You know, I can spend almost 5 days at SDCC and never be bored and never get done even half the things I want to do. Today, I spent 5 hours at Wizard World and was done.

I'll bottom-line it for you; this was an awful show. Annoyingly, they were 10 minutes late letting in those of us who got early admission. Not a big deal, but I should have seen that as a harbinger of the rest of the day. Without DC and Marvel there, the show was basically a large flea market with celebrities attending. (More on those in a moment.)

Actually, the first thing I did was stop at Alien Entertainment and picked up a couple of the Inkworks' "Doctor Who" promos. Then I went walking around. I was disappointed that there were quite a few dealers who weren't open for business, even though the show had begun. (You don't see that SDCC, that's for sure.) Eventually, I did find Sci-Fi Cards and bought quite a few promo cards that I need. I also bought an InkArchives pack but only pulled a slabbed Julie Bowen (as Sarah Shepard from "Lost") autograph card. I'll put that one up for trade. I walked around Artist Alley and saw quite a few familiar faces, including Katie Cook. Some of the other artists had promo cards available, so I was able to get a few of those.

As for the celebrities, I guess most of them will be attending Saturday & Sunday, as there weren't many of them there today. The ones who were there, though, may soon realize that they are overcharging for autographs and pictures. I passed Edward James Olmos' table a number of times and there was nobody there. The same was true with almost all of the others, with the exceptions being one or two of the more well-known wrestlers. I saw quite a few people looking at the signs that told how much autographs/pictures cost, shake their heads and walk away. I hope that means people were spending money at the dealer tables instead. At one table, I overheard the dealer saying that he did really well last night ("Preview Night"), more than he had expected.

Wizard is really getting skimpy. First of all....and you'll love this...is their admission policy. When you hand over the print-out of your ticket, they give you a wristband; ONE wristband...for the entire weekend....that you have wear ALL weekend. The guy who give my wristband to me did tell me, though, that the wristband is waterproof, so there shouldn't be any problem wearing it in the shower. When you bought a weekend ticket at previous shows, you used to get exclusive stuff in your bag, like a comic or something. This year, you get your wristband....period. Then you walk over and grab a "Comic-Con" bag which you then take to their so-called Freebie Tables. All that was there of any real interest were copies of the Wizard magazine and their toy magazine.

Perhaps it was my sour perspective but the actual hall for the show just seemed darker and dingier than before. I do know that it was very warm, in spite of there not being a whole lot of people there (as compared to tomorrow's show). I WAS able to do something at this show that I couldn't possibly do at SDCC, though. I was a little tired and bored, so I decided to sit down for a little bit and look at the cards I bought. So I went upstairs, found a chair, and sat there...by myself....for almost an hour. Can you imagine trying to find anywhere at SDCC to be alone, even for a few minutes? True, there was nothing at all going on upstairs, which is why I went there. But it still amazed me that, at a show this size, an entire floor of the convention center could be completely empty.

I don't think I'll be going back to Wizard World, this weekend or any show in the future. Perhaps if they get companies like DC and Marvel to be there, I might reconsider. But I was actually bored today. My overall grade for the show today: D.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kennywood,

Wow,cant wait to go tomorrow. This show has been going down for years, at is all we have in this area, C2E2 is coming...

Boy Kenny, you are an inspiration for those going this weekend.

Less crowded is fine with me, I am basically going to see a bunch of the sketch card artists as not many of the usual suspects are expected to be at Paul's fall show. I will also be hitting up the dealers for some buy/sell/trade action. I really have no interest in getting celebrity autos, but will keep my camera at the ready.

Kennywood's description of the show sounds like a carbon copy of WW Philly that I attended a short while back.

I guess it's all perspective. . .

The wristband thing is annoying, and it is true that right at the opening bell quite a few dealers weren't set up (10-15%), but within an hour or two they all were ready to go. I didn't even realize Marvel and DC weren't there until sketch artist Jake Minor mentioned it to me. . . there were other big companies with displays, and a bunch of celebs too -- several 'empty' celeb tables, which is to be expected given the number of 'Saturday and Sunday Only' celebs posted on the website.

