WONDERCON 2015, April 3-5, Anaheim, CA.

[gojira]

Yep. Nice show though this year. So far so good.

 

Pick up anything? Nothing for me so far.

 

I scored two high grade EC's (white pages), one from Superworld Ted and one from Greg Reece (good to see these two at the show). Same for Harley, Bob Storms, and Graham Crackers (as noted, Jamie has a lot of nice material).

 

Sales were brisk at the booth I was helping at, it was a fun day/fun show so far!

 

Harley had some nice Atlas PCH including one hell of a Venus 17...

 

Yes it's a very sweet copy!

[trmoore54]

Couldn't make it this year. But here's a pic of my son's girlfriend as Star Lord. She made the mask herself with cardboard, household items and paint.

 

[mtlevy]

Thanks to Oakman29 - and the other folk who offered a badge - I was able to attend today and spent some funds so net-net a win for Wondercon

 

Saw a few boardies, dropped off a few comics for grading, bought a few art books, more than a few comics (at 50% off I'll but stuff I don't really need) and even a bit of art (Bechara)

 

For the PCH folk, I picked up a Suspense 26 from Superworld - not super high grade but nice and glossy - awesome cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oakman29]

Thanks to Oakman29 - and the other folk who offered a badge - I was able to attend today and spent some funds so net-net a win for Wondercon

 

Saw a few boardies, dropped off a few comics for grading, bought a few art books, more than a few comics (at 50% off I'll but stuff I don't really need) and even a bit of art (Bechara)

 

For the PCH folk, I picked up a Suspense 26 from Superworld - not super high grade but nice and glossy - awesome cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet.

Thanks for the Conan 58, you didn't have to. (thumbs u

[mtlevy]

Part of my campaign to have Conan 58 recognized as the real 1st app. of Belit

 

Mark

[LordThanos1969]

I did not find anything on Saturday, but on Sunday, I picked up a Venus 2 CGC 6.0 from A-1 Comics. Overall, I think there were fewer silver and gold comics than last year, while there seem to be more attendees.

[Robot Man]

I also got a nice copy of Venus #2 from Saul at Oddesy comics at the con. Considering, as you said, less vintage dealers kinda odd that there were at least 2 copies in the room...

[David P Hartman]

For being an alternate site for the show, on Friday, the only available tickets were for Sunday. And those gone by Sat.! I don't know where they put the 'cap' at for this event. It must be in the 100,000? Probably more? On Sat. afternoon, there was "all parking lots full" messages displayed in surrounding areas. Hell, they were even asking for badges before getting to the doors!

So what's all this BS about SoCal not supporting a major show? Sold out kinda speaks for itself! Mike at the CGC tables told me they were swamped up until 5:00 on Sat. with submitions. And still busy right up till 7:00! I left about a 3 inch stack of books with them, that set me back about 530 some bucks..... I left a few hundred with the card dealer Endless World in pursuit of the numbered James Bond autograph card inserts...... So, in the course of a couple hours, I dropped about a grand. How much money actually changes hands at one of these shows? Anyone care to speculate?

 

 

[revat]

For being an alternate site for the show, on Friday, the only available tickets were for Sunday. And those gone by Sat.! I don't know where they put the 'cap' at for this event. It must be in the 100,000? Probably more? On Sat. afternoon, there was "all parking lots full" messages displayed in surrounding areas. Hell, they were even asking for badges before getting to the doors!

So what's all this BS about SoCal not supporting a major show? Sold out kinda speaks for itself! Mike at the CGC tables told me they were swamped up until 5:00 on Sat. with submitions. And still busy right up till 7:00! I left about a 3 inch stack of books with them, that set me back about 530 some bucks..... I left a few hundred with the card dealer Endless World in pursuit of the numbered James Bond autograph card inserts...... So, in the course of a couple hours, I dropped about a grand. How much money actually changes hands at one of these shows? Anyone care to speculate?

 

 

 

I'm not sure anyone is debating whether or not people in southern California have money and a deep love for entertainment/media related activities/services. Given the high rents and random San Francisco taxes, its LIKELY that CCI is pulling in more at Wondercon Anaheim, and CCI is in no hurry to go back up north, especially there are probably economic efficiencies for running a con relatively close to san diego, they can use some of the same staff and vendors.

 

I think the point is there is a slew of rich nerds and/or dress up folks who are underserved in SF proper, and that someone is leaving a bunch of money on the table.

[EJR]

I did not find anything on Saturday, but on Sunday, I picked up a Venus 2 CGC 6.0 from A-1 Comics. Overall, I think there were fewer silver and gold comics than last year, while there seem to be more attendees.

I agree there were fewer golden and silver age books than last year and many more attendees which made it uncomfortable at times! I didn't buy any books since the books I was interested in were way way overpriced! The Superman movie panel and the Batman vs Robin movie were excellant! I heard the news yesterday on the radio that Wondercon is moving to Los Angeles next year. I am not really happy with that since the area around the LA Convention Center is not a good one and they really charge a lot for parking, $25! Whats the reason for the move to LA? EJR

[nearmint]

I did not find anything on Saturday, but on Sunday, I picked up a Venus 2 CGC 6.0 from A-1 Comics. Overall, I think there were fewer silver and gold comics than last year, while there seem to be more attendees.

