2015 Wizard World Comic Con Las Vegas Postmortem

2015 Wizard World Comic Con Las Vegas

Plowing its way across America, Wizard World Comic Con (April 24th-26th) finally landed in Las Vegas. With the Las Vegas Comic Expo closing its doors, Wizard World is now one of the two comic cons in the Las Vegas valley. I chose not to use the word compete when it came to Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con just because the cons are so different. Although each are very young, Amazing will be heading into its second year, 2015 marks Wizard Worlds freshman year.

I struggled calling Wizard World Las Vegas a “comic con” after first impressions because of its lack of well, comic book vendors. Yes there were quite a few, I would be rude to say I could count them on my two hands, but I wouldn’t be able to count further than my toes. Luckily the comic book vendors I’m used to seeing at cons had plenty of books to look through, although they didn’t have the classic GI Joe and Official Guide to the Marvel Universe I was looking for, but there were plenty of those “collector” vendors who have the rare books that are too expensive for me to ever own, unless I make some smart plays on Wall Street.

My other beef, which has little to do with than inconvenience, is the 2015 Wizard World Comic Con in Las Vegas happened on the same weekend as C2E2, the giant famed comic con of Chicago. I’m sure they robbed some great talent from the show, and by talking to some of the vendors and artists in artist alley, they were definitely feeling the financial pressure. I’ve heard C2E2 and Wizard World are very alike, only adding insult to injury.

That’s about where my beef with Wizard World ends, while Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con is big on comics, writers, and artists, Wizard World Las Vegas was more about star power. It’s more of a Pop Con than a comic con, and that’s ok, in fact, it’s great. Two cons in Las Vegas doesn’t feel like two much when they’re bringing two very different pieces of nerd culture with them.

I was first schmoozed up by Wizard World when they invited me to their press event at The Linq, an opportunity to meet some of their stars on a more intimate level, 150 ft in the air. Sure some of them were promiting Con Tv, but that’s ok, the idea and service sounds great. I first snagged a glimps of Michael Rooker who was about the coolest dude I’ve ever met, he mingled with everyone, taking pictures, and not afraid to say hello to every woman first before even thinking about their men. He was a riot, and while , Sean Patrick Flannery, and Jason David Frank talked Con Tv, Rooker was out with the people, in the mix, getting free booze. Good times. Photos of the event can be found .

Of course your feet have to come back and touch the ground some time, but I wasn’t about to let that happen, sure the press junket was over, I had my time to talk to Ferrigno about his work to Mr Olympia in Pumping Iron, now it was time to meet and get a pic with the only thing I cared about at Wizard World Las Vegas, Elvira. I’m 32, and I think we all know why Elvira was one of my top picks of the con, but to be real, she’s one of the funnest and most genuine people you will meet, and she’s still just gorgeous.

elvira,cassandra peterson,2015 wizard world comic con las vegas,nerd farm

I’m never washing this arm again.

We talk about star power at the 2015 Wizard World Las Vegas Comic Con, sure Elvira was on the top of my list, but you couldn’t deny the shear force that came on Saturday. Almost the entire cast of AMC’s The Walking Dead showed (minus Norman Reedus *womp womp*), WWE stars, Buffy vamps (James Masters), Hercules (Kevin Sorbo), cult and con favorite Robert Englund, and of course Lou Ferrigno, Michael Rooker, Sean Patrick Flannery, and the Green Ranger himself, Jason David Frank. There were plenty more too, just way more than I care to list, that says something.

Wizard World also brought some bigger and lesser known comic artists and creators. Neal Adams is always a con fave, Tom Cook the animator of He-Man, did you hear me right, THE ANIMATOR OF HE-MAN!, and Love & Rockets’ Gilbert Hernandez. There were plenty of other artist, just many I’m not too familiar with, which is weird, I typically know quite a few when reading through con rosters.

The vendors had your general fare, if you could get past the booths with deadly knives and swords there were booths with beautiful hand made jewelry, adult underoos, super hero bath robes, action figures, leather…things, dakimakura’s (had to look up the technical name), amazing tee shirts (check out punkstuff.com), pop culture goodies of all kinds, and of course my wife’s shop of nerdy pillow covers and female muscle tees.

I did manage to pass up most of the vendors without losing my wallet, then artist alley hit me. Some of those creators in the alley are so incredibly talented, both me and my wife ended up spending most of our semi-hard earned cash here. I couldn’t pass up on a fucking awesome print of the newest Batgirl from Hainanu Saulque, and the things was making out of cassette tapes were just so fun. Talent was just oozing from the back of the convention hall, yes, that smell and oozing goo you saw was talent, raw talent. Yes, there were some that needed work, many more than others, but I’m a snob when it comes to what I’ll hang on my wall, and I’ll be hanging some of these goodies proudly.

I’ll admit, I was worried to have another con enter the Las Vegas valley, but with the Wizard World and Amazing being so different, I more than welcome the two. Now we just have to get them to spread themselves apart somehow, and maybe not take place on the same weekend as an arguably bigger and more popular con.