One of my favorite convention is Wizard World Los Angeles, and I've had much fantastic memories of the convention from all the years I attended. This year was full of good memories and fun, but I must admit, it wasn't the best Wizard World I attended. The convention moved from the Long Beach Convention Center to the Los Angeles Convention Center. Although, the L.A. center is a nice one, it's location in the downtown area is pretty inconvenient and less inaccessible. Plus, $15-30 for parking?... I don't think so. I took the metro train up, thanks.

I didn't attend the first day of the convention, but I was told by many that it was pretty much dead. Saturday had a nice turn-out, but it was still missing the energy it had when it was in Long Beach and the first two years that I attended. I can't attest what WWLA2006 was like because I missed that since I was studying abroad.

Many of the more familiar artists I got used to having in Wizard World were missing, and so were a lot of the more celebrity figures of the geek world (i.e. neither Stan Lee or Kevin Smith showed up this time. Not to say that the convention was lacking in big names! I did get to take my photo with James Kyson Lee who plays Ando in Heroes. Still, the presence of Heroes stars didn't up the energy of the convention at all. It was extremely mellow and strangely quiet for the most part.

Still, I got to hang out with one of my favorite artist, David Mack (Kabuki, Daredevil), and his girlfriend, Mandy Amano (model and actress). They're always good with putting up with me-- since there were less people for me to bother this time, they had to deal with me 90% of the time! I got to meet people like Stuart Sayger (Shiver in the Dark) and other many talented artists. I hope that this year has not turned them off from attending the convention in the future. I definetely plan on attending again, and hope that it improves next time. I do believe they should move it back to Long Beach, though!

To see more photos, visit the gallery.

Labels: convention, david mack, event, wizard world los angeles