W♥M

Jay Leno at 35th Annual PACER Center Benefit, Minneapolis (13 May 2017)

Jay Leno Upcoming Appearances 05/19/17 Lake Delton, WI Crystal Grand Music Theatre 05/25/17 Calgary, AB The Grey Eagle Event Centre 05/26/17 Enoch, AB River Cree Resort And Casino 06/04/17 New Brunswick, NJ State Theatre New Jersey Read More PACER Proceeds from the Annual Benefit support PACER’s programs for children with disabilities and PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, which was founded in 2006 so that bullying is no longer considered an accepted childhood .... Jay Leno Jay Leno is of course, the legendary comedian, former host of The Tonight Show, and current star of CNBC’s Jay Leno’s Garage and following his performance, Leno will personally auction a tour for four …

It’s often said that laughter is the best medicine—

The opportunity to laugh along with a legend and be part of a benefit whose proceeds will assist children, youth, and young adults, including those with disabilities, made it one of the most special nights of the year in Minneapolis. 

Emmy Award-winning comedian Jay Leno was the featured performer at PACER Center’s 35th Annual Benefit, presented by Starkey Hearing Technologies, held this past weekend at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Leno, formerly of The Tonight Show, and current star of CNBC’s Jay Leno’s Garage was the evening’s main entertainment and capped the event by personally auctioning several tours of his private collection of hundreds of vehicles, to benefit the work PACER does for families of children with disabilities and children who are bullied. In addition, Leno (a return guest from 2013) even donated money of his own.

The mission of PACER Center is to enhance the quality of life and expand opportunities for children, youth, and young adults with all disabilities and their families, so each person can reach his or her highest potential. PACER, located in Minneapolis, serves families nationwide, as well as those in-state and operates on the principles of parents helping parents, supporting families, promoting a safe environment for all children, and working in collaboration with others.

The nonprofit, tax-exempt organization gets 95+% of its $6mil. annual revenue from contributions and its benefit evening is a very important part of the overall fundraising.  Previous special guests have included Idina Menzel (2016); Crosby, Stills & Nash (2015); Diana Ross (2014); and Earth, Wind, & Fire (2011), among numerous others.

In addition to Leno’s performance, a ballroom was filled with hundreds of silent auction items, from almost every category including art, jewelry, electronics, and children items, to signed sports and celebrity memorabilia, vacations, culinary experiences, theater and entertainment experiences, and much more. 

The most rare and priceless items were held back for the live auction portion and raffle tickets were also available with the grand prize being a unique trip to California’s Napa Valley, which included air/hotel and tasting menus/wine pairings at renown restaurants, French Laundry, and the Michelin Star-awarded Auberge du Soleil.

WCCO’s husband/wife anchor team Amelia Santaniello and Frank Vascellaro returned to serve as emcees for the evening, with Vascellaro incredibly adept and entertaining as he presided over the live auction portion.  Proceeds from the evening support PACER’s programs for children with disabilities and PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, founded in 2006 so that bullying is no longer considered an accepted childhood rite of passage.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar (a former PACER board member herself) made a surprise visit and short speech, to lend her support and help begin the evening’s festivities.  Additionally, Andrew Olson was celebrated for the impact that PACER Center has had on his life, and Jack Shink was given a Youth Leadership Award.

At age 67, Jay Leno stills finds himself on the road, playing almost two hundred shows a year, with little sign of slowing down.  For this evening, we were treated to a full performance, lasting seventy-five minutes, with the comedian covering many cultural familiarities and only briefly touching on current politics, about halfway into his routine. 

Leno began with the airlines’ current problems, woes at retail stores, gluttony, the simplicity of his flip phone, steroids in sports, and medical disclaimers… and that was just the first ten minutes! When Leno did approach politics, he did so by making a joke for one side of the aisle, following then with an opposing joke, to keep things balanced. 

Recalling his time in Oslo to host the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, was a series of hilarious cultural misunderstandings, a pre-interview screening of his jokes, and difficulty in pronunciation.  Being Mother’s Day weekend, we also were regaled with several stories of his charming mother, and some of her sometimes quirky personality.  Leno ended his set with a couple of “jokes to go”- two short and memorable zingers one could then recite to others.

