Pop culture festivals come in all shapes and sizes and, to this advanced point in my life, I’d not been to any of the bigger events to pass through town. Until this past weekend, that is, when a flexible schedule, a media pass and a healthy desire to people-watch brought met to America’s Center for the annual Wizard World Comic Con, an event bringing together a wide swatch of of fandoms, with dozens and dozens of vendors selling their wares on the football-free floor of the Edward Jones Dome.
Those sellers represented all the usual corners of the con scene, from toy and comic book dealers to artists selling originals to game companies pitching live-play arenas. As part of a national series of Wizard World cons, St. Louis’ drew an allotment of on-site stars, there for autograph and meet-and-greet sessions, as well as the journeyman actors and writers that appeal to smaller, but enthusiastic audiences; this year, William Shatner was unquestionably the biggest draw, though other guests also pulled their share of fans.
In smaller side rooms, breakout sessions were held; we featured a look at the Nerd Stuff comedy showcase last week, and that was just one such event, geared to niche enthusiasms. The halls of the entire convention center were dotted with examples of those fan bases. As for fan bases, various editions of Doctor Who and newer Star Wars characters (especially Rey and Kylo Ren) were in especially high supply, as were various DC and Marvel superheroes, with Batman and Spiderman the pacesetters.
Having attended smaller cons in the past, including a run of ARCHONs (covered for stlmag.com), I felt almost ready to finally visit Wizard World, though my personal “whoa” meter was running at full tilt on Friday, with a bit more balance found on Saturday. Here’re a variety of random takeaways:
First, a word about football: The folly of the St. Louis Rams’ two decades and change run in St. Louis takes on many forms. But there’s something very stark about that mess when you look up in the EJD’s upper bowl. There, the names of former LA Rams exist in amber: Bob Waterfield, Tom Mack, Norm Van Brocklin. These players never played a down of football for the Rams in STL, but their names live on in a “ring of honor” still. While our local stadium officials would probably suggest they have bigger issues to attend to, removing those names (and, for that matter, those of St. Louis Cardinals players who never suited up in the stadium, either) would be a welcome dose of disinvestment from the NFL’s self-immolation here. Let’s remove the blemishes. And… let’s talk Wizard World!
One funky playlist: The music playing at Wizard World is a reflective of the crazy quilt of attendees. Guns n’ Roses, check. Various electric slides, check. The Mortal Kombat theme, oh yeah, a constant. Perhaps my most-amused moment came when walking through the crowd during a play of ABBA’s “Mamma Mia,” with cosplayers of all stripes singing along. That song is one heckuva people-pleaser.
IRL, I dunno: Over the course of two visits, I ran into at least a dozen people known from real life. In a couple of cases, actual conversations were held. In others, it was that uneasy moment of realizing somebody’s about to part cash for adult light-saber and you just move along with a subtle nod, or even a quick “don’t see ya” eye roll.
What is happening, part I: In the gaming hall, a huge video screen hung to the left of the entryway, with dozens of chairs aligned in front of it. Here, gamers were playing against one another, at times commenting as they played via clip mics; other times, an emcee and even hype-men were onstage, giving a play-by-play to the audience and encouragement to players. There are moments in life in which you realize that your personal needs and wants are not being catered to, and that’s a feeling that envelops me anytime I see adults with microphones playing interactive video games. But, hey, cons are a no-judgment zone; to each their own.
What is happening, part II: As someone with a reasonable working knowledge of Firefly, Star Wars, Lost, and a fairly small list of other nerdy pursuits, it’s amazing to walk through a massive con and notice the sheer number of unknown-to-you characters walking around. It’s unlikely I’ll never invest in a crash-course in Dragon Ball Z and that’s going to limit my enjoyment of cons, but such is life. If I can’t ID a single Pokemon in my life, I’ll probably still be okay. Probably.
Ha-ha, campy fun: In one stretch of vendor booths, a young woman made a loud, campy comment: “Nerd alert!” About 17 of the 23 people within earshot turned in her direction and then looked around for the nerd. That was comedy gold. Good one. Classic.
Clash of the passions: At some on Saturday, I realized that there was other action taking place in the convention center’s halls, compliments of something called Discovering Beauty 2016. The realization came as dozens of folks (probably 90 percent of them 30-something women) were heading into a theater to watch a presentation, many of them eyes aghast at the parade of con-goers walking by. Maybe you had to see it, but the glances going back-and-forth between the crowds were special.
In fact, enough with the words. Here’re some pics. Enjoy.
(And see you at ARCHON, less than six months away!)
