The
Review
2003 brought several changes to WonderCon, including a new
look and a new venue. In 2002 Comic-Con
International acquired WonderCon.
Before that WonderCon was owned by partners Mike Friedrich and Joe Field.
This year the event was moved to the
Moscone Center in San Francisco which was a major change after the con being
held in Oakland for several years. For the first time that I can remember,
registration for the event could be completed online as well as booking a hotel
room. I could clearly see the improved organizational skills that Comic-Con
International brought to this event.
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Registration was quick and efficient, although I can't really speak for those
who did not register in advance. There were several parking lots around
the convention center, but you would expect to pay no less than $18.00 for a
full day. Not really much different than Oakland or even San Diego.
An improvement over Oakland in my
opinion would be the food options. There are several decent places to eat
within walking distance of the con, not to mention many more night time
opportunities including a movie theater, shopping center and several
clubs.
The con appeared to be a little
smaller this year compared to last year with none of the major comic companies,
although DC did have a small showing. The program was small, certainly
relative to the smaller con. The floor space was nicer and the layout very
similar to Oakland.
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The list of autograph signers was very small this year, with the highlights
including Cassandra (Elvira) Peterson, Sergio Aragones, Jim Lee and Jill
Thompson.
The Small
Press this year seemed to be a busy place and we had an
opportunity to meet up with some old friends like Dan Cooney and his comic
Valentine
and Jerry Williams and Jesse Vail at Greater-Apes.com. If you ever have a chance to visit a Comic Convention, take a
moment to visit the Independent Press area. There are some great artist
and comics out there just waiting to be discovered.
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There were a handful of models at this con such as Aria
Giovanni, Lisa Marie Scott and the lovely Linda
O'Neil. You can check out her website at www.lindaoneil.com.
Inlcuded here is also a great photo of Tracy and Anneke.
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One of the other booths that actually looked like fun was www.thekwoon.com.
Their tag line of "It's like Porno, but with Kung Fu
instead of Sex" and a funny video of "Mummy
Dearest". You can check out their videos and
such on their site.
Star Wars was also stong, as always as seen here at the
Rebel Legion booth! If you like 11.5" action figures,
Kelley's Heroes had a great table.
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Even though there wasn't an official Masquerade Event, you can
count on seeing costumes at WonderCon and this year was no exception. Some of
the costumes there included members of the Central 501st Garrison
Star Wars Costuming Fan Club.
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Jesse Vail from Greater-Apes.com
was busy making balloon figures for kids young and
old. Anneke gets the worlds very first Lara Croft
Tomb Raider Balloon Figure.
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If you want your own Lara Croft Balloon figure, you can
contact Jess Vail...it comes as a kit as shown here, some
assembly required. |