With a night of laughter courtesy of Jay Leno, and money raised for the important causes of enhancing lives of youth with disabilities and promoting anti-bullying, the PACER Center’s 35th Annual Benefit was an entertaining evening, worth attending on a yearly basis.

Don McNeil and Paula F. Goldberg

Event Registration	Kids Art	PACER Puppets
Original Art	Silent Auction	Jason Mraz Guitar

Amelia Santaniello, Andrew Olson, Frank Vascellaro

Erin Barlow

Volunteers	Sports Memorabilia	Vikings Signed
Celebrity Autographs	Sen Amy Klobuchar	Frank Vascellaro and Amelia Santaniello
Matthew Woods	Exec Director Paula Goldberg	Jay Leno

Jay Leno at 35th Annual PACER Center Benefit, Minneapolis (13 May 2017)

john ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Wizard World at Minneapolis Convention Center (05-07 May 2017)

Wizard World Shows May 19-21 Des Moines Jun 1-4 Philadelphia Jun 16-18 Sacramento Jul 14-16 Albuquerque Aug 4-6 Columbus Aug 11-13 Orlando Aug 24-27 Chicago Sep 8-10 Nashville Sep 22-24 Madison Oct 27-29 Oklahoma City Nov 17-19 Austin Jan 5-7, 2018 New Orleans Read More Wizard World Minneapolis The fourth annual Wizard World Minneapolis is over. Come back later for reviews, in the meantime, here are some photographs from day two and three combined. Saturday’s costume contest was, as usual, a great way to end the day …

Wizard World Minneapolis took place last weekend (May 5-7) at the Minneapolis Convention Center. We’ve already posted a zillion photos, talked about the great cosplayers and music.

Before we talk about the various panels, I will touch on some of our general thoughts about the show. Compared to other entertainment gathering, such as the Renaissance Festival, the Wizard World shows offers more entertainment, especially if you have children. If meeting celebrities aren’t your thing, you can still enjoy a magic show, video gaming, or people watching... there’s a little something for everyone.

Of course, we like sitting down to hear our favorite celebrities talk or fans talking about various comic book-related topics. It’s a great place to meet other fans and learn something.

With the exception of the main auditorium (which was only used on Saturday), the majority of panels were held at four rooms on the same level as the main Wizard show floor. This was a big improvement, as previous years, you had to take the escalator or elevator down a floor. The one Creative stage, in the same room as the Entertainment Stage, was not a great choice to hear anything, especially if they were blasting music at the bigger stage.

FRIDAY, MAY 5
For the first night, May 5th, there weren’t any celebrity panels since many of them did not land until Saturday. We did sit through a variety of comic book panels, including “Funny Folks: How to Draw Humor Comics” to hear Bob Camp, Guy Gilchrist, and Phil Ortiz, talk about their work with Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons, and Nancy. If you’re not familiar with the latter, Nancy is a widely distributed American daily and Sunday comic strip, originally created by Ernie Bushmiller. Although Danny Fingeroth still moderate a few panels, he’s taken a step back with this current Wizard show.

You could learn how to self-publish your comics with Victor Dandridge or how to create your own YouTube channel with RealBreakingNate or character acting with Karl (Captain K) Brevik, the versatile cosplayer swapped identities throughout the weekend, including costumes/personas for Dale Gribble (King of the Hill), J. Jonah Jameson (who also helped judge the costume contest in character) and Sexy Gandalf as part of the Hogwarts panel.

The “Superhero Movies” and “Marvel v DC” panels seemed to go hand-in-hand. We were surprised to learn that local radio personality Brian Oake (of the Current), was a massive die-hard Marvel Comics fan. His guest appearance was a surprise and a delight.

Over in the “First They Came For Batman... Then They Came for Chuck Berry and Prince” a panel about rock music and censorship, with moderator Danny Fingeroth, and Alex Lubet, Scott Currie, and Colleen Doran (who stepped in as a last minute replacement for original guest Barbara Schulz).

