Wizard World Richmond 2014

Event: Wizard World Richmond (http://www.wizardworld.com/home-richmond.html)

Location: Richmond, VA

Dates: September 12-14, 2014

Venue: Greater Richmond Convention Center

Price: $40-$225 depending on the ticket type

Years: This was the first year

Size: Approximately 200,000 square feet - attendance not yet announced
Guests: Approximately 20 film and television guests and more than a dozen comic industry guests.

Overview: Richmond is a new addition to the many locations of Wizard World conventions. For an inaugural event, the convention attracted a good turnout of celebrities and comic creators. In addition to the large exhibit hall used for the vendors and guests, the convention featured several small rooms for programming and a huge ballroom for main events.

The expertise of the Wizard World staff was apparent as lines for celebrity autographs were well managed. Photo ops with the celebrities were so efficient that your printed photo would be waiting for you 40 seconds after the photo was taken. Yes, that is right, they were measuring that wait time in seconds.

The lineup of celebrity guests was changing almost daily right up to the start of the convention. This caused some minor disappointments for some attendees who purchased advanced tickets only to have the guests they wanted to see the most cancel.  However, that is the nature of these types of events as any experienced con goer knows. In the end, the final guest lineup was strong with fan favorites Bruce Campbell, Ron Perlman, Dean Cain, Manu Bennett, Ernie Hudson, Lou Ferrigno, Adam West, Burt Ward, and others.

Comic industry guests included Neal Adams, Kevin Maguire, Ethan Van Sciver, and others with lots of prints and commissions available. Discussion panels included comic writing and the three act structure, the origins of modern comics, and the art of Saturday morning cartoons.

Cosplay was great for a first-year convention. Batman and his rogues gallery were well represented including variations based on the 1960s TV series. I'm sure many great photos were taken during the weekend of those cosplayers with Adam West and Burt Ward. In addition to Batman, DC was well represented by multiple Superman and Wonder Woman cosplayers and there was a fantastic "Aquawoman" in attendance. Not to be outdone, Marvel cosplayers were ubiquitous. It was impossible to look around without seeing Spiderman, Captain America, Thor, Loki, and the various agents of SHIELD.

It was a great first year for Wizard World Richmond and advance tickets sales must have been strong as dates for the 2015 convention have already been announced. It was a fun event and definitely worth attending.


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