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WonderCon 2008 Raises the Roof in San Francisco!

Bay Area institution experiences incredible growth!

All that commotion and hubbub in downtown San Francisco on the weekend of February 22–24 wasn't just the giant parade celebrating the Chinese New Year. It was WonderCon weekend in the city by the Bay, and comics fans came out in full force to celebrate the yearly event. Over 29,000—up from 20,000 the year before!— attendees raised the roof at Moscone Center South to help produce the biggest and best WonderCon ever!

In its 22nd year, WonderCon once again broke the ice as the first major comics convention of the year. 2008 saw a much larger Exhibit Hall, featuring a large contingent of publishers, including DC Comics, Dark Horse, Image, Top Cow, Aspen, TOKYOPOP, Oni Press, IDW, SLG Publishing, BOOM! Studios, Exhibit A Press, Flesk Publications, Graphitti Designs, Hungry Tiger Press, Illusive Arts, Last Gasp, Neko Press, Platinum/Arcana Studios, Baby Tattoo Books, Zenescope Entertainment, Zuda, and more. Videogame companies such as EA, CAPCOM, Ubisoft, and Telltale Games also exhibited at WonderCon, some for the first time. The floor was filled with vendors selling the best in comics, books, original art, action figures, toys, manga, anime, DVDs, movie memorabilia, and much more.

WonderCon once again boasted one of the finest Artists' Alleys in the country. In addition to some of the event's special guests, Artists' Alley featured such popular artists as Arthur Adams, Dan Brereton, J. Scott Campbell, Travis Charest, Howard Chaykin, Tony DeZuniga, Ale Garza, Michael Golden, Al Gordon, Mick Gray, Keith Knight, Steve Lieber, Ron Lim, Jim Mahfood, Angel Medina, Mike Mignola, Alex Niño, Jim Silke, Matt Wagner, Thomas Yeates, and many, many more. The WonderCon Exhibit Hall also featured an Autograph Area where fans could meet some of their favorite stars, including Lou Ferrigno, Richard Hatch, Herbert Jefferson Jr., Chase Masterson, Peter Mayhew, and Jon Provost, among others.

The Wonderful World of Comics

The WonderCon special guests list included a who's who of comics superstars. Attending the show and featured in programming were Sergio Aragonés, Kurt Busiek, Mike Choi, Becky Cloonan, Darwyn Cooke, Terry Dodson, Mark Evanier, Jim Lee, Steve Leialoha, David Mack, Terry Moore, Tim Sale, J. Michael Straczynski, Ben Templesmith, Bruce Timm, Herb Trimpe, Bill Willingham, and Brian Wood. In addition, WonderCon featured everyone's favorite Lois Lane, actress Noel Neill, in celebration of her 60th anniversary of playing the role of Superman's girlfriend -— Ms. Neill originated the role in the 1948 Columbia serial, Superman.

WonderCon 2008 saw additional programming rooms added to the event. The new rooms included the giant 4,000+ seat Hall A, which featured Hollywood studio and TV network programs all three days of the convention, and Room 104, which showcased big comics-oriented programs on Saturday and Sunday. The added space was needed, as WonderCon proved to be "comic news central," with many major announcements coming out of the show.

J. Michael Straczynski announced he'd be producing work for DC Comics starting later this year. DC representatives also talked about some of their upcoming projects, including the company's new weekly comic, Trinity, written by WonderCon special guest Kurt Busiek with art by Mark Bagley, who also attended the event. Busiek also teamed with artist Brent Anderson to talk about their past and future work on Astro City. Special guests Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan discussed their revival of Demo for Vertigo, while Vertigo and WildStorm also held panels previewing upcoming books.

Mark Evanier signed the first copies of his giant Kirby: King of Comics book, revealed for the first time exclusively at WonderCon and available only at the Comics Relief booth. Evanier also presided over a Kirby tribute panel, which featured Kurt Busiek, Darwyn Cooke, Paul Dini, longtime Kirby inker Mike Royer, and Herb Trimpe. Evanier also presided over the popular "Cover Story: Art of the Cover" panel with superstar artists Darwyn Cooke, Terry Dodson, Jim Lee, and Tim Sale.

