Wizardcon 98

A Con Report by

Patrick Dunning Bdunn2@ix.netcom.com

Wizardcon 98 took place in the Rosemont Convention center July 17-19th. The biggest con in the mid-west, it had all the big publishers with all the big names in attendance. Sponsored by the Wizard pricing magazine, the con was huge. It had every thing a collector of any kind would want. From hard-to-find comics, to toys, to Magic, to Star Wars, to Beanie Babies, to, well, you get the idea.
From the moment you entered the complex, you could feel the energy. There were people dressed in costumes from Supergirl to Klingons(I apologize for lack of pics my camera's batteries ran out). Once you entered the convention floor, everything was competing for your attention. The big DC wall display and all the displays of Todd McFarlane Productions are what immediately grabbed
my attention. As I pushed my way through the crowds, I could see the Wizards of the Coast booth with the Magic: The Gathering competitions. The huge Marvel Comics TV screen is an eye catcher. Inside the Marvel booth , there were some props from the upcoming "Blade" movie.
After I got through the Publishers section, I got into the dealers section (which made up most of the convention) There was fanboy’s heaven. Everything , and I mean EVERYTHING you could ever want, even if it was remotely collectable, it was there. Best of all, every thing was well below normal asking price.

The Artist’s Alley, at the far end of the convention floor, was where one could get autographs from one’s favorite artist. One could (if you do that sort of thing) show off one’s own art to the pro’s and get feedback and see if one has a snowball’s chance in the comic field.
I was in attendance at a Marvel press conference where they announced the "bigger and better things ahead for Marvel", except there weren’t many profound things announced. Most of it had already been out for some time. They talked about their bankruptcy and their purchase of ToyBiz (since not getting the royalties from ToyBiz was a major cause of the bankruptcy). They talked about the upcoming "Blade" movie and other upcoming movie projects, to which Stan Lee said, "You wouldn’t think they were Marvel movies, THEY’RE ACTUALLY GOOD!". It was also said that Tom Cruise has expressed an interest in playing Iron Man, but nothing is in the works yet. They also spoke of the release of a quarterly series of comics geared for younger readers, that will be sold at Toys’R’Us.

All together, it was a great experience and a great con. I’m looking forward to next year! Definitely, a con worth going to. I walked away with a littler wallet, but a bigger collection, and a lot of great memories. My favorite part of the con was meeting Ron Marz , the current writer of Green Lantern. This convention was the best I’ve ever been to.

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Copyright © 1998 Patrick Dunning

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