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Wizard World Minneapolis Sketch Cover
Wizard World Minneapolis Hours
Sunday, May 4, 2014 - 11am - 5pm
Tickets Details: • 1-Day Sunday are: $40.00 in Advance & $50.00 On-Site • Autograph fees may be required for some guests. Read More
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Wizard World Minneapolis Comic Con Day Two was probably the best-attended show of the three day event (now, having seen the action on Sunday). Unfortunately, this Saturday fell right in the smack of the already-established annual Free Comic Book Day (as you can see from our coverage). The divide is, of course, free comics being the far cheaper alternative than the $55 convention ticket. Still, it wasn't just comic book fans that attended the event, it felt like the majority of the fans were there just to meet and greet stars and celebrities.
The majority of my date was spent just sitting on panels, as walking the vendor floor can quickly get boring.
As a big Nightmare on Elm Street fan, I was first in line to see Robert Englund for his Q&A session. Fan, after fan, confessed how Englund's Freddy Krueger scared the living daylights out of them, and, of course, Englund, loved it. "Get 'em while they're young," he would gleefully say.
When asked about the recent re-make of Nightmare on Elm Street, Englund said that it was just too soon. He said that we have technology now (referring to Bluray), that looked and sounded much better than the dimly lit theater or drive through that played when they originally came out. Fans are still "discovering" these films, so there's really no need to remake a classic at this moment.
Regarding influences on his life, he talks about his childhood of looking at old monster movie books and noticing a bra-less vampire. He suddenly exclaimed, "I think I see vampire nipples!!" That got a huge laugh, and the vampire nipples would be a call back several questions later in his panel.
As for films he's into, he confessed that 'Rom Com' (Romantic Comedy) are not his thing. He does enjoy horror movies, but recently, the one film that defies any conventional genre, was a film he saw called Blue Ruin. I've actually see this film, it's pretty great. The first twenty or thirty minutes of the film, there's literally no dialogues - all the story-telling is done through acting and respecting the audience's intelligence to put it together.
Next panel was with James Hong, who, was surprisingly quite the comedian. When he first came into the room, he pretend punches host Aaron Sager... then when he noticed the smaller audience, he said, "Thank you ladies and gentlemen and empty seats." Hong is quite funny and entertaining, I don't understand why he isn't offered more comedic roles.
Anyway, of course, most of the questions revolves around John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China, which people may remember him as the evil sorcerer Lo Pan... in fact, at some point in the Q&A, Hong re-enact his famous scene.
That wasn't even the finale.... Near the end, he's dancing with his fans, and even had his daughter, April Hong, on the panel with him. James and April, as an grand exit, did a little dance routine for us. Very entertaining, personally my favorite panel.
While I wasn't thrilled with Jason David Frank being late to his own panel, having had two false starts. Still, fans love his work with the original (American) Power Rangers. I didn't grow up watching Power Rangers, although I do remember how popular they were, and obviously a whole generation grew up loving him.
JDF was constantly distracted by his phone, taking selfies, taking photos with fans constantly, and being really hyper active. I honestly don't understand it, but, again, I didn't grow up on Power Rangers. And clearly I'm in the minority, as everyone in the room demonstrated how much they love his personality with all their comments and questions.
Gilbert Gottfried was the last on my list of people to see. Wizard World Minneapolis was only his second ever convention (the first was a horror convention called Chiller Theater). So Gottfried does not exactly do the convention circuit. He kept joking insists that he'll do anything for money, and although I'm laughing at it, there's probably an underlying truth to his jokes.
The running joke was for Gottfried to finish recording his audio book for 50 Shades of Grey. This all started when a fan (who probably came in late) unintentionally asked that same question. I'll admit it was pretty funny to hear that 50 Shades question over and over.
After a long break, I did came back to witness the Wizard World Costume Contest. I honestly felt that it went on way too long. After all, most of these panels are in 30 or 40 burst, and the contest took well over two hours. There were so many contestants... and so many winners as well. The grand 'Best in Show' winner was ultimately Inspector Gadget with his homemade/homebuilt amazing technical costume. You can see photos of all the winners here.
Sunday is the final day for the Wizard World Minneapolis Comic Con.
The majority of my date was spent just sitting on panels, as walking the vendor floor can quickly get boring.
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Robert Englund |
When asked about the recent re-make of Nightmare on Elm Street, Englund said that it was just too soon. He said that we have technology now (referring to Bluray), that looked and sounded much better than the dimly lit theater or drive through that played when they originally came out. Fans are still "discovering" these films, so there's really no need to remake a classic at this moment.
Regarding influences on his life, he talks about his childhood of looking at old monster movie books and noticing a bra-less vampire. He suddenly exclaimed, "I think I see vampire nipples!!" That got a huge laugh, and the vampire nipples would be a call back several questions later in his panel.
As for films he's into, he confessed that 'Rom Com' (Romantic Comedy) are not his thing. He does enjoy horror movies, but recently, the one film that defies any conventional genre, was a film he saw called Blue Ruin. I've actually see this film, it's pretty great. The first twenty or thirty minutes of the film, there's literally no dialogues - all the story-telling is done through acting and respecting the audience's intelligence to put it together.
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James Hong |
Anyway, of course, most of the questions revolves around John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China, which people may remember him as the evil sorcerer Lo Pan... in fact, at some point in the Q&A, Hong re-enact his famous scene.
That wasn't even the finale.... Near the end, he's dancing with his fans, and even had his daughter, April Hong, on the panel with him. James and April, as an grand exit, did a little dance routine for us. Very entertaining, personally my favorite panel.
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Jason David Franks |
JDF was constantly distracted by his phone, taking selfies, taking photos with fans constantly, and being really hyper active. I honestly don't understand it, but, again, I didn't grow up on Power Rangers. And clearly I'm in the minority, as everyone in the room demonstrated how much they love his personality with all their comments and questions.
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Gilbert Godfrey |
The running joke was for Gottfried to finish recording his audio book for 50 Shades of Grey. This all started when a fan (who probably came in late) unintentionally asked that same question. I'll admit it was pretty funny to hear that 50 Shades question over and over.
After a long break, I did came back to witness the Wizard World Costume Contest. I honestly felt that it went on way too long. After all, most of these panels are in 30 or 40 burst, and the contest took well over two hours. There were so many contestants... and so many winners as well. The grand 'Best in Show' winner was ultimately Inspector Gadget with his homemade/homebuilt amazing technical costume. You can see photos of all the winners here.
Sunday is the final day for the Wizard World Minneapolis Comic Con.
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Supergirl and Black Canary |
Legolassy and Junko Enoshima |
Comics |
Apothecary |
The Wizard Crew |
Carnage and Venom |
Gotham Crew |
Dana Scully among the Wizard Crowd |
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Wizard World Minneapolis 2014: Costume Winners (03 May 2014) |
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