As I suggested in my early con impressions, WonderCon had a reasonable amount of space and handled the numbers of attendees pretty well. It was no surprise that Saturday brought bigger numbers than Friday, and the crowding was more obvious, but still never reached that feeling of pushing and shoving that can easily erupt at crowded cons. The floor occasionally got backed up, particularly around the constantly slammed DC Comics booth, where big names like Scott Snyder appeared frequently for signings and the DC booth’s location, at the very front of the con entrance, contributed to some difficulty getting onto the floor. I noticed that the retail side of things was fairly busy, too, with some crowding and difficulty navigating, suggesting that plenty of fans were there to buy back issues and memorabilia, as well. The artists alley at WonderCon was a little on the scanty side in terms of size and numbers of tables, but those artists who were present were very engaging and passionate about their work. They seemed to have regular followers who were coming in to buy their artwork and there was a strong representation of the fine art side of fantasy prints and original work, as well as handmade arts and crafts.

mbrittany_plazaOpen areas like the food court and outside atrium were a welcome oasis, but it also continued to be easy to exit the con into the outdoor plaza areas for a rest and there was no difficulty with re-entry. Though the floor only allowed a couple of doors for access, the many exterior doors were open for comings and goings, with several food trucks outside, far enough from the entrance not to cause back ups. One other surprise was that Sunday seemed just as busy as Saturday, as I heard retailers commenting. They were turning over sales at just as high a rate that day. This feeling may be due to the fact that there were slightly fewer panels on Sunday, making the floor more of a feature, or simply that people waited to do their shopping on the floor on Sunday. When I stumbled into the Arena, a venue I hadn’t seen before, I was impressed with the numbers it could hold, and also that it was completely full for a Joss Whedon Shakespeare film adaptation event. This suggested to me that the con was handling numbers well, since I generally had no idea that so many people were even at the con on top of the numbers moving in the open spaces of the con. It was Easter Sunday the last day of the con, and it closed a little early, at 5PM, perhaps for this reason, but fans still had a sense that they would have been happy for the con to go on a little longer, a good sign regarding WonderCon’s appeal.

One final follow up: I suggested initially in my coverage that people might find WonderCon in Anaheim appealing due to Disneyland access, and that this would appeal to people will kids particularly. Though this turned out to be true, I also underestimated the appeal of Disneyland to singles and younger congoers. I went to Disneyland the following Monday and found that quite a number of WonderCon attendees were there too, from a younger demographic than I expected. You could tell from their conversations and generally less pastel clothing what guests were in town for the con, and I’d say about 1 in 10 were from the con in the massive crowds Disney drew on that post-Easter day.

mbrittany_dark_horseFinal thoughts: it was a well run and appealing con, offering plenty of choice in terms of panels, keeping up with what’s going on in comics and pop culture right now. Marvel were a little under represented, though Dan Slott was participating in panels, and several pros who were there for DC panels were formal Marvel people. Marvel didn’t have a booth on the floor, driving up the demand for DC variants and signings, which they happily accommodated. I was also impressed by the energetic presence of the mid-sized presses like Dark Horse, Archaia, Image, IDW, and ComiXology, for taking the opportunity to flourish and interact with fans when given a little more space to do so. The mid-sized presses really shone in their engagement with fans on the floor, their foresight in bringing new and upcoming books to purchase and get a sneak-peak at, and also through their involvement on panels. This gave the general impression that mid-sized presses are on the rise and taking on the role, collectively, as contenders for the Big Two. Good for them!

Whether WonderCon is in Anaheim again or back in San Francisco in the future, the planning and structure of the con should continue to hold up to make it a comfortable as well as enjoyable, exciting event for fans. This won’t be one of the cons where you have to sacrifice personal amenities just to see your favorite artists speak or get the variant your collection is calling for. They have a sense of putting the customer first at WonderCon and let’s hope that continues; it sets a good model for the growing con industry, and there are some bigger cons who could learn a thing or two from this.

Without further ado, some highlights of the con in photos from my trusty partner in crime Michele Brittany who proved her moxie as a pop culture photographer at WonderCon 2013 in spades. Thanks Michele!

mbrittany_anime

mbrittany_artist_alley

mbrittany_batman

mbrittany_big_eyes

mbrittany_comics

mbrittany_holly_hoxx_graphic

mbrittany_golden_comics

mbrittany_marvel_art

mbrittany_moxie

mbrittany_mysterious_galaxy

mbrittany_pirate

mbrittany_shredder

mbrittany_small_press_alley

mbrittany_super_hero_stuff

mbrittany_super_family

mbrittany_tom_hodges

mbrittany_valentine_et_al

mbrittany_wanted

mbrittany_wreck_it_ralph

 

Photo Credits: All photos in this article were taken by semi-professional photographer and pop culture scholar Michele Brittany. She’s an avid photographer of pop culture events. You can learn more about her photography and pop culture scholarship here.

Hannah Means-Shannon writes and blogs about comics for TRIP CITY and Sequart.org and is currently working on books about Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore for Sequart. She is @hannahmenzies on Twitter and hannahmenziesblog on WordPress.

5 COMMENTS

  1. That outdoor plaza was a great addition (up until sometime last year it was a street separating the the two nearby hotels) for this sort of con, not just adding room for food trucks, but as a place for people to hang out and rest, socialize, hold photoshoots, etc.

    While I’d still like to see WonderCon move back to San Francisco, they’ve shown that they can put on a good mid-sized con here in Anaheim, and if they do move back, I like the idea of adding another convention to the circuit the way they were talking about doing this year if they were able to get fall dates in San Francisco.

    That said, it also showed that Anaheim, at least right now, can’t handle the parking needed for both Disneyland and a Comic-Con sized event. Wondercon is, what, a third the size of SDCC these days, and it was still problematic at best.

    My own recap is still in progress, but if anyone’s interested, here’s my WonderCon photo gallery on Flickr.

  2. Thanks Kelson! I should’ve commented on the parking- you’re right. I was lucky enough not to have to drive, but my friends did have some issues. On the first day they turned up way early and were fine but on the second day they were only a little early and had to park really far away and it made life difficult for them- it’s true.

  3. They expanded their square footage, moving from Hall D (221K) to Halls A+B (292K).

    The interior courtyards are a nice amenity. While I expect they might be crowded during WC, during the library show, they were spacious and sunny, and a nice way to escape (temporarily) from the hustle and bustle. There were also some food vendors there.

    Parking… Disney’s Toy Story lot is not that far away, directly east of the convention center. $15 for the day. Can the general public park there? Or is it only for theme park visitors?

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