Considering it was November 26th before I was home from the Texas convention, and then I had to leave town again for Thanksgiving and by then it was a week later, I gave up on the idea of covering the convention here on Monitor Duty. By then, it was too late, I figured. Here we are two weeks later, and I’m getting numerous requests for a report on the convention. Okay, here goes…starting with my overall appraisal of the Wizard World Texas con:

To sum it up, it’s not as big as the Chicago Wizard World convention, but it also was a more pleasant experience than Wizard World Chicago in several ways. It was always busy without being overcrowded and stifling. (And from what I hear, Wizard World Chicago would look like the Arlington con in comparison to the Big Convention in San Diego, where it’s too crowded to move around.)

The convention center’s concession stand was not-too-unreasonable in terms of price. That is, the food isn’t cheap, but at least when you pay $3-something for a burger you get a really super burger, and your soda pop is in a 20 oz cup. Maybe these seem like low expectations, but one of the bummers of going to conventions like Chicago is paying through the nose for a Dixie Cup of lukewarm Coca Cola. If you’re there all three days, food and the cost of food becomes a real issue.

Also, unlike Chicago, there are dozens of excellent restaurants within a block or two, which is not only a good alternative to the concessions stands for those inclined to duck out for an hour, but they make a great place to gather after the con.

Participation at the con by the big companies was certainly lower than what we expected. DC, which usually has the biggest booth at Chicago, had a large station by the front but it consisted of tables full of handouts, one backdrop with some of their posters, previews of upcoming issues and only a select few DC creators. Granted, these included Jim Lee and Kurt Busiek(!). Marvel’s “booth” consisted of a monstrous Punisher movie backdrop, a table giving out freebies and a TV showing the trailer over and over again. (Thankfully, it was at a reasonable volume.) CrossGen was a no-show (not a surprise given the situation) and so was Image. Dark Horse was the only top publisher to appear with a regular booth, and I think theirs was smaller than usual (but that’s a guess on my part).

Taking up the slack were a number of “secondary” companies with A-list exhibits. View Askew, Dragonball Z, Toy-whatzitcalled magazine (not into toys, as you might guess), the guys who do Transformers and G.I. Joe, video game exhibits and more.

In my next post, I’ll cover my experiences there.