Comic Con Talk (Renamed since LA Comic Con can't get it together) (4 Viewers)

[guidomerkinsrules]

. My mom and JYD were best friends during the Mid-South days. He taught me about kayfabe before it became a known term.

wait...WHAT???
you need to make a thread about this

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Despite the rains in Lafayette yesterday, the kids and I had a particularly excellent time. This was our third year to attend and I think this was the one that I enjoyed the most. I was bummed because Linda Blair was a last minute scratch, but my daughter getting to meet Michael Bell was priceless. I must share this story.

This child is a Transformers nut. She dressed as Optimus using an old dance costume she had. When she walked up to his table and introduced herself, her excitement level went into overdrive. Michael Bell was beyond nice. You could tell that this guy gets it and he has a deep appreciation for his fans. He talked with her as if visiting with an old friend. I don't think she was expecting him to personalize the autographed picture of Prowl that she selected (I knew he might, but she's only ever seen just a basic name autograph) and you would have sworn he handed her a brick of gold. About an hour later, we sat front row in his panel and he called on her for several questions, even remembering her name. I've got some dust flying in my eyes thinking about the sheer joy I could see on her face. She will have this memory for the rest of her life.

My son got to meet Johnny Yong Bosch. He autographed our Black Ranger Funko Pop, so we're slowly building our autographed Power Ranger Pop collection.

The crowd seemed to be on par with last year, maybe a little smaller due to the weather, but it was a good turnout. The vendors had such a huge selection of things to purchase. I ended up buying a couple of paintings.

These are spray painted on canvas and look spectacular in person. The guy who does them is from Metairie. If anyone else likes this style, his website is Home from Canvas By Chris.

Plus, I got to meet up with Grandadmiral and chat for a few minutes. I hope we can meet up again at another con. And I was looking for Sun Wukong, but never did find him. Next time!

There's going to be another con in Lafayette on March 16-17. C.J. Graham (played Jason in Friday the 13th part 6) is scheduled to be there, as is Lita from WWE. I'll definitely be back to get that Jason auto and I'm hoping they can get Linda Blair scheduled for this one.

great job
dad wins are the best

 

[GrandAdmiral]

wait...WHAT???
you need to make a thread about this

I've talked about this several times in the wrestling thread. The mind-blown moment of my life at that time was when JYD popped up at the door with Ernie Ladd standing next to him. My mind was completely blown because I absolutely hated the Big Cat before that moment.

Come to find out they kept kayfabe until they arrived though. They came in separate vehicles.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I've talked about this several times in the wrestling thread. The mind-blown moment of my life at that time was when JYD popped up at the door with Ernie Ladd standing next to him. My mind was completely blown because I absolutely hated the Big Cat before that moment.

Come to find out they kept kayfabe until they arrived though. They came in separate vehicles.

Awesome
Did you ever eat at Ernie lady’s bbq place?

How different was JYD irl?
Did he show you the 4sisters on thumb street?

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Awesome
Did you ever eat at Ernie lady’s bbq place?

Of course. If I remember correctly, he had two locations in New Orleans.

How different was JYD irl?

Very cool. Actually both he and Ernie were great fellas to be around.

Did he show you the 4sisters on thumb street?

 

[Doug B]

I don't see how [Wizard World lasts] too much longer. I see a total collapse coming, with maybe Informa/Fan Expo buying up a few of the bigger shows and local stuff coming in to fill in the rest. There are enough solid regional con promoters now that those voids would be filled pretty quickly.

What's going on with Wizard World? Are you referring to the very late cancellation of the Sacramento show a few weeks back? Or was that cancellation merely a symptom of deeper problems?

My family has been to the last three New Orleans Wizard World cons. Yes, they are corporate as all get-out and have lost a lot of their "organic-ness" ... but we still enjoyed them all. I have noticed a potential issue with the guests for the 2019 N.O. show, though. Wizard World New Orleans went from being able to draw a bunch of major MCU, Walking Dead, and Dr Who folks -- plus Stan Lee himself last year -- to headlining the second players on Outlander for the upcoming 2019 show. We've even enjoyed the second-string media guests a lot: Steven Amell from Arrow, Ian Sommerholder (Covington native, but still), Michael "Yondu" Rooker, cast from Gotham, etc.

I don't have my finger on the pulse of the convention business that some of you all seem to have -- what do you all see happening to the New Orleans Wizard World show? And am I correct that the stature of the guests at the New Orleans show has fallen off a cliff?

 

[bonnjer]

And am I correct that the stature of the guests at the New Orleans show has fallen off a cliff?

