and volunteers. Those helping with line control seemed to be better trained and in more pleasant moods overall than years past. Usually, there’s rumblings about lines being capped or staff snapping at people, but this year, everything seemed to flow smoothly, both in the author signings area and the main stage.

LOW: Main stage. This year, Emerald City Comic Con moved the main stage out of the Summit Building and back into the Arch building. This forced fans to walk a couple blocks and go through security again in order to see the big stars. That paired with this year’s addition of reservations for the main stage panels left many people frustrated. Every time I made the trek over, I heard dozens of people complaining about the extra effort. Sadly, many of the main stage panels didn’t have great attendance. Most panels seemed to hover around half capacity, with Firefly and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as the outliers. Whether that’s due to the walk, the reservations, or the content of the panels is unclear.

LOW: Publisher presence. Only one major trade publication had a show floor presence in 2025. While the giveaways were a highlight, the lack of competition left bookworms hovering around that one booth in hopes of snagging a freebie or a leftover book for a ticketed signing if someone didn’t return in time. There was some pushing and aggression for some of the more highly-anticipated books on the schedule, which left both atendees and staff stressed. PRH did their best to handle the crowd, but getting more publishers to attend will help thin out that crowd. One publisher tells me they will have a presence again next year. Fingers crossed that’s true.

LOW: Food access. If you needed a quick bite between events, good luck. Several of the food vendors of years past weren’t there at all, and other booths moved. Options at those few booths were extremely limited. Plus, there’s the ridiculous prices. A tiny sandwich and can of soda should not cost the same as a burger and fried from Ruth’s Chris down the street, in my opinion.

What are your thoughts on Emerald City Comic Con 2025? Were there hits or misses I didn’t see? Drop your thoughts in the comments.