Wizard World Comic Con

Today, Sammy and I went to the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia. Highlights of this year's Comic Con in Philadelphia include:

Elijah Wood and Billy Boyd, LORD OF THE RINGS,
Henry Winkler, HAPPY DAYS,
Natalie Dormer, GAME OF THRONES,
Stephen Amell, ARROW

There were, of course, many, many other people of note in attendance and a whole list of panels and other events included in the cost of admission and a great many paid events that we could go to if that was the sort of thing we wanted to do.

Sammy has been away for many years and now that he is home, Sammy desperately wanted to go, but, Sammy had commitments for Saturday, so, this year, Sammy and I went on Sunday. The crowds were noticeably lighter at 10:00am than they were last year on Saturday, but, by 11:00am the crowds had increased dramatically. Sammy and I bought advance tickets and after we checked in, we walked right in. Last year there was a bottleneck as everyone had to empty their pockets, submit to bag searches and pass through metal detectors. This year, we entered much faster as staff used hand wands for metal detection and we were not required to empty our pockets and submit to bag searches.

Upon entering the Convention Center, Sammy and I split up and we each walked the entire floor and had a good look at all of the artists, vendors and the areas where special guests would be in attendance. I headed towards the kids' zone where there were some special activities set up for the underage fans. Afterwards, I ventured into the vendor spaces and moved back and forth through the aisles and from there through the aisles of the artists' alley. A gaming area had been set up beyond the vendors and artists.

I was really fascinated by two artists, Brendon and Brian Fraim of Brotherly Love United, who were showing a variety Melted Crayon Art. Brotherly Love United had been described as:

Brotherly Love United (BLU) was created by Jeff Froehlich to highlight the love and devotion Philadelphia fans have for their sports. By uniting each team, it is the hopes of BLU to unite what is already one of the best fan bases in the country. Jeff is an artist who best falls under the title "Jack of all trades." He enjoys every style of medium whether he creates through a paintbrush or a computer mouse.

I was really impressed with another artist, Alex Wer aka The Pumpkin Geek, who showed a variety of amazing pumpkin sculptures. According to his web site:

AWARD-WINNING artist, Alex Wer, custom carves on Craft Pumpkins that last FOREVER! Capture your favorite Movie Hero/Villain, Sports Legend, Musician, Actor/Actress, or Child's portrait on a unique, artistic pumpkin canvas! Each pumpkin is a one-of-kind creation, hand carved on a "faux" pumpkin. Yours to treasure year after year!

Later, Sammy and I met up again at the entrance and decided to head out to the local 7-Eleven for lunch. We brought sandwiches from home and picked up drinks and snacks from 7-Eleven. Since the Convention Center is within easy walking distance of City Hall, we staked out a nice spot in the City Hall courtyard for lunch. After lunch, we headed back to the Convention Center. Sammy and I met up with a representative from Tellest who was selling books and video games in the Tellest series. Sammy mentioned that he had read all of the books in the series. The main thrust of the after-lunch effort was to pick up a few souvenirs. After souvenir hunting, we sat for a bit to rest our legs. Like last year, there were some tables and chairs set up for convention goers.

During my travels, I saw one vendor selling bootleg videos of various animated series. I had a peek at some of their offerings, but, there wasn't anything that couldn't be obtained from legal sources, The only thing that I might have paid good money to have, might have been the animated series from Cartoon Network, Juniper Lee, as that series was only released on archival media in Australia and is currently out of print, but the vendor didn't have that series and a lot of the items on exhibit appeared to be more in the vein of older Saturday mourning cartoons.

This year's unofficial award for most amusing business card goes to Moria Silver as their business card shows a baby dragon with an arrow aimed at the dragon's head with a caption proudly proclaiming: "Buy something... or the baby dragon gets it!"

Sadly, there were a couple of tragic events during our visit. First, sometime after scoring Xfinity Wi-Fi service for $1, Sammy somehow managed to drop a $20 bill. Sammy didn't realize his error until later and, of course, by then, the money had vanished without a trace. Then later, after leaving the Convention Center, Sammy misplaced a bag with his collected goodies including a free hat, a digital camera and a piece of jewelry. Sammy felt bad, but, fortunately, he was able to learn a valuable life lesson. Overall, despite the losses, it was a very good event and Sammy and I had a great time.