A love letter to WonderCon

Popverse's top stories of the day

• Hannibal wouldn't be a fan of Chicago's local food scene, according to Mads Mikkelsen (but, then again, he's a cannibal)
• Watch: Artist's Alley Asks: Superman or Fantastic Four? Gene Ha, Cully Hamner, Jarrett Melendez, Rachael Stott, Soo Lee, and Tim Seeley weigh in on their cinematic preference
• Brandon Sanderson tried (very hard) to change one character arc on the Wheel of Time show

I love WonderCon. Sure, I'm biased, as it was the very first comic convention I attended more than a decade ago, but I still stand firm in my belief that WonderCon is the perfect comic con for those who don't have a specific goal in mind to see movie stars (though there are a couple knocking around) or buy exclusives (though there are a couple of those as well).

The most obvious wonders of WonderCon I will list here 1) small crowds 2) an easy-to-navigate convention center 3) great cosplay 4) easy parking 5) lots of comics dealers 6) free wi-fi 7) easy-to-attend panels. All of these aspects make for a highly pleasant weekend of 1) seeing what you want to see and 2) not planning thirty minutes to get from one part of the convention center to the next. You're also most likely not going to stand in a line to get into any panel (the only capped room I saw all weekend was to the X-Men '97 panel, and that's some hot stuff right now).

A couple less tangible things - I do think the general vibe of those attending WonderCon is a good one. People are generally in a good mood (as fewer people are stressed about getting places, I'm sure), and the staff and security guards are above-and-beyond helpful and respectful to congoers. Anytime I saw a problem, it was solved (when a panel had missing name tags, a staff member immediately got replacements printed; when it looked like that X-Men panel was capped, a staff member came out and kindly let people in line know).

Related: Comic con trendwatch: Potions, potions, everywhere

While this year's WonderCon was certainly lighter than it has been in the past on the big name panels as well as congoers (though, to be fair, maybe a stormy Easter weekend is not your best bet for these sorts of things), there was plenty to do, especially for comics fans.

If names like Gail Simone, Steve Englehart, Jae Lee, and Marv Wolfman excite you - they all had spotlight panels and signings. If digging through longboxes is your bag (or box, I guess), I saw more old comics vendors at WonderCon than maybe at any other show I've attended in the past year. If you just want to hang about with a not-too-expensive badge (day badges range from $40-57 dollars, with Juniors/Seniors/Military prices ranging from $20-29) and soak in the vibe, take pictures of impressive cosplayers (there were a lot of them), and maybe hear Christian Slater or Sam Raimi chat about their newest projects (again, without waiting in a line), this is your ideal show.

So whether you're someone who is looking for a first convention to go to or if you're a serious comic book fan, I'd say that WonderCon is an event where you can get a lot done without much pre-planning or hassle. Though WonderCon was my very first show all those years ago, I've been to a lot of comic cons since, and I really do believe that WonderCon is a hidden gem.

Check out all of Popverse's WonderCon 2024 coverage here.