It may still be a little early (although 3 months away doesn't seem too early) for them to start announcing all of the big guests. They usually announce things a little at a time and it looks like they've just started with a few who I don't recognize (I don't watch Outlander). Sun will probably be able to give us much more detail on this, though.

 

[Doug B]

I see also that Wizard World cancelled a con in Montgomery, AL that was scheduled for next month. Yikes.

 

[Doug B]

It may still be a little early (although 3 months away doesn't seem too early) for them to start announcing all of the big guests. They usually announce things a little at a time and it looks like they've just started with a few who I don't recognize (I don't watch Outlander).

I've learned that whatever the guest list looks like ... a few always seem to back out in the last week or so. Maybe for the next New Orleans con, they want to make sure appearances are totally locked in before announcing?

I guess late cancellations are just part of the business. I wonder if it happens to the San Diego Comic Con (which, I know, is not a Wizard World production) or other giant cons?

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Wizard World has cancelled about five shows this year. In addition to the ones that has already been mentioned, they've also cancelled the one in Biloxi to everyone's dismay.

Cancellations are a part of the deal with any con, but the level of talent that has come along with Wizard World has fallen off tremendously, with very few exceptions (like Chicago, for example).

 

[Doug B]

... the level of talent that has come along with Wizard World has fallen off tremendously, with very few exceptions (like Chicago, for example).

Even with the WW Chicago con this past August, it seemed the level of talent dropped from very recent years. The two gets from Guardians were solid, and there's some of old-school great-to-see folks (Nichelle Nicholls and Henry Winkler who were also in N.O. in January). But after that, as far as true show-carrying headliners ... hmmm.

I know Outlander is (was?) a popular show -- my wife was watching religiously the first two seasons. Maybe I'm underestimating the draw of their cast.

 

[Doug B]

Here's what I mean about Wizard World Chicago's drop off: here's the top of the screen-media guest list (excluding artists, wrestlers, etc.) from their 2016 show:

- Carrie Fisher (Star Wars )**
- the Back to the Future trio of Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson
- “The X-Files” tandem of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny - Sebastian Stan (Captain America)
- Norman Reedus and Danai Gurira (“The Walking Dead")
- Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Jon Bernthal, Rosario Dawson, Elden Henson and Elodie Yung (Netflix's “Daredevil”)
- Rose McIver (“iZombie”)
- John Barrowman ("Torchwood", “Arrow”)
- Kate Mulgrew (“Star Trek: Voyager”)


** I remember that Carrie Fisher was set to headline Wizard World New Orleans in 2017 before her untimely passing.

 

[bonnjer]

The Louisiana Comic Con folks just posted a bit more about changing to March. They said that having it in October, which is the same time as NYCC, was affecting their ability to get guests. If they're going after some of the same guests who go to NYCC, I'm definitely all for a move to March! I wonder what the biggest name they could get would be.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

I'm an oddity, but I go to cons to see creators, not just celebrities. Wizard World really hasn't done that in New Orleans outside of Neal Adams and Mike Grell. Hell, New Orleans Con (in the Alario Center) last year brought in more known creators, including Jim Shooter, who ran Marvel for a while as editor-in-chief.

 

[Sun Wukong]

Hopefully it does help with booking guests and creators. Like I said, that was a weak spot this year.

Even with the WW Chicago con this past August, it seemed the level of talent dropped from very recent years. The two gets from Guardians were solid, and there's some of old-school great-to-see folks (Nichelle Nicholls and Henry Winkler who were also in N.O. in January). But after that, as far as true show-carrying headliners ... hmmm.

I know Outlander is (was?) a popular show -- my wife was watching religiously the first two seasons. Maybe I'm underestimating the draw of their cast.

One of the effects of the rise of multi-genre/generalist cons is you get those kinds of guests that you wonder who they're actually there for. That was actually my knock against LACC this year. In the old days you never would have seen Bam Margera or Ryan Hurst (Sons of Anarchy guy) at a con. They have no scifi/fantasy/comic book connections at all and they were two big marquee guests that were not draws at all for me. But the market of cons has become more general due to the economics of putting on shows so they're trying to draw as many goes as possible. In the old days, comic conventions were true comic conventions. Sci Fi and Fantasy conventions were true sci fi and fantasy conventions. The stakes were lower and the cons more niche. But it's all big money now and thus much more general because of it.

About the only genres that can specifically support their own genre specific cons these days are horror and anime. Even the long stereotypical "Star Trek Convention" is mostly a thing of the past except for the big one they do in Vegas. Everything else is moving towards generalist, because it makes more money and is easier to book.

I have no real problem with this, by the way. I actually like the "something for everyone" approach. Just explaining why you get these kinds of guests that make you go "But why?"