Wonder Con 2011 - to sum it all up!

The 25th Wonder Con has ended, packed up and hit the road. Fanboy Headquarters made it back to base safely and fully recuperated. Being our first time traveling (7+ hours in a packed car) the event was quite an experience. Check out the sum up from Brightboy and Hotshot below.

Hotshot and Brightboy

Brightboy says: I’ve always heard WonderCon is a great event in San Francisco, a small San Diego Comic Con (since the same company runs them). After attending this past weekend, I would not ever use the word “small” to describe this show. There were big panels with significant relevance to the comic book industry, a huge exhibit hall floor, and my personal favorite S.W.A.G.. And Unlike San Diego, most of the weekend’s events involved comic book related subjects.

WonderCon was able to get 2 of this summer’s biggest movies to host panels this weekend. First Green Lantern brought almost 10 minutes of footage that completely redeemed itself after the first comedic teaser footage that came out previously. The other film, Cowboys & Aliens brought 9 minutes of footage that was for WonderCon fans only and will not be shared with any other medium. Director Jon Favreau said that he wanted to say thanks to the fans and he likes the comic con atmosphere for promoting his films in the comic book genre. Also, DC Comics and Marvel made their presence known with announcements about their slate of summer projects Flashpoint and Fear Itself respectively. The exhibit hall floor was huge and included a “fully stocked” artists alley area. Cosplayers, fans, and staff made their way around the room and while it was crowded it was not as bad as bigger shows - you could still move around. Several booths were giving out posters, buttons, free comics, stickers, tshirts, lanyards, and much more. And like bigger events, WonderCon had several exclusives for sale including Marvel’s s pecial SF Variant of X-men #534 that sold out and DC Comics’ White Lantern Batman & Flash figures that were selling like crazy.

I personally enjoyed this con a lot. Having traveled to several shows in the last 6 months, I can say this was great. I could tell there was a lot of planning that went into the event (they had lines to get signatures set up out of the way and ticket drawings to be qualified for autographs and exclusives). The area of the Con was great for food, lodging and getting those forgotten supplies. The weather was beautiful. Though I didn’t walk away seeing every panel I wanted to see and getting every piece of S.W.A.G. I saw, I had a great time. Is it worth it to travel to this show? Yes, and as this show gets bigger, it will get even more awesome.

Hotshot says: WonderCon 2011 has come and gone. From April 1st - 3rd fanboys and fangirls from all over descended on the city of San Francisco to attend one of the most popular comic conventions around. From celebrites to con exclusives, there was something for everyone to see. This WonderCon was my first time attending, so I couldnt wait to see what was in store.

Just like any convention, there are exclusives that are highly sought by collectors and this year WonderCon was no exception. Graphitti Designs had a White Lantern Batman and White Lantern Flash action figures, which were limited to 1000 each, for sale. To even get a chance to purchase any of these figures, you had to get in line and draw a golden ticket to get a bracelet to be able to get the tickets. Marvel had a special variant of X-Men #534 for sale as well as posters for their upcoming movies: Thor and Captain America.

With all of the superhero movies on deck for this summer, Green Lantern was the only one out of the bunch that premiered exclusive footage at WonderCon. The panel was moderated by DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, the stars of the movie, were onhand to talk about their experiences on set and to take questions from the audience. Reynolds fielded most of the questions and was on a roll with plenty of one-liners and wisecracks keeping most of the audience in laughter. One of the most memorable moments of the panel was when an audience member asked Reynolds to recite the Green Lantern oath. Reynolds sheepishly agreed to recite the oath only if the audience would recite along with him. At the end of the panel, people in the audience were given a Warner Bros. bag with a GL t-shirt and lanyard inside.

With many celebrities in attendance for panels, it was only a matter of time that I would run into one. Walking by the "Femme Fatales" booth which is an upcoming series on CineMax, I ran into Robert LaSardo, who portrayed Escobar Gallardo in the FX series "Nip/Tuck." LaSardo was extremely nice and posed for a picture with me.

After convention hours, many fellow writers and artists went out on the town for food and drinks. I came across Francis Manapaul in the hotel lobby and briefly spoke with him about the upcoming cancellation of "The Flash" and any future project down the pipeline. Though he did say he would be working on some covers for the upcoming "Flashpoint" event, and that his next big project was "top secret" and was not allowed to divulge that information. Definitely stay tuned for any details regarding his future projects.
Overall WonderCon 2011 was a great experience. With all of the great panels and giveaways, I will definitely be coming back in the future. The movie studios had a strong presence here as it was one of the last "cons" before their movies are released into movie theaters. San Francisco being the beautiful city that it is, is a perfect location to host such an occasion. Now with WonderCon here and gone, people are counting down and readying their sights for San Diego Comic Con.

Fanboy Headquarters owe a big thanks to our friends that joined us this past weekend in San Francisco: Thank you to Guy, Heather (aka Urban Batgirl), Allyssa (aka Black Widow), Richard, Erik, and for sure Paul too! All in all, another great Con attended in 2011! Next up we will head back to Long Beach for their 1-day expo April 23rd and then its onto Phoenix Comic Con in late May before the biggest of them all, San Diego Comic Con in July! Keep your eyes on Fanboy Headquarters for coverage on comic book events and other great stories on all things comic books.