Anaheim Comic Con was held on April 16-18 at the Anaheim Convention Center. It is another one of the numerous events around the country that have incorporated the term “Comic Con” in its name. Of course, the largest Comic Con in the US is Comic Con International, held annually in San Diego, CA. Last fall, I also attended Long Beach Comic Con, which was a new event for last year. Despite sharing the term “Comic Con”, most of these events are totally independent from each other. Comic Con International and Long Beach Comic Con are put on by entirely different entities. The full name of Anaheim Comic Con is actually Anaheim Comic Con Wizard World. Therefore, it’s not really a new convention. I attended this convention back in 2005 when it was simply known as “Wizard World”. Back then it was held in the Long Beach Convention Center. It moved to the Los Angeles Convention Center for a few years. There was no convention last year and this year it was resurrected as Anaheim Comic Con. So, Southern California is home to three events that share the name “Comic Con”.
I attended Anaheim Convention on April 17. It seemed to be a very healthy convention. Foot traffic was fairly heavy. The convention consisted of an exhibit hall and two rooms for live programming. The exhibit hall had many vendors selling comic books and sci-fi items. There was a good sized artists alley. Almost 1/3 of the exhibit hall consisted of autograph tables, where attendees can get autographs from various celebrities such as Shannen Doherty, William Shatner, and Mickey Rooney. It was quite a mix of famous and infamous celebrities. If you’ve ever wanted an autograph from the Soup Nazi or Kato Kaelin, you can get it here. There were fans who came dressed as there favorite superheros and sci-fi characters. Characters from Batman and Star Wars seem to be very popular at these Comic Cons. However, cosplay is not as popular here as it is at anime conventions. If you like science fiction and comic books, Anaheim Comic Con is definitely worth looking at. If you’re an avid autograph seeker, these smaller comic cons might also be worth your time since lines are shorter here than at Comic Con International.  Having more comic conventions is definitely a big win for fans.
