We continued our annual trips to Wizard’s Chicago comic convention with a visit to the show on Friday.  It was re-branded to Chicago Comic Con this year (the hyphen used last year was dropped) to match the other shows on the Wizard circuit and presumably to avoid conflict’s with San Diego’s trademark on the hyphenated version. 

 

Attendance seemed up from last year, and the transformation of the show to the new Wizard model, with a combination of autograph and dealer booths taking up the bulk of the floor, appears complete.   The autographers ranged from William Shatner to Rod Blagojevich (added at the last minute), with Adam West ($60 for an autograph) and Burt Ward ($40) among the biggest draws on Friday. 

 

The mix of pop culture categories did make for some weird juxtapositions on the floor:  the actor who played the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld across the aisle from wrestling’s Iron Sheik, and the Mickey Dolenz (the Monkees) booth next to Richard Roundtree’s (Shaft). 

 

In addition to the autographers and dealers, there were a handful of comic publishers, a couple of videogame booths (SFX 360 and Nintendo), and a variety of other entrepreneurial exhibitors, as well as a fairly large Artist’s Alley area. 

 

Here are a few photos to give a little bit of the flavor of the show.

 

X-Men taking a break at the Hyatt across the street.

Another X-person hanging by the SFX 360 videogame booth.

 

Families were in evidence.

 

Several vintage cars were on display, anchoring a small die-cast section.

The only time we’ve seen a tattoo booth on the floor of a comic convention, but it makes sense.

 

There was a line at the ATM at 2 p.m. on Friday, always a good sign for dealer sales.

Avatar was the largest comic publisher booth at the show, with a 20’ x 20’ space.

A Back to the Future car anchoring a booth for Michael J. Fox’s foundation.

 

Lionsgate had a 10’ x 10’ booth.  Not exactly San Diego Comic-Con, but it was a studio booth.

These guys were enjoying their Ghostbusters roles.

Mix and match costumes near the entrance.