Conventional Craziness

I still came unprepared.

Not knowing the threads of people who would roam, wander and sell at booths in one of the bigger convention settings. There were artists and writers abound. Television actors too.

Wizard World 2007.

It’s not just about comic books anymore. But it’s bigger than life: the thrust of thrill is getting to see first-hand the massive outset of people contributing to the great undertaking that fueled the weekend of Aug. 8 to Aug. 12. There’s so much involved that no amount of time could cover it all.

They have one of these in New York City and Los Angeles. But I believe we have plenty to be thankful for, being so close to Chicago. I managed to take a road trip down there with friends… Adam from De Pere, Dave from Kaukauna and Tim in Oshkosh.

Though we got special treatment. We had Premiere passes allowing for us to go to the convention for a sneak peak of what’s in store for us on Thursday night. The rest of the weekend is filled with special panels, artists such as Bill Seinkevich signing autographs at designated booths and people clearly avoiding the law somehow by selling their cheap bootleg copies for outrageous prices.

I wanted this to be an once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. It was good fun. There's no doubt that it’s an experience you won’t likely get in very many other places. The football field sized commodity set up in the gigantic room feels like a heaven for comic book fans.

I did managed to meet Lou Ferrango from the old 1970s series The Incredible Hulk. Nice guy. I shook his hand and said hello to him. He’s makes good a representative for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community as he has a total loss of hearing himself. There’s no reason why this guy shouldn’t be decent. He’s still recognized on the streets for his portrayal of the green giant who smashed his way through blockbuster ratings on television.

On the other hand, I’ve found not all my experiences were very good. I’ve been a follower of the John Constantine Hellblazer comic book series for the longest time since day number one. The series chronicles a street-smart, chain smoking mage who dabbles in the occult while wearing his trademark trench-coat. I found that Paul Jenkins, who had penned the series for several years, would be appearing there.

Jenkins came across as a bit of a jackass. He’s supposed to be British. They’re known for being good folks. But he passed me off as just another comic book junkie who wanted his autograph rather than an intellectual type writer who longed to borrow a couple minutes of his time simply to discuss the Hellblazer series with him. I enjoyed his work on the series. I wanted to relate that.

But he seemed interested in merely making a buck off me. It’s good that he’s making charity donations for the artists in the comic book industry. But I wanted to talk to him for only a couple of minutes. That was all. I did get his autograph. And little else.

Lesson? Don’t meet people who are supposed to be heroes in your life. They’ll never going to live up to your expectations. You’ll be disappointed.

But I did meet a slough of interesting people in the convention. And pictures I did take of different comic book characters come to life: Poison Ivys, Supergirls, Rogues, Storms and there’s even one remarkably lovely girl who dressed up as the slave Princess Leia from the Return of the Jedi film. Very nice. I asked if she had a boyfriend. She did. I’m disappointed again.

That was probably the best part of the convention. Meeting the different people who share the same interests. And you don’t have to get that awful put-down stare you get from folks who think you’re a geek for collecting Batman or Wonder Women comics. They all have the same passion of dressing up in their favorite characters and making the best of their talents.

They’re good people. Every one of them. They show the same decency and courtesy you might not expect from a football sports game or some drunkard corner bar. These people are good to be around with. And they’re lovely folks, just lovely.

One of the highlights of the weekend, to be sure, must be the greatest moment of movie history right here in the convention. If you received a wrist badge and a T-Shirt for the Batman: The Dark Knight trailer, you were allowed to go see the sneak preview of the Batman film still in the works at 6 p.m. Aug. 11. Only 1500 were allowed.

You weren’t allowed to bring in electronics. They were confiscated from you. You could only bring yourself and that was it. But the Batman movie trailer had a host of guest panelists that would knock your socks off. Christian Bale and Gary Oldeman appeared there, as well as director Christopher Nolan and writer David Goyer. The bigwigs of Batman history.

This would be worth the money right there. But the pivotal focus of the panel discussion was the portrayal of the Joker: they would make it a departure from Jack Nicholson from the original film. He would be very different. More psychotic. I wish I had been there to witness the event. But I was running down with a cold at the time.

Someone wanted to pay a thousand bucks for the wrist just to get into the sneak preview. That guy was nuts. If I had the wrist badge, I would have sold it to him and said, "I can always see the movie next year."


That being said, the Wizard World convention was a worthwhile trip. They’ll have the convention up and running again for next year in 2008. This time they’re moving the weekend up ahead in late July for those who won’t run into conflicting Aug. schedules.

See you there again. Maybe.