Dark Horse representatives talked about some of the company's most popular titles, including Hellboy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the new series based on Joss Whedon's Serenity. Other publishers talking about their current and upcoming books included SLG, BOOM! Studios, Top Cow, Aspen, TOKYOPOP, WildCard, and Tripwire magazine, while Terry Moore told fans all about his new ongoing series, Echo. A new addition to WonderCon was DC's, "Sunday Conversation; For the Love of Comics," a panel that featured pros talking with fans about the thing they love most: comic books. The panel turned out to be such a hit that Senior Coordinating Editor Jann Jones wrote about it in "DC Nation #105," the weekly column featured in all DC Universe comics, in late March.

Comic fans were treated to many more panels over the WonderCon weekend, including three full days of Comic Arts Conference events. The CAC, a mainstay for over 15 years at Comic-Con in San Diego, has made the journey to the Bay Area the past two years to present academically oriented panels. This year's slate included "Comics and Education," "Finding Truth in Comic Books," Undiscovered Geniuses of the Comics," "The Psychology of Superheroes," "Comics' Influence and Fans' Behavior," and "Comics and Law." Popular writer/cartoonist Trina Robbins joined the CAC ranks with her presentation on "Feral Women in Li'l Abner," and author Douglas Wolk (Reading Comics) discussed the "Novel of Ideas," featuring a look at the conceptual and stylistic possibilities of superhero comic books.

Cartoon fans were treated to a documentary on beloved cartoonist Gahan Wilson, titled Born Dead, Still Weird, with Mr. Wilson on hand to answer questions. The Cartoon Art Museum presented three events, one on revered animation designer Mary Blair, another on local San Francisco cartoonists (including MariNaomi, Fredo, Lloyd Dangle, Justin Hall, Debbie Huey, and Michael Jantze), and the third on the pioneering comic book artist Creig Flessel, who made an appearance at WonderCon on Sunday afternoon.

The list doesn't end there! Other events included seminars and educational panels devoted to all kinds of pop culture topics, with a heavy emphasis on comics. Retailers discussed the upcoming Free Comic Book Day and modern comics retailing in a pair of panels open to all WonderCon attendees. Manga was well represented in a series of panels by author Jason Thompson (Manga: The Complete Guide), who provided a history of the Japanese comic book in the U.S. and an overview of the publishing phenomenon with "100 Manga in 50 Minutes." TOKYOPOP presented some of its manga creators, such as special guest Becky Cloonan, Jake Forbes, Sho Murase, Lincy Chan, and Morgan Luthl. WonderCon also featured the popular comics in the classroom panel, "The Secret Origin of Good Readers," and an additional event, "Teaching Comics."

In other programming, Prism Comics focused on "Emerging LGBT Voices" (including Charles "Zan" Christensen, Tristan Crane, Justin Hall, MariNaomi, and Tommy Roddy, along with moderator Patty Jeres) and hosted a discussion with underground comics legend Lee Marrs. The brave new world of comic podcasting was explored and the CBLDF offered their popular "Live Art Jam," featuring such artists as Jim Lee and Terry Moore creating incredible sketches that audience members could bid on and take home.

WonderCon attendees got to once again visit with some of their favorite local TV horror hosts, including the legendary John Stanley. Movie makeup was demonstrated in a special seminar with FX teacher Ed Martinez. Animation storytelling was discussed with writers Charlotte Fullerton, Michael Jelenic, Dwayne McDuffie, Matt Wayne, and Eugene Son. Videogames were examined in panels from CAPCOM, Telltale Games, and a special look at design for this burgeoning medium. And if you were really lucky, you not only learned how to draw Star Wars characters, you also found out how to build your very own R2-D2 droid! Only at WonderCon!

The Wonderful World of Movies and TV

Even though it was one of the busiest weekends in Hollywood—the Academy Awards were held Sunday, February 24—the movie studios and television networks still turned out in full force for WonderCon 2008!

Hollywood programming started on Friday afternoon with the cast of the new comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall taking the stage in WonderCon's massive Hall A. Writer/star Jason Segel was joined by cast members Kristin Bell, Jack MacBrayer, Mila Kunis, and Russell Brand, along with director Nicholas Stoller and producer Shauna Robertson. Next, rising star James McAvoy told the crowd about Wanted, the upcoming Universal release based on the Mark Millar/J. G. Jones comic book series. And finally on Friday, Mummy superstar Brendan Fraser gave a sneak peek at his New Line film, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D. Fraser also hosted a short clip of the film in 3D at the Metreon later that night, across the street from Moscone Center South. Attendance was limited to a few hundred lucky WonderCon badge-holders who scored tickets earlier on Friday —- just another membership perk!

