WonderCon Does Los Angeles

With WonderCon 2016, the first Los Angeles edition, now completed and the Big One, San Diego Comic Con still another four months off, now might be a good time to recap what went right at Comic Con’s springtime little sister and what could be improved when the convention moves back to Anaheim next year.

For those who don’t know, WonderCon is a convention for fans of popular media (what used to be called a “comic book convention”) and it originally was held in northern California at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. But, when Moscone was renovated several years ago, WonderCon temporarily moved to the Anaheim Convention Centre for what was supposed to be a one-time event.  Historically, San Diego Comic Con has been held every July and WonderCon was a way for those in the Bay Area to enjoy a taste of the massive convention without having to brave the hordes and expenses associated with traveling to San Diego for a week.  But, when Moscone balked at letting WonderCon return and Anaheim proved more successful than anticipated, WonderCon decided to stay.

Then, last year, Anaheim announced plans to expand its convention center and WonderCon once again found itself in need of a temporary home. Los Angeles, which long has coveted San Diego Comic Con and even has tried to lure it away from its southern neighbor, was perfectly happy to host WonderCon this year, but, lest there be any confusion or shenanigans, the convention organizers were careful to include in 2016 handbook a definite declaration that it would be returning to Anaheim in March 2017.

Still, there was some trepidation about the venue and whether or not 2016 would be an off year.

How about those new access passes?

In recent years, San Diego Comic Con (often referred to simply as “SDCC”) has grown to be such a behemoth that it has not only spilled out of the San Diego Convention Center into surrounding hotels, restaurants, theaters, and even PetCo Park, the home of the San Diego Padres, but it has recorded attendees numbering in excess of 125,000. By any measure, this is a staggering number.  And not surprisingly, SDCC has had trouble keeping up with the demand for passes and the ingenuity of gate crashers who keep coming up with inventive ways to get past security and onto the show floor.

So, this year, WonderCon rolled out a last minute update to tis traditional access pass. This year the passes incorporated chip technology that required attendees to “swipe” their pass each time they entered and each time they left a sanctioned WonderCon venue.  Those who didn’t remember to swipe on the way out were denied access when they attempted to return and had to head over to Registration to be recalibrated if they wanted to enjoy the rest of the convention.

I was onsite for all three days of WonderCon and I was surprised at how relatively easy it was to get in and out of most of the venues. There were a few glitches, as when one or more of the entrances had to be shut down while the monitors were reset and attendees were herded en masse to the next available access point.  But, most attendees are patient folk and I didn’t witness or hear of any catastrophic.

This probably means the RFID technology will find its way into the SDCC passes this summer or next.

Location. Location.  Location.

I will admit that the Los Angeles Convention Center is not my favorite place for a convention. The area surrounding the Convention Center suffers by comparison to San Diego’s vibrant Gaslamp Quarter, the concrete jungle of Los Angeles can get awfully hot even in March, there aren’t very many restaurant choices nearby, and parking is always a challenge.  Of course, be a resident of Orange County I am predisposed to preferring the drive to Anaheim (about 20 minutes) over the drive to downtown L.A. (about 2 hours on Friday afternoon).  And this year was no different.  The traffic sucked, parking was a pain, there was an inconvenient overlap between WonderCon and a Lakers game one night and a King’s game the next night, and the food trucks, while abundant, really only provided long lines for mediocre, expensive food. 

Inside the venue

For several years now, the L.A. Contention Center has been home to the Stan Lee’s Comikaze, another popular media event built around the indefatigable Stan Lee and the seemingly endless projects with which he has associated himself. It’s not nearly as well run as WonderCon or SDCC, it’s too heavy on B and C level actors hawking $20 autographs and selfie opportunities, and there isn’t nearly the level of support from the popular media community as the other conventions.  Still, it has a quaint charm and the cosplay is always fun to see.

However, Comikaze suffers from the same limitations imposed by the venue as WonderCon experienced this year. The meeting rooms are too few and much too small.  The only big theater is a block away from the main hall and requires attendees to go outside (thereby exiting and reentering using the new RFID passes).  The main halls are connected by a long, narrow corridor that serves no real purpose in terms of the event itself.  In short, Anaheim and San Diego are much better venues for a convention like WonderCon.

And, where was the programming?

Anyone who has spent even a day at SDCC knows about Hall H, the cathedral to Hollywood fandom and all things geek, where all the best previews and panels are presented and those hoping to be one of the thousands to see this year’s Doctor Who panel or the next Star Wars trailer may wait overnight in a line snaking outside the southern end of the San Diego Convention Center.

Sadly, programming has never been WonderCon’s strong suit and this year’s lineup, while better than prior year’s in some limited respects, still could have used considerable improvement. Admittedly, there were a few more television panels than last year and even a few stars showed up on Friday and Saturday to promote their shows, but, overall, WonderCon failed to draw any of the big stars or the most popular shows or any releases that garnered front page headlines and created social media frenzies the way they do in San Diego.

The bottom line

Thankfully, Los Angeles is unlikely ever to be the home for either WonderCon or SDCC. Nevertheless, it did a passable job of hosting WonderCon this year and, should the need arise in future years, I will probably be there in line, RFID pass in hand (or whatever new technology pass they’ve come up with by then), and I’ll still be on the lookout for those Sgt. Rock and G.I. Combat comics I still need to complete my collection.