VIP of Self-Publishing with Victor Danridge	Name that Pokemon	Rock and Censorship with Danny Fingeroth, Alex Lubet, Scott Currie, and Colleen Doran	Disney Drawing with Clinton Hobart	Creatures of the Night with David Shrader
Cosplay 101	Characters in Cosplay	Yogaquest	Getting Started on YouTube	Funny Folks: How to Draw Humor Comics with Danny Fingeroth, Bob Camp, Guy Gilchrist, and Phil Ortiz

Superhero Movies: Tim Davis, Brian Oake, Timothy Lammers, Tony Kim, Dave Schrader

SATURDAY, MAY 6
Saturday, was, as usual, the biggest day. Personally speaking, if you had one day to go to Wizard World, make it the Saturday show. The biggest draw are the celebrity panels, which included current Doctor Peter Capaldi. Originally scheduled with co-star Jenna Coleman, but she had to bail out at the last minute for filming conflict.

Capaldi was in great spirit, talking and volunteering some great insights into the world of Doctor Who. His wife, he confessed, was rather “embarrassed” about the nerdiness of it... especially when he would secretly sneak home a Doctor Who magazine every once in a while.

When asked what other shows he’d like to star in, he thought about it and mentioned that he’d like to appear in Game of Thrones, mostly because one of his co-star Maisie Williams (Arya Stark).

On his very first convention appearance, Charlie Sheen was over 30 minutes late to his panel. Winning! When he did appear, with surprise appearance by Kato Kaelin. The OJ Simpson-related personality wasn't announced on the schedules, but ended up hosting the Entertainment Stage for Saturday and Sunday, among other things.

When asked if he’s ever been to Minneapolis, Sheen said he appeared twice, once in 1987 and once in 1997, filming Major League and Major League: Back to the Minors. The follow-up question about those film, Sheen said he’d be delighted to appear in any future Major League sequels.

One of the films that he turned down was Hollow Man, which Kevin Bacon ended up replacing Sheen, because (spoiler alert) the character ended up raping a woman. Kaelin quickly asked what other films he turned down, which we were surprised to learn that he didn’t accept White Men Can’t Jump.

The rest of the day, the auditorium went to the Buffy-verse. Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans gathered around to wait for Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Nicholas Brendon (Xander), and then followed by James Marsters (Spike).

Before the chat, Carpenter requested no videos or photos during the panel. Instead, she would offer us the chance to photograph them before they start talking. A media photographer, who probably missed the announcement, decided to rush to the front of the stage to snag a photo. Immediately, Carpenter pointed him out and asked, “Who are you?” interrupting her train of thought. She really channeled her “inner b**ch” as she puts it. Embarrassingly, the photographer retreated to the back of the stage.

The fans asked the usual questions to these things, like tell us some backstage stories. Xander, who was “behaving” himself, told us about this time that he wasn’t wearing underwear and someone pants him during a scene. He seemed proud that he was so hairy down there, people thought he was wearing a merkin.

James Marsters came on after Carpenter and Brendon left the stage. Personally, it would make sense to include Marsters with the Buffy gang... but seeing as he was a “vampire”, that for whatever reason they had Marsters on his own. Of course, the first thing he did was photographed the crowd for his social media page.

John Barrowman’s One Man Show was entertaining as ever. Barrowman, who came on stage in a dress, actually prepared a series of comedic improvisation show. If you didn’t know, Barrowman is best known as the recurring character Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who.

The Nerd Off discussion was also a lot of fun. They pick the topic and have fans debate. Topics includes Star Trek vs Star Wars, Superman vs Dragonballz, and Pokemon vs Digimon. Even if you disagree with the winner of the debate, it’s still very fun to listen to fans fight it out.

Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Nicholas Brendon (Xander)

J Jonah Jameson	Intro Cosplay	SuperKayce
Doctor Who Fans	Tom Cook	Nerd Off
Creative: Danny Fingeroth, Gordon Purcell, Clinton Hobart, and Colleen Doran	Commander Mark	I’m not a Sidekick

Greg Sulkin	Gordon Purcell	John Barrowman’s One Man Show	James Marsters	Charlie Sheen

Peter Capaldi at Wizard World Minneapolis, Minneapolis Convention Center (06 May 2017)

SUNDAY, MAY 7
Sunday started with a great conversation with Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork of the 60s group and television stars of The Monkees. There were a lot of Monkees fans in the audience, and they all mentioned that they grew up or raising their children to listen to the Monkees’ music.

