The first day of Wizard World’s first Sacramento Comic-Con is over, and it’s one for the books.
Tickets for today were sold out days ago, and the Sacramento Convention Center was packed, packed, packed with visitors. Several times, I overheard someone on the verge of being overwhelmed — “There’s so much!” — and there were likely many first-time con attendees whose heads were similarly spinning out of control.
Unlike Wizard World Portland’s Comic-Con which started off really laid back on its first day, Sacramento’s Convention Center was stuffed with geeks, fans, cosplayers, and their children. Over at Chris Claremont’s booth, one attendee’s daughter caught the famed writer’s attention with her outfit. The parent mentioned to his daughter, “I’ve read everything this man’s ever written.”
Lines were long for Amazing Spider-Man artist Humberto Ramos, animator legends Phil Ortiz and Tom Cook, as well as the legendary Neal Adams. Several of the artists I approached about commissions had their lists already full less than an hour into the con.
I started off my day with a quick trip to CGC. Then, I went hunting for commissions, scoring some information from Eisner Award winner Paolo Rivera and placing a request from Ethan Van Sciver for a black and white Batman. Tomorrow, I’ll be back with a vengeance to get on at least a couple more lists.
For autographs, I got my X-Men #1 signed by Mr. Claremont with the hopes of getting Stan Lee’s signature on Sunday. In case I don’t get on Rivera’s commission list, I’ll at least end up with a signed Magneto #1.
The rest of the floor was loaded with vendors — so many vendors selling a variety of things. If Portland is Wizard World’s Carmel-By-the-Sea, Sacramento is Black Friday. There were 50% off sales, huge collections for the comic starter, and cosplay row, featuring Ivy Doomkitty, Eric “The Smoke” Moran, Ryan Frye, and
At 5:00pm, real-life superhumans Lou Ferrigno and Sacramento’s own Urijah Faber were front and center for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Several media outlets were there to capture it for the evening news and get some interviews with the cosplayers who also attracted a lot of attention.
After taking some photos of the two Predators (one of whom snuck up on me and growled in my ear), a Daenarys, and an anime cosplayer (my anime-ese begins with Akira and ends with Cowboy Bebop), I spent the rest of the day watching short film after short film during the film festival. The film festival is an awesome experience that feels very homegrown. There were some locally shot films with some panels sprinkled throughout whenever the cast and crew for a particular film was present. I’ll admit some of the films went over my head, and some I just didn’t get, but each one had a thing to say, and there’s something for everyone.
There was stop-motion with action figures, a little puppeteering with Power Rangers parody, voodoo horror, a kidnapping mystery, some beautifully-shot fantasy, and an awkward short that captured a microcosm of geek-life with a discussion on Game of Thrones over a backdrop of a board game night.
Right now, my eyes are ready for a good night’s rest before I get up early tomorrow to go for another round. In addition to getting some commissions, I’m hoping to get an autograph from Lo-Pan himself, James Hong. I’ll also be roaming the main floor in between panels to get some photographs of cosplayers, so if you see an Asian guy with a huge camera, feel free to stop me if you want to be on our gallery.
Next Article: Day Two — Wizard World Sacramento Comic-Con 2014
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