Wizard World Philadelphia 2013

When one thinks of Philadelphia, usually the first things that come to mind are cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell, and the Phillies.  However, when I think of “The City of Brotherly Love”, only one thing comes to mind, Wizard World Philadelphia.  Now mind you, this would be my first year travelling down to Philly for this con.  In fact I’ve been heading south since 2008 (except last year when I lived on the other side of the country), so needless to say, I’m no stranger to Philly’s Wizard World show.  However this is my first time reporting on it, so we’re going to see how this goes.

After emerging from the subway station out on to the sweltering streets of Philadelphia, I couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of excitement, just knowing what lay ahead of me within the Pennsylvania Convention Center.  As I walked through the doors and the mercifully cool air hit me, I knew that this was where I belonged.  I could finally be amongst my brethren and not feel like such an outcast.  This show has always been a bit special to me.  A lot of firsts happened here.  This was my very first con, this was where I was first fully introduced to the wonders of Zenescope, where I first started making “donations” to the art community and where I met some of my good friends.  So, as you can see, this is an important convention to me, which I try to get to every year.  With that in mind, I hope to do the show justice and bring in more people to attend this wonderful convention.

So, right off the bat, I gotta say how much I enjoyed the ease of access this show had.  What I mean by that is just how easy it was to maneuver around the place.  You didn’t get that claustrophobic feeling every time you tried to pass between the different booths.  I liked how open and free the convention felt and it was just the right size for me too.  I’m not a huge fan of large crowds (although I don’t think most people are), so for a show this size to come around is just plain awesome for me.  It was small enough where you didn’t get the massive crowds like in New York or San Diego, but large enough that it draws in some pretty amazing talent and celebs. 

Which leads me to my next point: the overall content of the show.  I found that there was quite a bit to see and do.  I could honestly spend a whole day just perusing through all of the different vendors.  Comic book re-sellers were everywhere, which is a colletor’s dream.  Being a collector myself I love going through and finding that one book necessary to either further or complete my collection and a lot of the books are fairly cheap compared to someplace like eBay.  However, the comics are just the tip of the iceberg.  There were action figures, t-shirts, leather-working, old video games and so much more.  The variety was just plain fantastic and that’s not even including the exhibitors.  Two of my favorite independent comic book companies were in attendance: Zenescope, who are practically right down the street from the convention and Big Dog Ink.  In my opinion, both of these companies are doing something fresh and innovative with their stories and I’m always apt to support, not really up-and-comers, but not really as big of companies as DC or Marvel.  The best part is, everyone at both booths seemed very laid back and easy to talk to.  Hands down one of my favorite things to do at conventions is to interact with the creators of some of these series that I read.  May it be to get a little insight as to the creation of a character, or just to shoot the breeze.  Either way, it’s great to be able to meet the people behind the pages. 

Now, I could easily and I mean easily, spend a month’s paycheck in Artist Alley.  Here’s where I love the ease of access again because I could freely browse through all of the different artists without having to vie for position.  Wizard World Philly managed to procure artists of all different media, but all with the nerd culture in mind.  You don’t understand how much I enjoyed seeing all of the different ways Batman or Spider-Man were depicted, not to mention all of the female characters.  Artist Alley is probably one of my absolute favorite sections to wander through because not only do you get to pick up some more great art, but you can also meet and converse with all of these new writers and artists.  And now we go over to the Special Guest section, where all of the celebrities hold signings and photo ops.  Now we’re not talking about B movie actors and actresses, although some people prefer them over the big names, Wizard World Philly brings in big names from shows and movies that the attendees know and love.  This year alone, I was able to meet the captain himself, William Shatner and the legend Stan Lee, not to mention Adam Baldwin, Gina Torres, Summer Glau and Jewel Staite, who, I’ve gotta say are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.  Now that’s some star power right there.  I really want to say thank you to people running this show for giving me the opportunity to meet these people whom I’ve marveled on screen for so long.  It truly was an honor.  The only thing I didn’t get to experience were the panels (and they all sounded pretty cool too), but that’s only because I got lost amongst all of the great stuff happening on the show floor.  Perhaps next year I’ll actually make it to some.

So, the show was absolutely amazing, except for one incident that occurred Saturday morning.  Essentially what happened was, I had previously purchased tickets online for autographs from a select few celebs.  When you finally get the ticket, it gives you the option to either print it out or send it to this app on an iPhone called Spotpass.  I figured I would save some trees and give myself three less things to carry around with me and downloaded the tickets to my phone.  Fast forward to the Saturday of the convention and I’m standing in line, waiting to meet Stan Lee.  Now, I’ve been in line for a good half an hour to an hour at this point.  So, I finally make it up to the front of the line, I’ve got my ticket queued up on my phone and I’m told I need a paper ticket.  Believe me, I was not happy at the point, so I furiously ran around the show floor, hoping to see some signage saying where to redeem these tickets.  I finally ended up at the information booth, only to be told that I would have to go downstairs to Kinko’s in order to print out the tickets, which increased my anger even more.  Then it was suggested I go out to the Guest Relations/Press Registration booth to see what they can do about the ticket.  After I had to forward my e-mail receipts to the coordinator at the booth, I got them printed out, but was told that the tickets had said that a physical ticket would be required to meet these people.  At that I had missed the autograph time slot for the morning and would have to wait until the afternoon to try again.  Now, maybe the tickets did say that, I know I didn’t see it, but if that’s the case, why would they even give you the option to download the tickets if a physical one is required?  It just doesn’t make sense.  One thing that could have been done would have been to have a sign out in front of the Special Guest area, saying that a physical ticket was required for pre-purchased autographs or photo ops and even then have a station set up so you could then print off the tickets if you needed to.  I mean something like that could have prevented an unnecessary headache, for me and possibly for others as well.  I was definitely cheesed off for a good portion of the day, but it didn’t ruin the convention for me.  This is just something that should be considered for future shows.

Overall the convention was a great experience, despite a miscommunication.  As I headed out of the hall for the last time this year, I left with a newfound perspective on a lot of things as well as a greater appreciation of all of the friends I’ve made at this show.  Sure there will be other shows and new people to meet, but Wizard World Philadelphia will always be my show of firsts.  So thank you to everyone who helped make this show possible and for making it such a wonderful experience.  I would most definitely recommend this convention to anyone looking for a relaxing and enjoyable time and to the populace in general.  Wizard World Philly 2013 was one hell of a show.