WonderCon returned to Anaheim March 29-March 31 at the Anaheim Convention Center. This year’s attendees enjoyed presentations from 20th century Fox, Amazon, DC Comics, DreamWorks Animation, FX, Geek & Sundry, Marvel, Nerdist, and Warner Brothers to name a few. In addition, there were approximately 300 hours of programming featuring comics, movies, television, and an annual costume competition.
WonderCon is one of the largest comic conventions in the West coast, so this year was no exception, especially when it was Batman’s 80th anniversary! Every day, a Batman panel was carried out with actors who played Batman or characters from the Batman series, publishes, writers, artists, and experts in the Batman pop culture.
March 30 marked 80 years to the day since Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 in 1939. The Birthday Bash panel featured Lee, David Mazouz (Gotham), Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series), Lee Meriwether (Batman), Roger Craig Smith (Batman: Arkham Origins), and Grace Randolph (Beyond the Trailer). Details of Batman’s entrance into the Comic-Con Museum Character Hall of Fame, which will take place opening night of the 50th San Diego Comic-Con on July 17, 2019at The Comic-Con Museum’s future venue. Fans were able to share a slice of Bat-cake.
Grace Randolph, Jim Lee – DC Publisher, Chief Creative Officer – DC Entertainment, David Mazouz, Lee Meriwether, Kevin Conroy, Diedrich Bader and Roger Craig Smith
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- NOS4A2 cast and crew
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- The Big Bang Theory writers
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- Into The Badlands panel
Shazam – Premieres April 5
Missing Link – Premieres April 12
Godzilla: King of the Monsters – Premieres May 31
Dark Phoenix – Premieres June 7
A Discovery of Witches – Premieres April 7
Nos4a2 trailer – Premieres June 2
https://youtu.be/dpnZkAtVK2Y
Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger – Premieres April 4
https://youtu.be/6kay8vAp-S8
The Tick season 2 – premieres April 5
https://youtu.be/JTwy1E6CW4w
Fear The Walking Dead season 5 – premieres June 2
Animated shows
Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
https://youtu.be/dLZXFHIjZEY
Justice League vs. The Fatal Five – Premieres March 30
Marvel’s Heart Of Iron: Premieres April 3
She-Ra Princess of Power season 2 – Premieres April 26
The Dragon Prince season 2
DC Superhero Girls season 5
Several award-winning writers and pop culture artists were at this year’s WonderCon, including Greg Capullo, artist for Batman, Dark Nights: Metal; Jen Bartel, artist for Blackbird, Black Panther, America; Scott Snyder, writer for Batman, American Vampire, Wytches; Vita Ayala, writer for Supergirl, Marvel Knights 20th, Livewire. There were several panels for people looking to work on their writing, board game designing, Grammy award winning artist Steve Aoki also created a new comic book New Fusion which debuted at WonderCon.
One of the big hallmarks of WonderCon are the costumes. This year’s 15th annual Masquerade Ball was held on March 30 to a crowd of approximately 3,000 people. Bright colors, flashing lights, and music accompanied the parade of the most unique costumes. Below are just a few of the many costumes I saw during my trek through the convention center.
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- Game Of Thrones costumes
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- Alice In Wonderland costumes
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- More Star Wars costumes
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- Pikachu
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- Nightmare Before Christmas costumes
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- Glasses costume – previously featured in another magazine!
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- Swamp creatures
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- Deadpool gives a helping hand
The exhibit hall was filled with just about anything comic book, anime, gamer, or anything a WonderCon groupie would want. And if anyone tells you that you can walk through the exhibit hall in 30 minutes, NO, YOU CAN’T! This year I tried to see how long it would take for me to power walk through all the booths, and it took me about an hour to go through EVERY row at the exhibit hall. As I leafed through posters of the ever popular “One Piece” anime cartoon and passed by the long lines of people waiting to have their special collection comic books signed bi popular cartoonists, I checked out special tables for Dungeon & Dragon players and an exhibit for people seeking to make their own masks.
Several award-winning writers and pop culture artists were at this year’s WonderCon, including Greg Capullo, artist for Batman, Dark Nights: Metal; Jen Bartel, artist for Blackbird, Black Panther, America; Scott Snyder, writer for Batman, American Vampire, Wytches; Vita Ayala, writer for Supergirl, Marvel Knights 20th, Livewire. There were several panels for people looking to work on their writing, board game designing, and how to win at a cosplay competition. Old shows were revised, such as Back to the Future, Stargate, etc. As attendees learned on how to work on their own comics, two-time Grammy-nominated international producer and DJ Steve Aoki, Eisner Award winner Jim Krueger (DC Comics “Justice,” Marvel “Earth X,”) and Impact Theory founder Tom Bilyeu launched their first issue of Neon Future, a sci-fi series exploring the collision of Humanity’s competing desires for stability and advancement and the violence the inevitably follows.
WonderCon is not just for adults. It’s for kids too! I saw a lot of toys, including exhibits for Barbie and numerous other toys. Pugs are the cutest dogs, so I had to pass by the giant stuffed pug of Puglies and stopped by the Mr. Toast booth to buy comic books on sale for my young nephews.
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- Puglie Pug!
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- Mr. Toast!
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- Yoda can be hip and cool too!
WonderCon also has a heart. Literally. It held its annual blood drive for attendees to donate blood. I even encountered a group known as the 501st Legion, or Vader’s Fist, which is a group of volunteers who wear quality Stars Wars costumes to give back to the community and raise thousands for Make A Wish Chapters.
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- Star Wars Costumes
Make sure to check our web site frequently for ongoing updates on several of the shows mentioned in this article. And don’t forget to mark your calendar for the 34th WonderCon on April 10-12, 2020. I’ll see you next year!
Official page: http://www.comic-con.org/wca
Twitter: @WonderCon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WonderCon/