Wizard World: Texas
by Vihn-Luan Luu
Previously posted on RCaston.comWizard World Dallas (Due to scheduale restraints, we were only able to attend Sunday. This review encompasses this years Sunday events with last years event in mind to get a total picture.)
Once again Wizard World has made its stop in the DFW area. As one of the leading magazines in the comic world, Wizard Entertainment attracts some of the biggest names in the industry to its convention. This recent venture into the Texas is a brave one. Not since the collapse of The Dallas Fantasy Fair in 1997 has a large-scale comic book convention succeeded on a yearly basis. With a demand that has no supply, Wizard attempts to fill this gap and they have succeeded.
Guest ListThough the comic industry is rather small and exclusive, this year’s guest list was able to differentiate itself enough from last year’s. A few major names reappeared (Lee, Silvestri, Turner, Waid) along with some new names (Pulido, Kurtz, Huges). Their media guest list takes a bit from classic comic relations (Ferrigno, Kassir, Hatch) along with new starts (Biel, Reynolds, Durance). Though one must watch out for guest schedules carefully due to the fact that some guest only appear on certain days of the convention. The only problem with guest signings are the lines that entail, which are expected but crimps on your schedule if signings over run each other. I’m not sure if most conventions do this, but Wizard World have various signs to indicate the end of a line or last person who can get a sketch. This helps with any sort of confusion about cut off points.
As a fan, I found the guest list good but not super great. There were a few ‘big’ names among the ‘medium’ names, but that is a personal preference. Though I will say that Dallas’s guest list does not compare to this year’s Chicago guest list, where Wizard held their fan awards.
Scheduling and ProgramsEvents at the convention are spaced out well. Announcements are made regularly to state the beginning of programs and signings. These are very clear and straight forward, though if you are not paying attention closely you might miss something. However, Wizard’s information booth is friendly and very helpful.
The schedule itself is rather straight forward, though the online version is rather incomplete compared to the one printed. Which I find odd seeing how printing hundreds or thousands of programs require time to cleared and changes are difficult while the one on the internet can be changed immediately if need be. I’m not saying to go full web or full print, just that the one on the web could be updated to match the printed one. Such as information regarding special events tickets for signings and panels are not on the web. The same applies to some of the con exclusives (toys and comics). So those coming in for one day only or later on will be at a disadvantage. The printed program itself is nice and straightforward and makes for a good souvenir. Also, information on which signing or artist is just doing signatures and/or sketches would have useful, however it did get around by word of mouth in the lines pretty quickly.
Though chocked full of good panels and programs, the Dallas convention lacks a major event such as the mentioned Fans Awards. Hopefully they will remedy this in the future.
LayoutThe actual layout of the convention is spacious and convenient. Aisles are wide in most cases, and most dealers and exhibits are show space and booths rather than tables like in anime conventions. This helps with the space a lot. The convention was very good at making sure that there were no real choke points. The only real problem point would be the artist alley (which was not clearly marked from the main entrance or I didn’t see the sign). There were a few places in the artist alley where space seemed wasted, as a few choke points interrupted traffic flow pretty badly. A crowd of more than 4 would choke out a few of the aisles.
Overall the layout of the convention was very well planned minus a few spots in the artist alley. Lines were either diverted out of the way fairly quickly or planned well in advance. It is a very handicap friendly convention, which gets overlooked sometimes. More signs to indicate the location of a few places would have been nice but these places could be found due to the layout/signage of the convention center itself and the friendly staff.
StaffThe Wizard World Staff is very friendly, well informed, and very organized. Events moved fairly quickly and the information booth actually had a lot of information. Not once had I run around for information on anything. The security members were well marked and professional. Anime Conventions have that problem where security members are usually young adults/teens who do not exude any sort of authority at all. What helped was the age (almost all of the security members were adults) and actual security uniforms, not dressed down in casual jeans and a t-Shirt.
In these two Wizard World that were held in Dallas, I have yet to run into any sort of problem with the staff of any sorts.
AtmosphereThe general atmosphere is very friendly and open. The guests were a bit cold at some points, but with a line of one or two hundred, personal conversations were not really an option. Though this is not to say that they were not friendly, they all were very polite and pleasant. It’s just that one-on-one conversations did not happen often. The attendees were a refreshing breath of air, very casual and laid back; not the hyper-ADD-bad-upbringing audience that frequents anime conventions. And due to the layout and the audience, the fanboy funk was not present. Major plus.
Conclusion2004’s Wizard World Dallas was a success from this fan’s point of view. The guest list was good, not great, but good. The staff was very friendly and informative; and the general atmosphere was very relaxed. The price is very fair, not a total steal, but pretty expected. A pass gets you into the main floor, where most of the major signings are held, and into the artist alley, where the games and media signings were also held in addition to the artists and models. I am not sure about the panels and video rooms, as I did not attend these this year. Points of complaints would be: information difference between print and web programs, lack of major events, information about signings, and layout of the artist alley.
Since most of the audience that read this website knows about anime conventions, I’ll do a quick comparison. Anime conventions are a solid three days of scheduling. Because they are usually held at hotels rather than just a conventions center, the attendees are on convention grounds for nearly all three days at all times. Wizard World is held in a convention hall, runs in its times, and that’s it. You actually can go for only one day and get the most out of the convention (though Saturdays are usually the main day). Several days of convention are usually to catch every artist at signings and to catch programs that are offered on certain days. Because of this, Wizard World does not have a lot to actually do like a 24hrs video room and gaming rooms at anime conventions. However, Wizard World does feel like a major event rather than three days of hanging out in the lobby of a hotel. Also, it does not become a babysitting event as anime conventions have become in recent years. Anime conventions have a massive influx of people that stay over the conventions days while Wizard World is a steady stream of people throughout the three days. Each run about the same number of people, one is flooded all at once while the other is a steady stream of people. Atmosphere and organization are different to each, with pluses and minuses.