I agree there were fewer golden and silver age books than last year and many more attendees which made it uncomfortable at times! I didn't buy any books since the books I was interested in were way way overpriced! The Superman movie panel and the Batman vs Robin movie were excellant! I heard the news yesterday on the radio that Wondercon is moving to Los Angeles next year. I am not really happy with that since the area around the LA Convention Center is not a good one and they really charge a lot for parking, $25! Whats the reason for the move to LA? EJR

 

Apparently, there's going to be construction going on at the Anaheim Convention Center at that time.

 

I was at the Richard Donner Superman movie panel, too. Very fun.

[AKA Rick]

I am not really happy with that since the area around the LA Convention Center is not a good one and they really charge a lot for parking, $25! Whats the reason for the move to LA? EJR

 

If you can, park your car at an MTA station and take the MTA into the convention center, it allows you to not sit in traffic as well as not fight and pay for parking.

 

The only downside to the MTA is if you want to go out at night, it's a very sketchy area and the BLUE LINE smells like weed most of the time, so feels like it could be somewhat unsafe if after dark, past 8pm.

 

 

[AKA Rick]

I think the point is there is a slew of rich nerds and/or dress up folks who are underserved in SF proper, and that someone is leaving a bunch of money on the table.

 

I think in part, geography doesn't keep the "rich" away from the conventions, as most I know are willing to travel and make pilgrimages to places like New York Comic Con, C2E2 Chicago, San Diego Comic Con, etc.

 

So, the difference between SF and LA is a 5 hr drive or a 1 hr flight, or maybe $150-200 in gas or airfares plus hotel.

 

Most of the rich can easily afford that.

 

So, excluding the rich and those with deep pockets, but looking more at the sum of the parts in a community that equals the whole.

 

The biggest complaint I heard in the past from the exhibiting vendors at Wonder Con is that So Cal folks are lookie loos and generally go for the entertainment and pop culture, maybe now even more so, do the whole "look at me" cosplay scene as attention whores. Whereas with Nor Cal, because there's less to do up there in terms of comic conventions held in the area, the locals converge to the show and spend money.

 

But now Nor Cal has a few shows emerging, biggest of all being the Big Wow Comic Fest in San Jose.

 

[mysterio]

I think the point is there is a slew of rich nerds and/or dress up folks who are underserved in SF proper, and that someone is leaving a bunch of money on the table.

 

I think in part, geography doesn't keep the "rich" away from the conventions, as most I know are willing to travel and make pilgrimages to places like New York Comic Con, C2E2 Chicago, San Diego Comic Con, etc.

 

So, the difference between SF and LA is a 5 hr drive or a 1 hr flight, or maybe $150-200 in gas or airfares plus hotel.

 

Most of the rich can easily afford that.

 

So, excluding the rich and those with deep pockets, but looking more at the sum of the parts in a community that equals the whole.

 

The biggest complaint I heard in the past from the exhibiting vendors at Wonder Con is that So Cal folks are lookie loos and generally go for the entertainment and pop culture, maybe now even more so, do the whole "look at me" cosplay scene as attention whores. Whereas with Nor Cal, because there's less to do up there in terms of comic conventions held in the area, the locals converge to the show and spend money.

 

But now Nor Cal has a few shows emerging, biggest of all being the Big Wow Comic Fest in San Jose.

 

Wizard has also added a show in San Jose, so they're looking to move into that market too.

[Robot Man]

There are a lot of collectors of comics, toys, advertising ect in LA. Many have pretty deep pockets. They just don't seem to support the shows with their wallets though. We used to have one of the best toy shows in the country and it is just a shell of a show now. I know the Internet has cut into them severely but just the same there is nothing that compare to buying stuff live.

 

I have read that a lot of people that went to WonderCon didn't buy anything. I know it was a little dim buy REALLY? Nothing? Maybe I am not as picky as some but I still found quite a bit of cool books. I tried to spend something with all the dealers I like. I we don't spend a little something, they won't be back. Pretty soon all we will have left are the big auction houses and Fleabay...

 

It is really a shame...

[kzzza]

Anyone know why DC decided not to have a booth this year? I usually love going there but alas, they were a no show.

 

"It was explained at both the Masquerade at the Talkback that DC is not attending any cons in April due to their big move from NYC to Burbank." - saw this on a reddit post

 

I thought WC was bad this year not too many great guests. I did manage to get a couple of good commissions from Phil Noto and Mike Choi overall it was an okay show. I also didn't like the fact I drove 200 miles total that weekend. Hopefully next year in LA they have better guests.

[LordThanos1969]

Anyone know why DC decided not to have a booth this year? I usually love going there but alas, they were a no show.

 

"It was explained at both the Masquerade at the Talkback that DC is not attending any cons in April due to their big move from NYC to Burbank." - saw this on a reddit post

 

I thought WC was bad this year not too many great guests. I did manage to get a couple of good commissions from Phil Noto and Mike Choi overall it was an okay show. I also didn't like the fact I drove 200 miles total that weekend. Hopefully next year in LA they have better guests.

 

I agree that the guests were not very exciting this year. Those in the autograph area were particularly lame. There was one guy who dresses up like Spock who was there signing. I have no idea why anyone would want the autograph of somebody whose only claim to fame is dressing up like someone else.

 

I hope when they move the con to LA next year that there is a shuttle from the hotels over to the convention center. As others have pointed out in this thread, the area around the convention center is sketchy.

[Agent 007]

Has anyone posted any pictures of WC on this thread or anywhere else, like the general site? I must be blind because I can't locate it. I have attended WC every year since they started except the last 2 years due to work.

[jimjum12]

There's an awesome report in the OA Forum..... GOD BLESS...

 

=jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u