I attended my first Wondercon on Sunday ($10 preregistered, what a deal!) and though I’m sure attendees from the Bay Area would disagree, I think having it in Anaheim is a great idea (normally it’s at the Moscone in San Francisco, but renovations at the convention center posed a conflict). Of course, it’s an easy drive for me, but also, the hotels by the Anaheim Convention Center are a lot cheaper.
I don’t know how the show itself compared to the regular Wondercon, but it was far grander than Long Beach Comic Con, really like a smaller version of the big Comic Con in San Diego, small enough so that a national spirit competition was also taking place at the convention center. This confused me at first – I thought the throngs of young women in makeup and dressed in what looked like volleyball uniforms was some kind of weird cosplay (“weird” is relative – I didn’t bat an eye at all the women dressed in Game of Thrones wardrobe). It should have been called the Anaheim Juxtaposition Center.
I like the smaller scale of the show. They had basically the same type of talks as Comic Con, but without the crowds. The first talk I attended a panel of artists (including Mike Mignola) discussing the comic book covers they’ve worked on. One of the lamentable covers was from Dollhouse – it suffered from a not-great concept dictated by, I think, Jed Whedon, and an excessive number and size of credits (names from the show, I believe). That show had its moments, but it did have problems.
It was also nice, for once, to attend a ballroom session without waiting in line for three hours. That’s how I got this cool swag, at the Once Upon a Time showing and panel.
I was a little perturbed that all the fan questioners during the panel session were women, but setting aside my insecurities, I really like that show – it and Modern Family are the two shows I make a point of watching on my iPad (via the ABC Player app). And Jane Espenson is one of the writers. As with Bear McCreary, I figure whatever she’s working on has to be a great show. And that’s why I attended her panel session. I don’t know if I’ll watch the web series that she’s plugging, but the Q&A tidbits on how she’s only ever been interested in writing for TV, her favorite shows growing up, experience as a show runner on Caprica, tips on writing and producing…all good stuff!