Saturday offered a full day of Hollywood-centric programs in Hall A, starting with the Warner Bros. panel featuring the cast of 10,000 B.C. and Get Smart. Actors Camilla Belle and Steven Strait were joined by legendary director Roland Emmerich to discuss the new film. Then Hall A went wild as Get Smart director Peter Segal introduced the film's stars Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. The three had a great time discussing the upcoming film based on the fan-favorite TV series of the sixties. (Carell and Hathaway appeared together the very next night on the Oscars broadcast, presenting the Best Animated Feature Award to Ratatouille, a film featured at WonderCon 2007!) The Warner Bros. panel also included a special surprise appearance by Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm's director of fan relations, who made the exciting announcement about the new Star Wars: Clone Wars CGI-animated movie, debuting this summer.

Twentieth Century-Fox made the next presentation, which featured quite possibly the biggest moment of WonderCon 2008: an appearance by the cast and creators of the eagerly awaited X-Files 2 movie! Writer/director/producer Chris Carter and writer/producer Frank Spotnitz were joined by stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson to discuss the top-secret new film, debuting July 24. Fans camped out the night before in front of Moscone Center to get into this event and to witness the first time Duchovny and Anderson have ever appeared together at a convention. They weren't disappointed, as the charming stars and creators treated them to a memorable panel, including a killer 90-second short preview of the film. All four cast and crew members took time out from filming and flew in especially to see the WonderCon fans, after an all-night shoot. They literally took their coats off on stage, arriving just in time for their panel slot. For anyone that witnessed this historic moment -— and close to 5,000 people crammed into the 4,000-seat Hall A for it! —- it was a convention moment they'll remember forever.

Next up, actor John Cho and writer/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg discussed the New Line comedy sequel, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. Then fan-favorite actor/director Jon Favreau told the Hall A audience all about Iron Man, answering questions from the packed room. He was followed by Steve Sansweet, who once again took the stage for his annual popular Lucasfilm presentation. This year's talk included the Clone Wars movie and spinoff TV series, the upcoming Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and much more.

The day ended with another signature WonderCon event: the world premiere of the eagerly awaited animated adaptation of Darwyn Cooke's Justice League: The New Frontier. Special guest Cooke was joined by Bruce Timm, director David Bullock, writer Stan Berkowitz, supervising director Michael Goguen, voice director Andrea Romano, and actors Phil Morris and Vicki Lewis. The panel following the screening was moderated by Gregory Noveck, DC Comics senior VP, creative affairs. WonderCon fans were also treated to a sneak peek at the next DC Comics and WB Animation project, Batman: Gotham Knight. The New Frontier was so popular, it was reshown on Sunday, and a major autograph signing featuring the panelists also took place that day.

Sunday showcased the wonderful world of television, with two major panels on popular TV series. Jericho fans got to watch an unseen episode of the apocalyptic series, which accompanied a panel discussion among cast members Lennie James, Alicia Coppola, and Brad Beyer, along with executive producer Carol Barbee. The new hit series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was next, with stars Summer Glau, Thomas Dekker, and Brian Austin Green, plus executive producer Josh Friedman.

WonderCon fans also got to see presentations on the DVD releases of Beowulf, the new Starship Troopers 3 Marauders movie (star Casper Van Dien appeared), Gabriel, the new Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon series, the Cartoon Network series Chowder, the popular Adult Swim anime series Blood +, and the world premiere of the U.S. DVD version of Appleseed: Ex Machina. The latter occurred on Friday evening, just part of the exclusive nighttime programming at WonderCon, which included the Star Wars Fan Film presentation "Last Film Standing" and the fourth annual WonderCon Masquerade.

The Verdict

If we do say so ourselves (and we're admittedly biased): Wonderful! WonderCon 2008 blew the roof off Moscone Center South, combining record attendance, an incredible Exhibit Hall filled to the rafters with cool people and stuff, and an unbelievable lineup of programs, events, and special guests that made the first comics convention of the year one that will be long remembered!