Wizard World Comic Con - 2014...
This weekend, I went to the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia. It's been a while since I was last at Comic Con. This year, instead of travelling alone, I decided to take my nephew along. Also, since there was more publicity in advance of the event, I decided to order tickets online.Last week, I picked up an American Express gift card for slightly more than the amount I would need for two tickets. I knew from previous experience, that the gift card needed to be registered in order to use it online, so, I dialed the number on the back of the card and navigated through the maze of options until I found the one that would put me in touch with an actual person. The registration process took longer than expected because it wasn't immediately obvious that I had to select something I didn't really want in order to get to another menu in the navigation system that would give me the option to speak with a person. I don't know why American Express needs to make the process of speaking to someone so difficult for their customers, but, apparently it's a long-standing tradition. After I got the card registered, I ordered two tickets. Amazingly, the order went through right away and I had a couple of PDF files to print.
Highlights of this year's Comic Con in Philadelphia include:
- Screenings of "Karate Kid" and "The Crow",
- Question-and-answer sessions featuring Marvel's Guardian of the Galaxy standouts Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Karen Gillan (Nebula) and Michael Rooker (Yondu),
- "Firefly" headliners Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk,
- "Doctor Who" stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan,
- David Boreanaz ("Bones", "Angel"),
- Whoopi Goldberg ("Star Trek: TNG", "Ghost"),
- Christopher Lloyd ("Back To The Future", "Taxi"),
- John Carpenter (Director, "Halloween"),
- Lou Ferrigno ("The Incredible Hulk")
On the day of the event, my nephew was up extra early. It was going to be his first time at a Comic Con. We didn't have to be anywhere until 10:00am, so, after washing up and getting dressed, the first order of business was to make sure that everyone had breakfast -- including the kitties.
We headed out around 9:30am and arrived at the tunnel at 12th and Arch Street at 10:00am. There were convention staff members in bright yellow t-shirts out on the corners and at all of the Convention Center's doorways directing convention-goers to the appropriate entrance. We got inside and there were additional convention staff members directing traffic -- VIP passes in one line, regular passes in another line and people without passes in yet another line. We had regular passes, so, we were directed to a staging area. When we saw the thousands of people around us, I thought that we would be there for a long time, but, the convention staff did an excellent job of keeping the lines moving. Our passes were scanned and we were on our way to the main convention hall in just a few minutes.
We went upstairs to the main convention hall and decided to walk around the entire perimeter to get a feel for where everything was and to see if anything might catch our eyes. We headed west along the side facing the entrance and although, the map showed the Zombie Zone on the north side, it was apparently moved to the west side of the room. There was a photo-ready zombie complete with chain and a handful of zombie-themed props laid out in front of a tent. For a modest fee, one could go inside and see something interesting within. Anthony took a picture with the zombie, but, we decided to pass on the tent exhibit.
We proceeded along the west side of the main exhibit space and I noted that space had been set aside along the west side for lines to form -- presumably for convention-goers to partake of photo ops and autographs with various celebrities. Sure enough, along the far wall, at the back of the main exhibit space were a row of tents and roped-off areas where the celebrities would meet their respective fans. Anthony spied Lou Ferrigno mingling with fans in the roped-off area outside his tent.
As we proceeded east along back of the main exhibit space, we came across the the Batmobile from the 60's Batman TV show, the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard, Kitt from Knight Rider and the DeLorean Time Machine from Back to the Future. For a modest fee, we could have our pictures taken in the various cars, but, we decided to take a pass on the car photo ops.
On the east side of the main exhibit space, was Artists' Alley -- the space reserved for various artist. On the way to Artists' Alley, Anthony noticed a booth that had a replica of Link's Master sword featured in the Zelda video game franchise. Anthony's eyes nearly popped out of his head and his jaw crashed to the floor. The sales-person came out and showed the replica sword to Anthony and explained that it came with all of the required hardware to mount it on a wall. Part of me wanted to say -- "Step away from the sword!", but, in the end, I ended up buying the sword for Anthony. The replica sword was a little more than I wanted to spend, but, I was O.K. with the purchase.
We headed into Artists' Alley and zig-zagged our way from table to table. We met a nice young artist who seemed to carve out a nice niche for himself with small caricatures of various characters from film characters, TV stars, comic books characters and a whole host of celebrities. At one dollar each and about the size of a typical trading card, they were the perfect price and size for snapping up something cool without breaking the budget. I picked up five of the cards -- each one was already prepackaged in a nice little card holder.
We stopped by a table with a selection of artists' prints. I couldn't resist picking up a nice print featuring a stylized version Lum from Urusei Yatsura signed by Italian artist, Mirka Andolfo. I also picked up an unsigned print of Harley Quinn, the infamous companion of the Joker, by Indonesian artist, Admira Wijaya. The dealer offered a buy two get one free deal and Anthony picked out a nice print of Darth Vader.
With the three prints and Anthony's sword weighing us down, I was beginning to regret the early buying spree, but, I happened to spy someone with a super-oversized Tardis shopping bag. We made our way to a large T-shirt booth. I picked up a couple of very over-priced T-shirts and got a "free" Tardis bag to stash our stuff. Afterwards, we continued our trek through Artists' Alley. I spied some small pendants that might look really nice as a souvenir for Mom, but, decided to move on.
After having a good look through Artists' Alley, we decided to zig-zag through some of the dealer tables. There were plenty of comic books on exhibit. I haven't collected comic books in a while, so, they didn't really interest me. Anthony spotted a couple of dealers selling bootleg DVDs. While I don't usually support bootlegs, occasionally, I will pick up something, if it's extremely rare and interesting. But, today, there was nothing of any great note on hand.
We came across a booth with signed photos and props that were assembled, framed and ready to hang on your wall. But, the prices were a bit on the high side, so, we decided to just drool over the assembled frames rather than actually buy anything. Underworld, Hellboy and Lord of the Rings were fairly high up on the drool list. However, I did note that the Kate Beckinsale's signature wasn't on the photo, but, on a separate piece of paper. If I were inclined to spend real money on such a thing, I would prefer that the photo itself be signed.
Around 12:30pm, Anthony and I decided to take a break for lunch. We slipped out of the Convention Center on Arch Street and headed towards 12th Street. From there we headed over to the Gallery and made our way to the lower level. I took Anthony to a small pizza place which was far enough away from the local tourists traps to avoid the crowds, but still close enough that we could get back to the Convention Center fairly quickly. I had pizza and Anthony had a cheese steak.
After lunch, we stopped by the FYE at the Gallery food court. I picked up the anime: Karneval. One of the FYE staffers noticed Anthony carrying the Tardis bag and inquired if we had gone to the Comic Con. During the course of the ensuing conversation, we learned that his sister had gone early and was participating in one of the meet-and-greet sessions with Matt Smith. He lamented being stuck at work.
Afterwards, Anthony and I went back to the Convention Center to look for souvenirs. Upon our return, we noticed that the crowds had increased dramatically. There appeared to be a lot of people arriving in the afternoon. We made our way back to Artists' Alley and I picked up a handmade unicorn pendant for Mom. We then swung around to the front of the venue to pick up a Comic Con magnet for Mom's refrigerator.
Anthony got his picture taken a bunch of times with various people in costume and had a wonderful time.
This year's comic con was much bigger than the one I attended a few years ago and it was very well organized. Although, there were a lot of people in line in the morning, the wait times at the entrance were remarkably short. We had no problems with any of the convention staff or volunteers.
My only regret is that there was so much to see and do, that we didn't get to see and do everything.
