Wizard World Comic Con New Orleans 2016
I happened in march 2015 to roll over a Facebook ad for Wizard World coming to Raleigh, NC with an OK lineup so my brother and I went for a day on a whim and enjoyed ourselves. Again first weekend of August went to Richmond cause Billie Piper of Doctor Who was gonna be there and had a good time enjoyed the whole experience. Periodically he and both check lineups for different venues and discuss traveling to different cities. One day hanging out we checked the lineup for first convention in 2016 which was New Orleans and saw they were selling a Doctor Who VIP package with Matt Smith, Karen Gillian, and Jenna Coleman. As a big Doctor Who fan that was enough to sell me on going. After a short while they announced more people including present and past members of the Walking Dead cast and the big reveal of a Captain America panel. So my brother and I purchased our VIP tickets(me Doctor Who and him Captain America) booked the hotel and anticipated our trip. However two days prior to leaving Matt Smith had to cancel due to filming issues and my Doctor Who VIP package was refunded and had to purchase another package. We were having lunch in the French Quarter Friday before Convention started and got notification that Karen GIllian had VISA issues and was stranded in London and Doctor Who representation shrunk again.
We checked in Friday and realized this was much bigger than either of the previous two we attended. Numerous vendors selling anything from posters, action figures, comics and t-shirts were all around. Friday night we kind of just looked around the venue and checked out the schedule for the weekend. We ended up going to a panel with two radio hosts about wrestling which then afterwards featured a panel with wrestling legend Ric Flair and his daughter Charlotte. I'm a casual wrestling fan and being from North Carolina it was cool to see the Flairs. Ric Flair can still get a crowd to hang on his every word and tell a story with the best of them. Turned out to be a very fun panel.
Saturday was our busy day. We got there about 10 in the morning for the Captain America panel. Joe and Anthony Russo directors of Captain America: Winter Soldier and Civil War along with various episodes of Arrested Development and Community were moderating this panel. The Panel was going to feature Chris Evans(Captain America), Jeremy Renner(Hawkeye), Anthony Mackie(Falcon), Frank Grillo(Crossbones) and Haley Atwell(Agent Carter). The room panel was held in was clearly the biggest in the venue with room being very full and everyone was over enthusiastic. They talked about their roles, what to expect in Civil War along with a fan Q&A. Overall a fun panel with an enjoyable cast and excited crowd. I stayed in the room after the panel cause Jenna Coleman was coming afterwards in the same room for a Doctor Who panel. She finally arrived and was very delightful. Also did a fan Q&A talked about her experience on the show, her ending, and what's next for her. Throughout the day I was able to meet and speak to: Jenna Coleman(Doctor Who), Chris Evans(Captain America), Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie(Hurt Locker), and Jon Berrenthal(Walking Dead, Wolf Of Wall Street) all who were exceedingly pleaseant and real gracious. We were able to go a panel with Jon Berrenthal later in the day and that guy left a great impression on me. He talked about his method, experiences on Fury, Walking Dead, Wolf Of Wall Street and the upcoming Netflix series Daredevil. He came across as very genuine and a guy I look forward to seeing succeed. Finally our night was ending with Screen Junkies presenting a screening of Captain America: Winter Soldier featuring the directors Joe and Anthony Russo. We were able to get there semi early and get decent seats. The Russo brothers stayed for about an hour of the film and it was a cool experience. They talked various things from actors experiences, discussions with Marvel about certain scenes, planning the next films and having ideas for those while shooting Winter Soldier. This experience overall gave me a much greater apprecation for the amount of work that directors have to put into a project. Shooting Winter Soldier is an undertaking with ramifications across future films in this Marvel Cinematic Universe along with TV shows and that can be a lot on a person's plate. Luckily there are two Russos.
We came back Sunday for an abrevaiated visit. I still had a meet and greet so to speak with Haley Atwell and we just looked around a little more at a few things. I met her and she was a delight as I expected her to be. We left very happy after an exciting and very busy weekend. Wizard World has always in my experience come off as very professional with dealing with customers and I tend to remember that. They tend to get very entertaining guests from a wide array of different fields as to bring in many different kinds of fans. One thing that always strikes me and kind of makes me smile is seeing how excited some of the fans get to meet people. I talked to a couple of vets who joined the service because of Captain America and I was kinda blown away by that. To have that kind of impact on someone must be an incredibly humbling feeling. Til next time Wizard World I will see you next vacation and look forward to it.