One of the thing that came out of the discussion was that the actors were musicians (except for Dolenz, but he would later learn), and begged the studio to let them write and play their own songs. The filming schedule was grueling and that also left little or no time to create original music.

When asked about the documentary Daydream Believers, they confirmed the film was accurate, but like most things, it was overly dramatized.

Regarding one of their big hit song, ‘Last Train to Clarksville’, Peter Tork said that he actually forgot to sing the entire lyrics in the middle of the song. When the producers asked them about it, they were so tired they just “la la la” that whole section.

The two reminisce about their successful 50th anniversary Monkees tour and was also happy to venues selling out their shows. Currently, Peter is in Shoe Suede Blues and they are working on a Lead Belly tribute album. Micky will be continuing a solo tour starting in June (starting at the Suffolk Theater in New York).

As a massive Star Trek: The Next Generation fan, we were also really happy to get Marina Sirtis to talk about her days as Counselor Deanna Troi. Originally, they had assigned Tony Kim, but she quickly dismissed him at the start of the panel. She prefer to talk directly to fans.

One of the best questions asked was why her character had a different costume vs standard regulation uniform. While the answer is actually quite long, it came down to the fact that Hollywood thought that she was “fat”, according to Sirtis.

She was very humble and she told us that before she was casted on ST:TNG, she was literally broke and had to fly back to England with an expired VISA. She didn’t have a home in America, so Gene Roddenberry sorted adopted her into their home.

After hearing her entertaining stories, she would put in her final say: that everything she has now is thanks to her fans. It’s the fans that gave her a career, it’s the fans that gave her a life... and she always made sure we knew that.

Marina Sirtis

Guy Gilchrist	Security Gaps At Hogwarts	Guardians Podcast
Barry Bostwick	The Monkees	How To Build A Geek Brand

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Wizard World Costume Contest at Wizard World, Minneapolis Convention Center (06 May 2017)

Read More Wizard World Minneapolis The fourth annual Wizard World Minneapolis is over. Come back later for reviews, in the meantime, here are some photographs from day two and three combined. Saturday’s costume contest was, as usual, a great way to end the day …

One of the biggest draw and our favorite Wizard World Minneapolis event is their great Costume Contest. This takes place at 6pm and usually ends their Saturday show. For the kids, they’ll have to wait until Sunday’s Kids Costume Contest... which close out the show at 3pm.

Like previous years, there are awards for best group and best costume, creative costume, etc. This year seemed rushed, which is fine, but we wish the contestants would stop in the center of the stage and pose for a few seconds for us to photograph them. Some cosplayers would rush on and off the stage as soon as possible (like that “Grapes of Wrath” costume). Either they are embarrassed to be on stage, or they just didn’t know to give us viewers a stance.

Although not represented on stage, clearly Harley Quinn was the most popular (as was last year!) as well as Deadpool. Other popular costumes we’ve experienced was anything Star Wars, Fallout, or Star-Lord (oddly didn’t see any Groot or Drax, etc.)

Our personal favorite costume was the Hawkgirl costume, which featured expanding wings (using airpumps as a mechanism). We also really liked the World of Warcraft costume... but they didn’t win anything.

Other highlights from the costume contest was Deadpool’s seducing dance to Chicago’s ‘You’re The Inspiration’, Doctor Who’s Weeping Angel’s walk (they had rehearsed!), Batgirl’s fight moves, and Negan’s unheard spoken dialogue (he didn’t have a mic) while he bashed in a head (name withheld for spoilers).

The best in show award went to Vikings (Floki and Ragnar), who spent nearly a year to make their costume. They were in characters the whole time as well, which probably was the reason why the judges (SuperKayce, Hannah Eva, and Karl Brevik) gave the award to the duo. Wish they could have convinced a ladyfriend to dress for Lagertha, that would be pretty amazing.

