Wizard World Impressions.

[The Truth]

Yep. Yep yep yep yep yep......

Celebrities, Cosplay, and Goth Chicks Galore. Welcome to WWC 2004.

Now as I said, I bought my three day ticket some time ago and planned on attending at least two of the three days. Well I went all three and I gotta say...well....just read the lists.


Friday Day 1
~~~~~~~~~~
The Good

1. The Crowd - Helps me remember I'm not the only fan in the city.
   
2. "The Batman" Trailer - Sweeeeet. Matsuda does it again as he brings a new take to a rejuvinated Batman franchise.
   
3. She Ra - Yeah! She Ra was there. What more needs to be said?
   
4. The Fan Films - World's Finest, Batman: Dead End, Grayson. Maaaan if you've never seen the Grayson trailer my heart weeps for you.
   
5. Celebrity - I met Mr Thursday Night, WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam. Again! Wasn't on the guest list as far as I know, but that didn't stop him from stopping by to say hi to a few of his buddies, putting me in the right place at the right time.

The Bad

1. The Crowd - Sometimes I just hate people. I mean...they were everywhere! I left that place feeling cheap and used and like someone at least owed me a dinner.
   
2. The copious amounts of Anime - Not saying Anime's garbage...but I thought we were there for comics, ya know?
   
3. Time restraints - Had to leave early to go to work.
   
4. Freakin' Cosplayers - The one dressed up as Dark Phoenix was nice...some of the others, not so much.
   
5. Bunny Problems - 80 bucks for a Usagi Yojimbo statue? Seriously?

The Ugly

1. Black Bastard - I mean...why would you even name a comic this? Let alone make the main character look like Power Man with an afro?
   
2. The copious amounts of Anime Porn - Seriously people. There were children there.(Won't someone think of the children?)
   
3. Men in capes - Going in costume is one thing, Walking around in street clothes and a cape just seems kinda....fruity.
   
4. The Lines - If Thor and co. thought the lines Saturday were bad, they should have seen them Friday
   
5. Talentless - Hardly any big names were there Friday. Not to say the guys and gals in The Row didn't have talent....but I'm not going to stand in line for two hours, just for the privilege of standing in another line for a hour to get any of their autographs.

Saturday Day 2
~~~~~~~~~~
The Good

1. Thor, Chanty, Nova, and Silver. - Always nice to get a little face time with friends.
   
2. The cosplayers - Jack Sparrow, a supposed hot looking Scarlet Witch, faires, Fetts, Aragorn, and a host of others in Sci-Fi and comic garb
   
3. Shiny Objects - Weapons weapons and more weapons. I know of at least three booths that were all selling tools of carnage and bloodshed. To the general public no less!
   
4. The Signings - Mike Turner, Kev Smith, even Alex Ross all there, and all happy to sign. Ross didn't even have a limit. If you wanted him to sign 100 things, he'd do it. Now there's a man who appreciates his fans.
   
5. Artist Row - Not that I have a thing for artists....but I'll be damned If there weren't some hot chicks about. Always a plus when the artist brings his model along for show.

The Bad

1. Time retraints - Had to leave early to go to work.
   
2. More freakin' Anime - Arrrggghhh!!!!
   
3. The other Cosplayers - A guy as a giant eyeball? GI Bro? Aragorn on a Cell Phone!?! Arrrgh!! I've been disenchanted!
   
4. Power Man - Seems like everywhere I went, there he was, mocking me. We all know I love Luke Cage, but Power Man pisses me off and it seems like every booth Chanty gravitated towards had a bust of him.
   
5. One Butt Cheek - Please people....no more half assed costumes. Wearing a mask and having "The Right hand of Doom" does NOT make thee Hellboy. Shmuck.

The Ugly

1. Black Batman - A black guy dressing up as Batman is fine by me. But a Fat black guy dressing up like Batman......
   
2. JL Unlimited - Got home just to find out that that my tape cut off the end of JLU.
   
3. Power Man Busts - Yeah...I hate him that much.
   
4. 2 Dollar Whores - Not that the women in Playboy are whores, far from it. I just couldn't think up a catchier title. Anyway, if you wanna sell Playboys at these things, fine. But have a small sign or something. Don't put 8 boxes out on display with eight signs reading "Playboys $2" where the kids can get to them.(Please please....think of the children!!)
   
