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Wizard World Chicago won't be back until next year (8/7-8/9, a week earlier)
but this year's show was newsworthy for a few reasons besides the increased
attendance and some extra special guests. There were good things and bad
things with good outweighing the bad so let's do an autopsy, shall we?
First, the good stuff.
1. With the completion of the outer canopy the mass confusion that was the
lobby was gone. If you didn't have tickets you could buy them outside and
then enter the center to go nuts. If you bought advance tickets then you
went inside and the line was long but manageable. The only negatives were
the holders didn't come with the tickets so you had to get them from
volunteers on the floor and for some reason they expected you to sign the
ticket but the watchers at the door could have cared less.
2. The floor layout was much better. There were more people there but it
didn't seem like it as you walked the floor. The wrestling ring was gone so
there was an expanded artist's alley. The negative with that was even though
you didn't watch the wrestling you could find a place to sit there. There
were way too many people sitting on the concrete floor eating overpriced
concessions. DC upgraded their booth and you could actually walk past it and
inside without bisecting lines for autographs.
3. The pros were damn friendly. Say what you want about Rob Liefeld but he
was doing free sketches for anyone who was willing to wait in line and there
was a hell of a line there. It has been reported that the Chicago con has
become the favorite with pros because they can relax. There were no reports
of hung over folks at the panels (San Diego had a few of those) or at the
booths. In fact, next year if you want to chat with a pro head over to the
Hyatt after the show. Most of the folks from the companies (save for DC and
Dark Horse who stayed somewhere else) were in the lobby until 4:00 am
dancing (David Mack was break dancing), chatting and drinking.
4. There were newcomers to the sales floor. You had your usual regulars but
some folks brought expensive stuff that they were selling cheap. We could
use less T-shirt dealers but have gone way past that year that too many
Beanie Baby folks were there.
5. There was actual news at the panels. San Diego is generally where most of
the announcements are made but the companies saved stuff for here (Byrne on
Demon, Ultimate Secret, new GL series from Johns & Pacheco, Waid & Silvestri
on a new Top Cow title).
But that leads us to the bad stuff:
1. The layout of the panel rooms was horrible. The Cup of Joe panel is in
the big room and is 3/4 full but the Bendis panel that followed was in a
smaller room that needed the space. You have rooms on each side of that
section of the convention center so use them for the panels and not for the
53rd consecutive running of the lost Battle of the Planets episode. That is
what the smaller rooms should be used for not creator appearances.
2. DC's Bob Wayne (VP-direct sales or something like that) had absolutely no
business sitting in the Bendis panel waiting for Bendis to talk about the
aborted Batman/Daredevil crossover (Bendis/Maleev on Daredevil, Ed
Brubaker/unknown artist but probably Scott McDaniel on Batman) that was
approved by all but killed by Paul Levitz, the President of DC before
production was started. Bendis told fans on his Image message board and on
Millarworld that he was going to discuss this but would do it on his panel
so as to not add more fuel to the fire that is the relationship between DC
and Marvel (which according to rumors is being kept hot by Bob Wayne). So
what does DC do? They send Wayne (the last guy who should have been picked,
kind of like sending Dave Chappelle to a Klan rally) to the panel so he
could accuse Bendis of lying (which he wasn't). Wizard's infinite wisdom was
to put the panel in one of the small rooms (I saw the crowd and left but if
I had seen Wayne I would have stayed because in the few encounters I have
had with him he has always come off as a "jerk") and by doing so he threw
the whole panel off to the point where few got to ask Bendis anything. If
Levitz and Wayne hate Quesada (for an interview he gave four years ago, btw)
that's their problem but allowing it to spill out at a panel was childish.
It made them look bad (Bendis has apologized but nothing has come out on the
DC side) and is apparently a sore spot with staffers at both companies since
comics are a small community. If you have to have an argument do it at
Knuckles, the bar at the Hyatt or in the parking lot where men fight. Even
Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld were knocking beers down at the bar and having a
civil conversation and they were part of the smack down years at Image.
3. Yes, it was wonderful that a Batman Begins panel was added but Wizard
really screwed up how it was handled. The good thing was they made it known
ahead of time that screenwriter David Goyer was going to be there. Since
they were still filming that was easy and having director Chris Nolan arrive
before the days shooting with raw footage was awesome but somehow they
alienated a large amount of fans that were there for the Green Lantern
panel. You know, the one where the return of Hal was going to be talked
about and the new series, which will also bring back the Corps. Well, they
were supposed to get an hour and they were shorted half of that. If you were
in line for the GL panel you were turned away and not told why. You also had
to scramble to the DC booth to get armbands to get in so if you wanted to
hear some GL news you got it second or third hand. It came off as DC going
"hey, all you Hal Jordan fans beat it we need to talk about the Batman
movie". By the way, the footage looked great from what I hear and because
cops were roaming the room with night goggles none got out on the Net.
4. I understand that there are reasons for some panels to have tickets but
there seems to be a better way to handle large crowds. You had to virtually
sign over your first born to get in to see Kevin Smith (who works crowds
like a politician while on the floor) or Joss Whedon but tickets for Tara
Benson? Since there are no signings going on outside the panel area by the
fountain set up a TV and show the panels there for the people who can't get
in. Also, folks from Newsarama, Comic Book Resources and the like weren't
allowed in so if you missed something that was announced there it remained a
mystery.
5. For the second year in a row there was no Trailer Park, the staple of a
major convention. It's one of the least complicated panels to book. Get the
studios to send you trailers (hell, the biggest publicity house is based
less than three miles away from the place), find someone to host (DC folks
did the last one and bitched they had nothing to show) and it's on. And yet,
we got nothing.
There are other things that could be improved (more floor space seems to be
needed as things grow, no ATM's close, cold water only available at panels,
the programming was announced too late and could have been staggered out
better, the goodie bags are still thin, no fat chicks in costumes rule) but
overall this year's con was a success. I think next year's attendance would
go through the roof if they had a tag team tournament added with Millar,
Bendis, Levitz, Wayne, Peter David, Neal Adams and John Byrne fighting it
out for the legendary ten pounds of gold with Hell in the Cell on Sunday
involving the winners. |