Beetlejuice

Star Wars	Star Wars	Star Wars
Planet of the Apes	WWE	Negan
Mirror Universe Uhura	Pride and Prejudice and Zombies	Wolverine
Team Skull	Final Fantasy	60s Batman

Star-Lord

Deadpool

Queen Hippolyta

Mario Kart

Naratu

Weeping Angels at Wizard World Minneapolis, Minneapolis Convention Center (06 May 2017)

World of Warcraft

Batgirl	Dalek	Jack Skellington
Iron Man	Howl’s Moving Castle	Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin
Batman Indiana Jones	Anime	Monkey King
Deadpool	Video Game	Kingdom Hearts

Hawkgirl

Fallout

Bob’s Burgers

Wizard Costume Runnerups

Naratu

Wizard World Costume Contest at Wizard World, Minneapolis Convention Center (06 May 2017)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

You Oughta Know at Wizard World, Minneapolis Convention Center (05 May 2017)

Setlist Power Rangers Theme Song Lovefool (The Cardigans cover) Hook (Blues Traveler cover) Walkin' On The Sun (Smash Mouth cover) Virtual Insanity (Jamiroquai cover) Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid) Good Vibrations (Marky Mark cover) Dance Medley Pokémon Theme Song Waterfalls (TLC cover) Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover) medley Return of the Mack (Mark Morrison cover) Men in Black (Will Smith cover) This is How We Do It (Montell Jordan cover) Wannabe (Spice Girls cover) ...Baby One More Time (Britney Spears cover) medley Everybody (Backstreet's Back) (Backstreet Boys cover) You Oughta Know (Alanis Morissette cover) Say My Name (Destiny's Child cover) Read More Wizard World Minneapolis The fourth annual Wizard World Minneapolis is over. Come back later for reviews, in the meantime, here are some photographs from day two and three combined. Saturday’s costume contest was, as usual, a great way to end the day …

The best part about this year’s Wizard World Minneapolis show is that they’ve expanded their music options... making it much easier for fans to enjoy music at the show.

Previous years, they’ve had a DJ play the main auditorium, or had Critical Hit play in the main stage, or Peelander-Z at an offsite venue (which was cut off after 20 mins!).

Kids Zone Flyer

The unfortunate thing is that if you were at the smaller Kids Stage or Creative Stage (which was within the same room), you could barely hear them if the Entertainment stage was blasting full music. The kids didn’t seem to mind it, as they were generally preoccupied or distracted with photographs with Disney princesses (Belle, Snow White, etc.) or puppet shows or magicians or balloon animals or face painting. As previously mentioned, all three days, were targeted to children... thanks Wizard offering children under 10 with free attendance. As for the Creative Stage, since some of those panels may actually require talking to the crowd, I would suggest moving it to one of the panel rooms... although in fairness, the painting with Clinton Hobart was fine on the Creative Stage.

Victor Johnson

As soon as you walk into the main dealers room, you’re at the main Entertainment Stage with one-man-keyboardist Victor Johnson, dressed as Waldo (or Wally if you’re from the UK), playing medleys of ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Twin Peaks’, ‘X-Men Opening Theme Song’, etc.

We soon found out that Johnson is also the keyboardist in local group You Oughta Know (with singer Sarah Adams, guitarist Marc Zazzaro, bassist Tony Schreiner, and drummer Joe Silberschmidt). It should be noted that the band (or Johnson) was actually not listed on Wizard World’s website, so their addition to the show may be somewhat last-minute.... although the band’s listing was printed on the paper schedule given to attendees.

As you can see from their setlist, they only cover 90s songs, with the exception of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, but that’s forgivable because they probably discover the song from 1992’s Wayne’s World (based on Silberschmidt as Garth, of course).

A cover lover band is good for these kind of events, because most of the audience will know and likely sing along to some of their favorite 90s tunes.

After You Oughta Know finished their set, there were DJ Gabe and 7Days A Capella group, ending with a highly entertaining swing dance group Uptown Swing and Hudson, Master Magician (from America’s Got Talent).

For photos of all these entertainers, click here: 06-07 May 2017 and 05 May 2017.

You Oughta Know at Wizard World, Minneapolis Convention Center (05 May 2017)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Photos: Wizard World Minneapolis (06-07 May 2017)

Read More Wizard World Minneapolis It is pretty much all-Wizard World all weekend! W♥M will be bringing you extensive coverage of the three-day event - plus the traditional kick-off free event at the Mall of America on Thursday. …

The fourth annual Wizard World Minneapolis is over.

