Day 3 at Phoenix Comicon 2011 was HUGE! So huge in fact that the Fire Marshall even had to limit the pace of people entering the Exhibit Hall because there were so many attendees. Saturday also brought some of the big names from the industry to the Phoenix Convention Center for panels, including Stan Lee, Bruce Boxleitner, and Leonard Nimoy (who caused a capacity problem himself in the panel ballroom). The day closed out with a con favorite, the Masquerade and a new tradition for the comicon, the Geek Prom.
The attendance grew tremendously in the third official day; likely in part to the day's guests. There were many more panels than the previous days and the exhibit hall aisles were quickly filled with eager fanboys and fangirls. The more popular panels today were spotlights on some of the most famous names in pop culture. First thing this morning opened with Bruce Boxleitner (sporting a TRON lightcycle shirt) discussing his days on Babylon 5, TRON, TRON: Legacy and the upcoming TRON: Uprising. Next up was zombie author Max Brooks to answer questions about his books, The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. Brooks was very entertaining answering questions and explaining the origins of his now famous works. With the first 2 morning panels, the room filled up a little more each session. Then it was time for Leonard Nimoy’s panel and the start of several (SEVERAL!) requests for people to squeeze in and make every possible seat available for the celebrity’s appearance. Nimoy spent the hour talking about his life, from childhood through the present, with the aid of a slideshow. By far one of the biggest names in comic books history, Stan Lee, arrived to answer questions from the crowd moderated by Jamie Paglia (Creator of Eureka on the SyFy channel). Paglia then stuck around and was joined by Wil Wheaton to talk about Eureka and premiered a trailer for the series’ upcoming summer season. Every panel had tons of good questions and some bad ones here and there, regardless each session was filled with anecdotes and laughs.
The Fire Marshall made his call around midday and attendees returning from lunch had to start getting in line to wait for entrance back into the exhibit hall. As people would leave the room, the staff would allow a few more in. Announcements made over the loudspeaker and in panels, along with organization by the army of volunteers helped to maintain the craziness and made the line move quickly for everyone. The hours of the exhibit hall were extended to also manage the extra capacity. The situation was taken care of without haste and the exhibitors appreciated the increased foot traffic. The Phoenix Comicon staff deserve a “pat on the back” for the way they handled the situation and a “high five” for having so many attendees to cause the situation.
The evening was no less grand than the big events of the daytime. The Masquerade had almost 30 contestants featuring some of the best con costumes paraded in front of an excited crowd. Emceed by a Stormtrooper who wanted to perform as bad as the contestants. He did a great job to handle the minor glitches, technical difficulties and heat from the spotlights. Costumes represented many different pop culture genres including movies, video games, comic book heroes, and anime characters. The Geek Prom was also part of the evening hours' activities. This was a new event added this year to provide a time for geeks to get fancied up and have a formal dance that truly represented them and in this case benefited the Kids Need to Read Charity. There was great music, big balloon decorations, and a classic prom photo arch for people to pose under on their way in.
The excited and pleased reactions were abundantly clear as the crowds left panels laughing and chattering, filled the exhibit hall, and attended the nighttime festivities. Technical difficulties, lines, or the heat could not keep the geeks down. The convention concludes on Sunday with more big name spotlights, informative panels and exhibitors putting on end of the show sales. For more details on today’s panels and events along with a photo gallery from the day, visit www.FanboyHQ.com.
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