Wizard World L.A. Wrap-up

Wizard World Los Angeles occurred this past weekend, bringing comicdom to the City of Angels. One pro called it "lackluster;" from Joshua Hale Fialkov's blog:

The internet's barely abuzz about Wizard World this weekend. I'd reckon that's because it was pretty lackluster. Downtown Los Angeles is just not friendly for this sort of thing, unless it E3 which is so massive it's sort of a town unto itself. Aside from the hot dog vendors, there's pretty much no food within a walkable distance, parking is a nightmare, and well, everybody who lives in L.A. knows that. Compared to last month's Wondercon, which is usually one of the most low-key shows I go to, WWLA was just a massive disappointment. I'm thrilled we didn't exhibit, because I know we would've lost our shirts, and frankly, there's enough other ways to do that in this business.

Tom McClean of Bags and Boards, Variety's comic blog, had positive comments about the show and a few suggestions:

Day three of Wizard World L.A. is getting going as I type this, and whatever happens today with crowds and the L.A. Marathon, Saturday was definitely a success for the show. There was a good crowd at the L.A. Convention Center, though it was never unpleasantly packed. Fans were actually buying from dealers at a pretty good clip, and the overall mood was relaxed and fun.

Running into Wizard chairman Gareb Shamus at the end of the day, he was definitely pleased with the show's evolution and the way it is positioned to go forward. That's definitely the next big step for the show, which needs to do some work on attracting a wider audience than die-hard fans and bringing in some more exhibitors. There were a few notable absences on the floor, such as Dark Horse and L.A.-based manga house TOKYOPOP. A few indies, such as Top Shelf and AdHouse also would give the show a boost.

Both Marvel and DC were on hand to share news on projects old and new; Newsarama and Comic Book Resources have all the goods you could ask for on the big two, including the new Robert Kirkman-written Ant Man series from Marvel (pictured).