The Anaheim ComicCon, now in its 2nd year, has grown nicely.  Last year there was a bit of rawness about the event - a touch of desperation and panic - completely gone this year.  For fans of these events (moi) something like this in your backyard is wonderful.

ACC is like San Diego in perfect miniature.   This year I went on Saturday (last year Friday and Sunday) and I felt like the energy, the scope and the crowd was just right.  It was dicey moving through the aisles (like all Cons) but there were also places where you could breathe unlike the Big Daddy con in San Diego.

There was a respectable artists' alley, plenty of booths of comics and memorabilia, lots of people in costume and lots of enthusiastic fans.  The celeb alley was filled with stars of today and yesterday like Julie Newmar (Catwoman) and Adam West (Batman.)  Among these Golden Age gems were fanboy favs Tricia Helfer, Kevin Sorbo and Miracle Laurie.  

Kevin is always smiling and personable - he's a friend.  It was good to see him and share a few laughs.  And talking to Tricia Helfer in the Green Room/Press Room was a highlight for me.  She is every bit as gorgeous and sexy (and sweet) as she is on screen but looks about ten years younger in person - she said it might have been the HD makeup that they have to cake on everyone these days.  

I apologize for bugging her while she was taking a break (and her male companion glared at me the entire time) but I didn't see her on the floor and talking to her was beyond my ability to resist.  I would love to interview her for the website someday - hopefully she won't remember the idiot from the Green Room if I ever get that chance.

I went to the Con with OCSWA board member Victor Phan who is a "Phanboy" of epic proportions.  He had his backpack filled with comics and graphic novels he wanted signed by artists (don't ask how he had them catalogued and ready to go - if I told you he'd come off as too much of a geek.)  Victor is also a talented artist (and screenwriter, producer, teacher and martial artist) and he was able to grab some good deals on artist supplies from Blick which supplied the gift bags and had a nice-sized booth on the floor.

You can tell an event is expanding when the Green Room gets larger and better supplied.  Although coffee was in short supply as usual, this year the Green Room was three times larger and the food considerably better.  Last year it was on the floor of the convention center; this year in a suite.  This speaks not only to the fact that they couldn't spare the floor space this year because of more exhibitors, but that the quality and level of stars in attendance has been ratcheted up.

Most people I talked to in the morning, both attendees and exhibitors, felt the attendance was a bit light.  But by afternoon they had all changed their tune as people poured in to the Con to geek out for a few hours.  Honestly, I almost these days prefer this show to the San Diego one because it is soooo crowded in S.D. - this show, as mentioned, had the right weight to it and I'm almost afraid to wish them luck going forward because of the potential for this venue becoming like the big one.  

There's a Facebook page for this show put on by WizardWorld and they keep you up-to-date on everything Con all year 'round.  

Many thanks again to Jerry Milani of WizardWorld for providing excellent press interfaces for us.  He is the hardest working man in ComicCons.

The Con runs one more day - today.  I highly recommend the trip to Anaheim to attend.  LINK