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The annual WonderCon comic convention in San Francisco had a record turnout this year, almost topping 50,000 in attendance. And positive feelings in abundance. So next year is expected to be an even bigger blast.
Except…
Except there’s a problem.
The Moscone Center when the show is held, and frankly the only local venue able to put on such a show with the right hotel availability… is going through some reconstruction around the usual WonderCon date.
And, with other events at the centre also being shuffled around, there just isn’t the time or space available for a WonderCon 2012 anymore.
Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics sent his mailing list a note about a rumoured move to Anaheim in California, and that it had been “confirmed separately by two senior officials of the convention.”
Bleeding Cool has now also had it confirmed from a separate senior source at that the show will be making that move to Anaheim. Whether it stay there or not… well that will be another article.
Well, that certainly saves a long drive for me, but TOTALLY SUCKS for the Northern California group that normally hits WonderCon hot & heavy each year.
What it does mean is "Party at Bob's House" for those who come down to SoCal next April for the con.
Last edited by BobBretall on Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I might skip out as well. That is such a looooooong drive. There are other places in the Bay Area to host it. Even if it wasn't the best locale, we know it would only be for one year.
It seems the option they chose was "what is the closest place for OUR workers and Hollywood studios" rather than hosting a top Bay Area con. And I hate to think WC is the guinea pig for any potential SDCC move.
Anaheim came into the picture, but only as one alternative. Glanzer: "We began to look at alternative locations and Anaheim was among them. I should point out that no contract has yet been signed with any facility and just as we were in full swing with Comic-Con we received word from San Francisco that they did indeed have dates that could accommodate us."
Asked why the process hadn't been completed yet, Glanzer offered a very good excuse: all of the organization's resources were at this point devoted to the CCI event in San Diego. "Because of Comic-Con we have not had the opportunity to look at this new proposal in terms of dates or even which facility is available. So the long answer to the short question is we are uncertain as to next years dates and location for WonderCon. But we are well aware that exhibitors need to plan ahead as far as possible and the decision made needs to be the best for them, and our attendees."
While it would be nice to have YET ANOTHER con right in my backyard, I do like going up to SF for WonderCon.....
I really, really hope they can find a place in the Bay Area for this one. If they have to move it to the east bay or south bay due to availability of space that is fine, but no comic show in SF just doesn't feel right.
BTW, Ralph & Sean's reactions above are why I think moving WonderCon to Anaheim could be a HUGE mistake.......
The folks in NoCal who support WonderCon won't drive down to LA, and people in LA already have:
* Long Beach (twice a year)
* Wizard Anaheim
* Wizard LA
* San Diego
Adding a 5th in SoCal is definitely over-saturation......
I hope the Comic Con folks find some way do do the show somewhere up North after all.
It would be nice to stop by Bob's place (are we still calling your comics room Vahalla?) and see Disneyland again but maybe that would be better served right before San Diego.
Other than parking, Wonder Con is cheap for me. With Anaheim, I only save 1.5 hours on the driving and it would be another expensive con like SDCC. And realistically, I can't afford to do both.
San Jose's Convention center isn't bad. Big Wow! (formerly Super Con) just bumped up to the big boy rooms from the "tent" and it is much nicer inside. WC is much better run than BW and San Jose, while it doesn't have the destination city and scenic views that SF does, it does still have a lot of Silicon Valley money and space.
It is probably a skip year for me then. But if I did go, I'd take you up on that, Bob, but only if you serve tacos! Some ONE on another news site was claiming that SoCal's tacos were better than NorCal's!! (Smirk!!)
Well, here's hoping Big Wow does their San Jose con then. A.P.E. just doesn't float my boat and we could be without a decent comics convention in NorCal in 2012.