I was moving no stop from when the doors opened until 5:00 when my body told me it was time to sit down for a while.

I picked up a TON of stuff from Dave Moulder and Ed Webb at Sci-Fi Cards -- great prices, more than I've bought in YEARS.

When I recover a bit I'll be posting more details and some pics on my blog.

If my wallet wasn't empty I probably would be heading back tomorrow or Sunday. . .

Have fun everyone!

Jon

Here's a tidbit. Jim and I counted the number of empty dealers booths- 32 of them, lots of lost revenue, at an average of 800 a pop!
Plus a complete row of artist alley is empty, probably another 20 or so, at 300 a pop.

When were there 32 empty dealer booths? There were a few today, but I definitely didn't notice 32.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Moulder:
1st let me say this will probably be my last post because if I'm edited I will not be reading this newsgroup anymore or be probably participating at the Philly Non-Sport Show.
Dave

Do you really think it's constructive to respond to a post of one persons opinion with a threat? Your post is just as valid, just a different perspective.

It's allways intresting to hear diffrent views on a show.
I know from experience that i can do a show and think it was not upto much based on what i picked up but then i look around me and there are loads of people going home with bags full of stuff so obviously if you asked them what they thought of the show they would say it was great.

Based on this i try nowadays not to make judgements on shows because they can only ever be my own opinion. I also try to keep expectation down to a minimum as this can make a show seem bad if you go in expecting it to be fantastic.

As for the freebies we don't have this problem in the UK as there aren't any. Again this is down to expectation, shows in the USA have allways had people throwing free stuff at you as you go in so it becomes a disapointment when you do not get any.

I think the bottom line is a show is what you make of it, you can walk round complaining about there being nothing you want or you can spend the day talking to dealers and get enjoyment that way. Either way it is the same show but you go home with a totally diffrent view of it.

I'm disappointed that there will no longer be a WW Texas. I always made it a point to attend and usually had a good time (& sometimes a great time!) Guess I'm one of those "glass is half-full" people...

Shows in my area keep getting fewer, so I support the shows that still remain. Even when I don't find that much, its better than no shows at all.

Dave,

I sent an e-mail to you, as I believe personal disagreements should be taken off-board.

I had a short visit today since my Grandma has been in the hospital for the last 2 months and I stopped over to say my goodbyes.

Was able to get both Rhona Mitra and Michelle Rodriguez autographs with photos within 2 hours. Celebrity Authentics did a great job organizing this and the fast pass helped a lot. Was fun talking to Julie while waiting in line.

Picked up a Dexter binder Ed was holding for me along with a Dexter Comic-Con box. Also picked up a few prints from Grant Gould in Artist Alley. It seemed very crowded today and was hard to navigate around. Hoping to get back there for a few hours tomorrow.

In case I don't make it back see you at Paul's next month.

Hello All! I am getting ready to leave to do it all again today! When I first trekked out starting on Thursday, I thought that I can actually get what I needed done in an orderly and timely manner. Hah! But, I am somewhat making progress through the show. Today being the last day, I really need to step up the pace. For the card talkers going today, I have a special project that I am working on that involves all of you, at this time. Please, please, if I do not run into you at the show and you see me, please come up to me, I really need to talk with you.
Today, I will be finishing artist alley, then will be at the autograph area, then one more pass through the dealer area.
Hopefully, I will be able to call it a day as early as I can, as I need to get some show stuff done for Sept as well.
Thanks for the support, see some of you there.
Take care,
Paul

My full report from Friday, with pictures is now on my blog. . . I actually got enough stuff done yesterday that I'm heading back now for a bit!