Come back later for reviews, in the meantime, here are some photographs from day two and three combined.

Saturday’s costume contest was, as usual, a great way to end the day. We’ll have more about the costume contest later.

Also, traditionally Sunday is the Wizard World’s Kids day as the show ends with the kids’ costume contest around 3pm, but it would seem that this year, all three days were marketed to the children. There were plenty of entertainment for the kids to go around, from magicians to puppets to drawing to singing on stage.

Read our past coverages:

Photos: Wizard World Minneapolis (05 May 2017)

Wizard World Minneapolis 2017 Programming

Wizard World Minneapolis 2016

Wizard World Minneapolis 2015

Wizard World Minneapolis 2014

Star Wars (Slave Leia and Chewbacca)

Star Wars	Star Wars	Star Wars
Star Wars	Ryu	The Simpsons
Mirror Universe Uhura	Tricia and the Toonies	WWE
Spider-Man on the CW	Omega Red	SuperKayce

Commander Shepard (Mass Effect)

Mario	Naratu	Predator
Planet of the Apes	Payday	Negan and Jem
Negan	Raven	Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Two-Face on VloggerBroz	Dr Strange and Ancient One	Team Skull

Peter Capaldi at Wizard World Minneapolis, Minneapolis Convention Center (06 May 2017)

Fallout (Nuka Cola girl and Vault Dweller)

Fallout	Fallout	Mario Kart
Final Fantasy	Kingdom Hearts	Tom Cook
Doctor Who Fans	Wizard Attendance	Wolverine
Naratu	Intro Cosplay	Jubilee

Jessica Rabbit

Batgirl	J Jonah Jameson	James Marsters
Iron Man	Howl’s Moving Castle	Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin
Batman Indiana Jones	The Last Gold Leaf	Beast Boy, Raven, Superman
Game of Thrones	Creative: Danny Fingeroth, Gordon Purcell, Clinton Hobart, and Colleen Doran	Commander Mark

Star-Lord, Green Arrow, Star-Lord, Woverine, Ms Marvel, Magneto, and X-23 at Wizard World Minneapolis, Minneapolis Convention Center (06 May 2017)

Batman, Wonder Woman, and Constantine

I’m not a Sidekick	Green Arrow	Dr Evil
Daredevil & Wonder Woman	Greg Sulkin	Jack Skellington
Minions	Dalek	Nerd Off

Weeping Angel at Wizard World Minneapolis, Minneapolis Convention Center (06 May 2017)

Hawkgirl

Anime	Sans and Papyrus (Undertale)	The Witcher
Rock It Man Entertainment	7Days A Cappella	Aquaman and Kid Flash
Aquaman and Aquaman	Video Game	Anime

Anime

Monkey King

Deadpool

World of Warcraft

Harley Quinns

Morrigan (Dragon Age) and Shaun of the Living Dead at Wizard World Minneapolis, Minneapolis Convention Center (06 May 2017)

Super Trooper (05/07)

Guy Gilchrist (05/07)	Security Gaps At Hogwarts (05/07)	Clinton Hobart (05/07)
Guardians Podcast (05/07)	Barry Bostwick (05/07)	Marina Sirtis (05/07)
The Monkees (05/07)	The Monkees (05/07)	How To Build A Geek Brand

Avatar: The Last Airbender at Wizard World Minneapolis, Minneapolis Convention Center (07 May 2017)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Photos: Wizard World Minneapolis (05 May 2017)

Read More Wizard World Minneapolis It is pretty much all-Wizard World all weekend! W♥M will be bringing you extensive coverage of the three-day event - plus the traditional kick-off free event at the Mall of America on Thursday. …

The fourth annual Wizard World Minneapolis convention just took place night at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Come back later for reviews, in the meantime, here are some photographs from the show.

Just quickly, there are some big changes this year, notably that there are three entertainment stages, which is perfect for families - especially the kids’ stage. The other change is that panels are held on the same convention level (meaning you don’t have to go downstairs to find the rooms).