5. Mighty Mouse Undies - I don't know about anyone else...but I'll be damned if I ever compare my Man Junk to a mouse.

Sunday Day 3
~~~~~~~~~~
The Good

1. "Batman Begins" Trailer - It was the first time I'd ever seen it, and it was good. As Chanty said, you don't even know it's for Batman until the end.
   
2. "Constantine" Trailer - Keanu may not be my fav actor, but this movie looks like it has promise.
   
3. No Time Restraints - Sweeeeeeet......
   
4. Cosplay Minis(Or whatever the plural of Mini is) - I normally don't do "cute", but even I had to smile at pint sized renditions of Flash and GL running about playing happily with each other.
   
5. Goth Chicks - ~Shrugs~ They just do it for me.

The Bad

1. Impulse Buying - I think I spent more Sunday Morning than I did the other two days combined.
   
2. Deal-Be-Gone - Anyone attending for the first time Sunday was going to have a hell of a time finding a good comic as a great price. The Excellent ones were snatched up Friday morning, and the rest Saturday.
   
3. Yuyu Hakusho - Why that undead bastard needs his own fighting game I'll never know.
   
4. Tanks!! - Playstation's "Killzone" is awesome. Great graphics, tight controls, and no discernable story from what little I played. I just wish those blasted tanks would quit shooting at me!!
   
5. Heroes No More - I know I played City of Heroes at some point while I was there Saturday (lost Thor and Chanty, tee hee), but come Sunday it was no where to be found. And I was just getting used to the idea of playing as a four foot three yellow chick with super speed I couldn't deactivate for the life of me.

The Ugly

1. Price tags - I thought with it being Sunday a lot of booths would slash their already rediculously low prices in hopse of moving some merchandise before leaving. But alas, they did not.(For the love of God, won't someone think of the children!?!?)
   
2. Athens 2004 - Why I even bothered with this game is beyond me.
   
3. Yuna - I know, I know...lay off the Cosplayers. Don't get me wrong...I like a good costume on the right person...but this chick... C'mon. Yuna's not blond. Sheesh. Nor did she hang out with a elf chick.(Who's costume was actually rather good)
   
4. Fan films - Not all of them, obviously, but I did happen across a showing of Punisher vs Wolverine. Eck.
   
5. Errrr... - Uuummmm..... That one guy. With the hat.

Suprise Hits
These are the little things that I saw and heard and experienced that came as a bit of a shock to me. Some were good. Some were bad. I'll let you decide which ones are which. Well...if you can.

1. Being left behind not once, not twice, but Thrice by a pregnant Enchantress.
   
2. Running into a guy from work.(Wiggy..)
   
3. Running into a guy I knew growing up.
   
4. A clear variant Fathom bust.
   
5. Fathom's bust in general.
   
6. Tracking down and buying the Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack.
   
7. Not being able to track down a single dealer/booth that sold shades.
   
8. The Wizard Wheel of Free stuff!!
   
9. Watching four different Mandalorians all walk about without some sort of deathmatch breaking out.
   
10. Miniature Chainsaws at the Evil Dead booth. (Finally!! Its about time someone started thinking of the children! )

[Enchantress]

Well...just call me Pietro. I can't help it if crowds THAT size make me move a little bit faster!

Ok, here's my summary of Saturday. Thor and I get there and head straight to the press booth for our passes...I'm nervous to be honest. After all the hell Glenn had to go through to get them, I knew they'd screw up something. Sure enough, they had. I got mine without a hitch... but Jeremiah became "Glen Peterson" all day long. The lady working the press booth walked us in about 20 minutes before everyone else got in, which was nice. I didn't have to stand in the masses of people awaiting dressed up like Silent Bob to get in.
Watched the Constantine trailer while "Glen" waited for his little brother to get let in because he had a regular saturday pass. Checked out the DC booth, which was far more impressive than the Marvel booth.
From there, I headed to the Avatar booth. My quest for this convention was simple. I HAD to see the new Lady Death previews. There was no way around it. And "Glen" had packed 2 of my favorite Lady Death issues, an old Chaos one and a CrossGen one in the oft chance Brian Pulido was there. AND GUESS WHAT???? We walked up and the guys started talking to us right away, the staff at the Avatar booth was by far the most friendly at the entire convention. Brian was there, and I was a giddy little girl as he autographed all 3 of my comics I had. (the new one too!) as we were getting ready to leave, I asked if I could have my picture taken with him, his reply was "Well, I'd hope you were going to ask!" This is how a GREAT writer treats his "#1 girl fan!" (oh, and the preview comic is full of great explanations of what's going to happen with Lady Death.
