Barry Branvold of Barry's Collectors Corner in Grand Forks, North Dakota saw the comment by John Strangeland on moving Wizard World Chicago downtown (see 'John Stangeland of Atlas Comics on Wizard World Chicago'), and disagrees:

John Stangeland of Atlas comics says the Wizard World Chicago is no where near Chicago and needs to move Downtown to be more like San Diego.  He also calls Rosemont a desolate suburb and calls the Stephen's Convention center a 'Glorified Barn.'

Gosh I thought I drove to Chicago from North Dakota.  In North Dakota we have barns and the Stephen's Convention Center in no way resembles one.  As for moving downtown Chicago, the traffic in Chicago was horrendous and as we drove downtown one evening it gets worse.

Having attended both conventions for the past 20 years, I think I can say, as a comic book dealer, that I don't want Chicago to become anything like the San Diego convention.

San Diego has become a 'Pop Culture' convention and comic dealers are quickly disappearing from that venue.  The cost to set up and sell in San Diego has been going up so as to prevent all but the larger dealers to set up.  Gone are the days for the small dealer to set up and sell his 'Collection.'  This year's Wizard World had much more available for collectors to purchase than did San Diego.  Motel rates in Rosemont were somewhat reasonable compared to San Diego.  As for restaurants, we had no trouble finding places to eat in Rosemont and comic fans that I know, do not care about attending museums and parks during a comic convention.  Wizard World isn't perfect, but moving it downtown Chicago is definitely not an answer.

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