Wondercon 2008
By RonG

Page 1 | Page 2 | Photo Gallery | Next >>

This last Saturday, I had the opportunity to check out the 2008 Wondercon in San Francisco. While this is a convention that is advertised as celebrating comic book culture, it appears to have ended up being a movie, toy, and art show with a lot of nerds in costume. Don't get me wrong, I have lots of love for movies, toys and art. And nerds in costume are pretty cool too, at least on one level. So even though I'm not into comic books, I found a lot to enjoy.

The day started out with a bit too much caffeine all the way around, which led to me punching Late Nite Sinners' "special" correspondent Bob in the arm repeatedly in the back of Wolf's car. (FYI, while I don't normally condone violence, this is indeed a typical reaction I have when someone repeatedly tries to wipe their snotty, germy hands on me.) We landed an overpriced parking spot and headed down the blustery street to the half-mile long line waiting to get in the Moscone Center. We walked past the poor fools who had been standing for hours in the wind-whipped downpour and made our way immediately inside. (Hooray for press passes!)

We headed to the main auditorium so we could get a good seat for filming the panels that were to be making appearances throughout the day. Bob and I then left the gigantic hall for a bit of exploring the floor area where various vendors, artists, E-list celebrities (it goes past D, right?), and fan clubs were eagerly waiting to separate you from your money. We made it about a quarter of the way through, chatting it up with various artists and clubs.

The artwork on display really caught my eye. There were some truly outstanding paintings and drawings there. The toys and collectables were very cool, too. It is interesting how stuff that was entertainment as kids has taken on this mythological dimension and has arguably been elevated into high art through some talented painters and artists. If I had lots of money, I would have been staggering about under the load of art books and collectables I was lusting after all day long. The costumes I mentioned earlier were really amazing as well. People had obviously spent a lot of time and money to deck themselves out, and their reward was a day of superstar treatment, with people asking for pictures left and right.

After my brief run of the floor, I headed back to the auditorium to check out the first panel, which consisted of a preview, some exclusive footage, and a round of Q&A with the cast and directors of 10,000 B.C. and Get Smart. The 10,000 B.C. movie looks like it could be cool, and the director sounds like a really arty guy. For the Get Smart Q&A, Steve Carell was being fawned over like the baby Jesus by all his adoring fans. I think it is safe to say The Office is a hit. Poor Anne Hathaway had to put up with being a distant second the whole time.

After checking that out, I headed with Jsin to the floor to do some more exploring. I made a point to tour the whole thing, which took me around an hour. It could have taken a lot longer had I stopped and explored all the vendors that caught my eye, but I was just trying to get through it because Jsin and I had an interview to be at shortly.

[Back to top]