Article and Photos by Derek Orchard
Big WOW! Comic fest was held in San Jose, California on April 18 and 19th of 2015. At the San Jose Convention Center.
I want to start this by saying I had a great time at big wow. Some may say that big wow is a small show, maybe it is; you don’t have to stand in a Digital line and in the first 5 minutes, If you’re not getting your tickets, you are NOT getting A ticket. Big Bow, still a very accessible show, for fans, families and it brings is a lot of big name guest, both international and domestic.
I wanted to go to Big Wow for quite a few years but something is always come up. So this was my first year attending Big WOW! Comic fest. When I have attended, comic book conventions “Comic Cons” it is usually been the big ones like, San Diego comic con and WonderCon in Anaheim and as I watch those shows growing bigger and bigger. I think they have lost some of the heart of why these thing started in the first place. It’s not supposed to matter , if your boy or girl or if you’re black or your white or your pink and green or young and old, any of those type of things. Were there because we want to be a part is something that we all like that we all find a common interest in and we think its FUN.  Big Bow is that type of show, where it is just about what is brought us all there, our fandom.
They had areas set up for kids so they had coloring activities reading activities. games for kids. They had a they had a gaming area where people were able to play rock band and another videogame area set up to play a lot of the 3-D fighting games like street fighter 4 or dead or alive 5. They even had a mechanical bull, You could ride and if you hang on for the amount of time you got a prized. They had an art exhibit for Vampirella and the swamp thing. Then you have all the panels!! too many to go though And also the coveted free stuff table.
Big wow was celebrating the 45th anniversary of Vampirella with a art book, you could purchase it at the big wow table and they were also selling to different big wow T-shirts and with the announcement for next year the Silicon Valley, con they were selling the a T-shirt for that convention for next year for 2016. They had a lot of different vendors stuff for props for sci-fi comics artist tables both big name celebrity artist table little name artist and craft makers and I mean if just about assume. I just about any toy, they had their you they had their you could get, and if you were really smarting a really looking for a good deal you can to save money on buying stuff there.
Some of the international guess they had their they had Dave Givens, the Co. creator a Watchman and Kingsman: the Secret Service and International best-selling French artist Claire Wendling. Adi Granov concept designer and illustrator on all 3 iron man films, Toshio Meada of Urotsukidoji and La blue girl. Some of their domestic guest some the new ones first time at big wow this year was of the swamp thing creators, Steve Bissette, John totleben and Rick Veitch.  Some of the returning guest were Arthur Adams, that has worked on Books like Batman, Superman, X men Vampirella ,danger girl, Monkey man and O’Brien. Frank Cho best known for his work in liberty Meadows, jungle girl, Mighty Avengers. Adam Hughes, worked on Wonder Woman, Before Watchman: Manhattan, Fairest, Ghost, Star Wars legacy. Don Rosa an artist for scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, the Son and the Sun and the life and times of scrooge McDuck.
Cosplay, I that they had a lot of people in costume there. They did a special photo shoots on both days where they had everyone together. group shoot of  marvel and DC United where they had everyone dressed up in costumes altogether standing together for photo opportunities, then into just Marvel, just DC and then groups of deadpool , just Batman groups or  avengers groups. alot of people show up. They did everything to get everyone involved, I think for those who dressed up feel like they were part of the show. They had a cosplay contest, which in the in the end, there was barely standing room only for people wanting to watch the show. They had a with the called “Cosplay Row” and for the first time you would find Ani-Mia, Marie Claude Bourbonnais, Holly Brooke, Danquish, Bill Doran, Kit Quinn and many others. Some of the returning cosplayers from years previous was Riddle, Valerie Perez, Kelly Delcambre , Vegas Power Girl and many more.
I know I spent a lot of time here, naming names and trying to wet your appetitive what is going on at this show. There’s a lot going on here. If you haven’t heard about this show, you should have it is pulling people from all over the United States and its even bringing in people in from overseas. I know you may be saying, “I want to go to the really big show’s were lots of things are happening”, There IS a lot to see and there is a lot to do here. Maybe, you just want to go to a smaller show smaller than the show that’s okay too, this show is small enough that you won’t be overwhelmed with people . you will get to see some of the big time stuff here, that normally at small shows you don’t get to see. I’m just saying that if there is A show, should be on list to check out, this is one. if you’re making the trip from some far off land, it be worth your time to come and see Big Wow Comic Fest.
Check back for more photos from Big WOW! Comic Fest 2015 in our J!-ENT 2015 Annual scheduled for October 2015