WonderCon Day 1

Okay so I got to the show around 1:30 and this was after being up since yesterday (the 26th at 8 am) and only taking two short naps for like an hour at a time (on the plane so you know that was comfortable!)

So I get to the show and I go in to register and pick up my badge. Now granted the folks at WonderCon aren't quite as busy as their sister show ComicCon International but they have quite a few people to deal with. So since they are not as busy they don't have the nifty bar code scanner that ComicCon has so there is a bit of paper shuffling but they did a good job and it didn't take me long to get my badge.

So I'm walking around the show and I have to say there are plenty of cool things to check out and take a look see. I notice that there are also quite a lot of empty booths around the show floor.

Now I know Friday isn't as busy as Saturday but ComicCon has a policy that if you sign up for space at the show you have to be there for the show. You can't just show up for days you want to show for. Another thing that frustrated me about the show is that almost six months ago I inquired about having portfolio review space at the show. I figure this would be a nice addition to the attendees at the show (since one of the panels on Sat is "From Fan to Creator: Goal Setting for Creative Types") and I was informed that they didn't have an official portfolio review space set up like ComicCon…okay I can accept that…but then I show up and walk around the show and there are empty booths…unused areas and Lucas Licensing is having a portfolio review session for 2 hours in a meeting room.

It is very frustrating when you want to give something back to the convention and look for talent and give people a break into the industry and you get blocked for no good reason.

I mean there were a ton of empty tables in Artist Alley as well…which is fairly standard on Friday. I mean artist who show up for all three days should get a discount on the next years table…I mean I give a lot of props to guys like Bob the angry flower, Ron Lim, Jason Metcalf, Dave Mack and all the other very talented artist who took the time and came to the show.

I had a great time talking to some of the special guests and I got some really cool stuff from the artist who were around. Over all I think I wasn't really super pleased with the way the first day of the show shaped up. To put it in terms of one of my favorite shows "Iron Chef America": I think the people of WonderCon put in a good effort but something was lost in the "execution" of the "dish".

Let's see what Day 2 holds for me!