Jon

kudos to dave moulder about the reviewer - my mother said if you have nothing nice to say then do not say anything

Celebrity Authentics were so nice and professional with everybody. Even though at times it was really hard to get down the aisle with all the lookie loo's taking pictures. I was first in line for Rhona Mitra. She was so nice. Very stunning in person. Cameron Bright was the sweetest guy ever. Chris Heyerdayl actually screwed up my name on my photo and they didn't make me buy another. They replaced it which was really nice of them. I met Emma Caufield today who is a tiny little thing.....But I gave her a bunny and she said she was going to take him on her plane ride home......I agree with Kevin as far as it's more of a flea market. But since I did go to the VIP party and got to hang out with most of the guest that were there, I'm ok with that for now. But I did drop lots of money into this weekend. So all in all I did enjoy myself. Will post some pictures later....

Jewel

This was my 8th consecutive Wizard World Chicago and easily in my top 3 favorite years, I had a blast! I was there Thursday and Friday, noticed the crowds were pretty low, but Saturday was a different story and was packed with people.

Highlights for me:

Scooping up signed 8x10s by 4 Star Wars people (bummer that there was one cancellation).
Getting my Prequels Chronicles book signed by Steve Sansweet after the Clone Wars panel.
Getting the card sets I wanted from SciFi Cards that I planned to buy, and then spending money I didn't plan to on numerous chase cards.
Getting a pair of mini-sketches from Tom Hodges, which were amazing.
Various pieces of SWAG (definitely not as abundant in previous years, but there were still some goodies to be found).
Chatting it up with Paul.
Chatting it up with celebrities who I couldn't afford to purchase from, but still talked to for a few minutes.

I don't like the wristband either but only because I like having the previous badges as souvenirs (I'm a dork and save the previous ones in pocket pages).

We had weekend passes but saved on hotel costs by leaving last night, we were tapped out on everything we wanted to do. Thursday thru Saturday was a blast, though.

quote:

kudos to dave moulder about the reviewer - my mother said if you have nothing nice to say then do not say anything

That's uncalled for. Kennywood has every right to express his opinion about the show. Should he be dishonest and say it was great when it wasn't? WW Philly left something to be desired, but I still had a fun day. Dave and Kevin are both good people, but I can see where they would have differing perspectives on the show. It shouldn't get personal, everyone has a right to express an opinion, good or bad, as long as it's constructive. I hope everyone had a good time in Chicago, I've been to 6 "major" shows in the past year, Allentown fall and spring, the Big Apple con, the NY Comic Con, WW Philly, and Comic Con International. They were all different, and I enjoyed each one, but for different reasons. WW Philly was a bit slow, but relaxed, plenty of time to do everything and talk with people. Compared to Comic Con, that's a good thing! My favorite show was the 50th Philly show, good friends, cards, and the Red Robin party, oh, and Kate, too! There were not many cards at the NY shows, but I still enjoyed the experience.

Bottom line, it's fine to disagree, but everyone should be able to express a respectful opinion, good or bad. Let's not be nasty, there is no need for that.

I headed back to the show today with Anna, and while we were only there for a couple of hours had a blast again.

Bought more stuff, saw a bunch of celebs, and just generally had a good time. . .

Jon

Not having gone to a comic con in the last 27-30 years, I found it to be ok. There seemed to be plenty of things for just about everyone...trading cards, comic pros, sketch card artists, toys, hot girls in skimpy outfits , celebs and oh yeah...comics).

I took my soon to be 10 year old son who was in heaven checking out all of the stuff, which is good as I had a chance to work on some deals with Dave, Ed, Tony, Kevin and others before we took off for artist's alley.

There I got a chance to visit with Mark McHaley, Brian Kong, Rich Molinelli, Rhi Owens, Nathan Ohlendorf, Jim Kyle, Justin Chung, Jason Sobol, Andy Price, Grant Gould, Jessica Hickman, Uko Smith, Kristen Allen, Tom Hodges, Matt and Jake Minor, Katie Cook and Mark Texeira.

I had a very nice time and am glad to meet the folks that I had not met previously and to see some familliar faces (including that of Paul lurking around Artist Alley )