First thing I will say Wizard needs to do, is quit asking for Volunteers to work the convention. By far these were the biggest IDIOTS I've seen in my entire life. We are standing in line (Which I hate lines, have I told you that? I HATE lines) waiting to get Michael Turners Autograph and theres three volunteers standing at the end of the line blocking it off right behind us. One of them made a comment to about people trying to sneak in, and I pointed out that Thor was with me. This one kid, with the brainspan of maybe a raisin replies "I hope so lady, he's your husband." My reply was very quickly "How do you know that?" then he stood sheepishly for a moment as I snidely said "You shouldn't always assume that sort of thing." One guy standing with him piped up "yeah, they could be brother and sister." ugh. Anyway, Michael Turner was very nice as well. Got my photo with him and he autograph my Batman/Superman and my favorite page in that issue.
We headed to the Bowen booth shortly after that. By this time, Chanty is getting extremely exhausted but I kept on walking. Best thing for me right now really. Anyway...there it is..the RED Fing Fang Foom mini bust. But you had to have a ticket to get it, and there's a sign up saying "No more tickets today. Sorry!" I didn't have the money on me anyway. But it was nice to look at all the Bowen Eyecandy. The new Taskmaster mini bust is AWESOME! Mystique is great as well. And I got to see Uatu and Ultron all up close and personal. What was nice about the people at the Bowen booth was that I couldn't bend over to look into the case and they offered to bring stuff out so I could see it!! WOW!
So, as we are walking away, one of the guys comes up behind me and says "Ma'am...did you want the Red Fing Fang Foom?" I was kinda wide eyed and said "yeah, but I don't have the cash for it today." he shook his head and said "No, do you want it? I have one ticket left and you're more than welcome to it!" WOW! Again! Maybe being pregnant at a Comic Book convention DID have it's perks. But, again, I thanked him very polietely and we went along. I will say that the people at the professional booths were amazingly nice and did go out of their way for us each time we stopped in to look around.
The bad part was, towards about 11ish I started getting really tired. So we went to find a place to sit down. As we are trying to find a chair (can you believe NO ONE wanted to come up off a chair for a pregnant lady who looked like she was going to drop???) we spotted one next to a guy that he had his stuff sitting in. Thor asked if we could use it and he and his wife were more than happy to let me have a seat while The Mighty One went off in search of a Pepsi. So the first thing they ask me is "When are you due." I replied "Thanksgiving." and they both said "NO WAY! We are too!" So I wasn't the ONLY Pregnant lady at the convention!!!! And finding someone with the same due date was a little freaky as well!! We sat and chatted for awhile about trying to get through the crowds (which were the largest I've ever seen at Chicago) and how rude the people in the crowds were. (I got shoved, pushed or elbowed in the side or stomach at least 10 times).
As we were leaving, I got my photo taken with the Stormtroopers and Vader...again. It's a tradition. Every time we go, those guys are there, and I get my photo with them. Then there was some guy walking around dressed up like Beetlejuice. I mean, the tourguide hat, the dirty dusty trenchcoat...that the dust FLEW off of when he hit himself, even had the voice down. So Jeremiah got a picture of me with him. And as I thank him, he winked at me, points to my stomach and says "No, thank you! No really! thank you!"
Overall it was a good time all the way around...I like Truth, got to see some things one person should never have to witness, and some things that made me scratch my head and wonder "What the %&^$ where they thinking?"

[GlennWalker]

Wait, those imbeciles at Wizard gave Jeremiah my name but then didn't even spell my name right???

Seriously, I'm glad you folks had a good time. :-)

Glenn

[Enchantress]

You know, I kinda thought the same thing too Glenn. But it was a good joke between us all!
Oh! and be proud of me folks! I was actually able to control myself enough to walk past Rob Liefeld without throttling him within an inch of his life. Although, the 4th time we walked past the booth where he was drawing (and there was hardly NO ONE standing around) I couldn't contain myself any longer and a very loud "TALENTLESS HACK!" shot forth from my vocal cords.
Oh, and I gotta say, my favorite costumes all week. Captain Jack Sparrow (YUM!!!YUM!!!!) the guy even had the mannerisms and the stagger down. And the two little kids dressed up like Flash and Green Lantern. They couldnt have been any older than 4 or 5.
Thanks again Glenn! It was a great time!!!