Formerly known as “Wizard World”, the second annual “Anaheim Comic-Con” came and went as “con season” has officially begun.
This year’s show featured the cast and crew of various seasons of “Power Rangers”, “Smallville’s” John Schneider, “Batman” stars Adam West and Burt Ward, and movie/television cars such as the DeLorean from the “Back to the Future” trilogy.
The comic book industry was represented with such stars as “Green Lantern” artist Ethan Van Sciver, cover painter Greg Horn, Image co-founders Rob Liefeld and Whilce Portacio, and award-winning writer/artist Judd Winick.
Most of the bigger companies usually attend the bigger shows such as the annual San Diego Comic-Con, but Marvel Comics had their presence known with a booth dedicated to promoting their recent hit, “Thor”. Complete with staff dressed as “SHIELD” agents and one of the “SHIELD” cars on the show floor, fans can get their photo taken and receive a very cool “SHIELD” ID badge for free.
Various television/film cars were also in attendance, courtesy of “Star Car Central”. Among the replicas fans can take photos with were “KITT” from the 1980’s “Knight Rider” series, the Volkswagen from “Herbie, the Lovebug”, the Ferrari from Tom Selleck’s “Magnum P.I.” series, the 1960’s Batmobile and the “A-Team” van.
Unofficial fan clubs were also in attendance, displaying their replica props such as full size R2D2 units in all colors from the “Star Wars” series and proton packs from the “Ghostbusters” movies.
There weren’t many freebies to be had at smaller shows such as this, but I was able to score free “Hello Kitty” bags for my niece. Most of the vendors are regulars from a weekly show from the City of Industry in a warehouse called “Frank & Sons”, so a lot of them were very familiar to me.
As far as deals go, I really didn’t see anything that caught my eye. All prices were pretty much the same if you were to attend a show at “Frank & Sons”.
Although the attendance wasn’t that great, smaller shows such as the Anaheim Comic-Con are a great way to meet and greet some of the entertainment industry’s artists and celebrities. I definitely look forward to the next event!