Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

Wizard World Philadelphia: Day Two

...and, for me, the end of the event for 2009.

As with the past four or five years, Friday and Saturday proved to be enough for me. As I noted to Eric, were I to be away for a convention weekend - where there's just the one trip out and the return trip home, and I'm staying in a hotel at or near the convention, then I'd go all three days. Commuting back and forth each day, though, and not having to carry everything I've brought and bought through the day... by Saturday night I've had enough. Sure, Sunday holds better opportunities for deals -- providing it's not something that's sold out during the peak -- and a somewhat quieter environment, especially when compared to Saturday, but I've already spent enough in more than one sense. Going back in on Sunday would leave me worn out and passionately courting buyer's remorse.

Despite the capping tone above, this is just going to be another dumping ground post. A little later -- today, tomorrow, I'm not sure -- I'll make some other comments on the event in both larger and more personal contexts.

I've opened with one of the costumed attendees.

WWE had multiple costume contests over the course of the event, with three of them being held on Saturday. First was an anime-inspired one, none of which really jumped out at me. Later was a zombie competition, and then a general costume contest. Up top, we have a shot of the best-looking Joker that I, at least, spotted. (As with any of these pics, click on it for a larger image Just remember to Backspace from there, though, or else you'll just close this site's window.)

Naturally, I have to follow that one up with an attractive pair of Harley Quinns.

I tended to mostly try to move quietly through the convention, catching people either while they were posing for someone else or catching them at less staged moments. Next time I'll try to engage some common sense -- these people wanted to be taken notice of, hence the costumes, so asking them to stop and pose is not an imposition.

One pair moving through the convention was Blade and the Black Panther. I decided to take some shots while they were talking with other costumed attendees -- in this case one guy dressed as a Predator and another as Thor, both of whom were vertically challenged for the roles, but it's all in fun. The fans seemed ready to try to sell the portrayals without taking themselves too seriously.


It's not very fair of me to only have gotten Blade in relaxed, back shots. Not only was his costume good, but he had the size and conditioning to sell it. If I come across another shot of him (I'm not sure which pics Eric managed to get; I'll check with him whenever he gets in from field work during the coming week) I'll add it.

There were plenty of others, especially if one is into Star Wars themes. Here are some of the ones I caught.

I must confess I only know the world of Halo well enough to recognize the general theme. I'm going to presume this is Master Chief, above.

Next, we have a family group including the Black Knight and Iron Fist.

Hey, I'm too old to know which character from G.I. Joe cartoons this woman's supposed to be, but her costume was solid and so was she. (Now I know it's Cobra Command's The Baroness -- thanks, Dwight!)

Star Wars ran rampant as a theme -- some group of SW cosplay people were officially attending the con. The costumes were good, though I lost track of how many times Leia's voice repeated in my mind "Aren't you a little short to be a storm trooper?" In that same vein, I should have gotten a shot of the Darth Vader who was wandering the floor. Even at 6 feet two-ish I shouldn't be taller than Vader, especially with me walking around in sneakers.



Ah! Eric came through with a Vader shot, which I cropped and played with the tone balance to try to bring out more detail. There's no one next to him for immediate comparison - and it isn't as if the guy's a jockey - but you can get some sense of the scale by noting that the shot's being taken from a spot just a little above Vader's eye level.

He also caught a reasonably good Boba Fett for a shot, and what better spot to place it?


...finishing with a Black Manta costume, which was complete with its microphone and speakers to give him that extra boost. The more I think about it (this falls into the category of Notes for Next Time) I really should have stopped to talk with several of the costumed fans whose work deserved the attention and who helped make it a special day for many of the attendees, especially the young ones.

The blend of lighting and distance issues got in the way of some of my shots being good, but here are some pics from the zombie costume competition, with one of the judges being horror FX makeup artist Tom Savini. I'll start with a general shot of him from his spot on the convention floor, then move into the pics from the somewhat anemic, but still fun, competition.



Just in case you were wondering, the orange-topped cylinder in a few of these shots was someone in a Beaker (the Muppet Show) costume. Now you know.




This guy was the husband or boyfriend of the woman who followed as the next contestant.

The zombie laughs!

The zombie appreciates it when one of the judges points out that he'd obviously been listening to Tom's story about how they had to tell the zombies during the filming of Dawn of the Dead not to drag their left foot -- they'd all started to emulate one of the actors, who had in turn been doing it as something of an hommage to Karloff's Mummy. This guy dragged his right leg instead.

Speaking of Karloff, Savini had to mention how flustered and outraged he was when he heard someone derisivel commenting on Hank Azarea's voice stylings in the recent Night At the Museum sequel -- where he played a pharoah -- as "gay." The idea that what should have been an obvious vocal nod to Boris Karloff would be so misinterpreted annoyed him in the "get off my lawn" way that such things tend to do to us as we encounter a world grown too young.






Friday, I showed you the huge chalk artwork being done on the convention floor by Eric Michael Maruscak, of Pepper Ink.

It's being done following a piece of Spider-man artwork from Marvel EIC and artist Joe Quesada -- never really a favorite for me -- but the artist here appears to be doing a faithful enlargement. Here's a shot of the artist's info, which he had as part of the floor display.

Here are a several more shots of the work much later in the process. I wasn't there Sunday to see it finished, but it's reasonably easy to see how it's all going to come out. I hope the guy gets a chance to just enjoy the convention, but each time I came by that area he was hard at work aside from a little chatting here and there with interested onlookers.

Here's a shot of several of the other over-sized, colored, chalk sketches he's done at conventions over the years.

A huge undertaking. Also, something that must take a special temperament, as this is a chalk drawing made on a convention floor, and so is something that will be mopped to oblivion within a day, perhaps mere hours, of being completed Sunday.

Here are a mix of other general shots from Saturday:

The ones here above and below were at strangely quiet moments I happened on.

As you may have guessed, zombies are enjoying the status of a strong theme of late. Several of the panel rooms dealt with projects involving them, and this booth included post-life makeovers for customers.

Another theme I hadn't seen as so pronounced at earlier Wizard World cons was Renaissance Fair-type costuming. Sure, we'd seen the swords, daggers and some armor and chain mail, but not other more stylish waistcoats, etc. -- not that this pic is helping much in that direction.



I believe that's enough for now. If more appropriate pics and/or related links come to my attention I'll add them and note the updates conspicuously up top.