Today’s schedule:

Wizard World Minneapolis
Minneapolis Convention Center
1301 2nd Ave S
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403

Saturday, May 6, 2017 - 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday, May 7, 2017 - 10:00am - 4:00pm

Read our past coverages:

Wizard World Minneapolis 2017 Programming

Wizard World Minneapolis 2016

Wizard World Minneapolis 2015

Wizard World Minneapolis 2014

Link and Samus (in Zero Suit)

VR (courtesy of All State Insurance)	Battle Ready Sabers	Pandapool
Spider-Man and Black Cat	Stormtrooper	Joker, Wizard, and Jester
Jack Sparrow and Superman	Belle & Snow White	Cosplay 101

Superboy and Kid Flash

You Oughta Know	Game Stations (courtesy of Asus)	Nintendo Switch
Ghostbusters	Green Lantern (Abin Sur)	Characters in Cosplay
Yogaquest	Fry (Futurama)	Magic Show

7Days A Cappella at Wizard World Minneapolis, Minneapolis Convention Center (05 May 2017)

Star Trek

Marvel vs DC	Hulk Statue	Phil Ortiz
Supernatural Car	Avengers (with Dr Doom)	VIPS of Self Publishing
Getting Started on YouTube	Name that Pokemon	Rock in Comics

Alladin

Uptown Swing	Uptown Swing	Splendor
Kids Battlefield	Dave Schrader	Superhero Movies
You Oughta Know (Red Ranger, Garth, and Ryu)	Clinton Hobart	Hudson Master Magician

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Wizard World Minneapolis 2017 Programming

Read More Wizard World Minneapolis It is pretty much all-Wizard World all weekend! W♥M will be bringing you extensive coverage of the three-day event - plus the traditional kick-off free event at the Mall of America on Thursday. … The Monkees What people liked about The Monkees was that they weren't going to take themselves too seriously, and you felt like you could hang out with these guys. … Buffy the Vampire Slayer So, today's entry is on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Although they've used good music soundtracks, such as Echobelly, Curve, and Angie Hart (Frente), I'm going to … Star Trek You know I love Star Trek, so it is a sad day when I saw that original Spock actor Leonard Nimoy is dead. Live long and prosper. ....

Wizard World Minneapolis is back in the Twin Cities for the fourth time this year. The event will take place this May 5-7 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I haven't seen any details about a free kick off event, but that traditionally had been held at the Mall of America on Thursday, May 4th.

This year, Wizard has brought Doctor Who’s current doctor Peter Capaldi and popular side kick Jenna Coleman.

That’s not all, Wizard also reunited three of the cast members from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Xander (Nicholas Brendon), Spike (James Marsters), and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter).

Fans of Star Trek series should be ecstatic to see that Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and ST:TNG’s Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) will be in attendance.

Of course, who could ignore Two and a Half Men’s winning tiger blooded Charlie Sheen? We’re just as curious as you are.

Music fans may want to check out The Monkees’ Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz. We love the Monkees and still sad that Davy Jones died in 2012.

Comic book-related guests include Guy Gilchrist (The Muppets), Jordan Gibson (Howard the Duck), Phil Ortiz (The Simpsons), Bob Camp (Ren and Stimpy), Rob Schamberger (WWE artist-in-residence), Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil), Tom Cook (He-Man), Arthur Suydam (Marvel Zombies), Mark Kistler (The Secret City), Danny Fingeroth (Spider-Man), Victor Dandridge (The Samaritan), Jim Mehsling (Into the Void), Clinton Hobart (licensed Disney fine artist), and many others.

Like previous years, we will be providing full coverage of the event.

Read our past coverages:

Wizard World Minneapolis 2014

Wizard World Minneapolis 2015

Wizard World Minneapolis 2016

More guests and complete full programming listing can be found on wizardworld.com. Below are some of the programming... More info at news.weheartmusic.com:

Friday, May 5, 2017

5:00 PM - 5:45 PM Creative Stage
Funny Folks: How to Draw Humor Comics! with Ren & Stimpy’s Bob Camp, the Simpsons’ Phil Ortiz & Nancy’s Guy Gilchrist

5:30 PM - 6:15 PM Room 101D
VIPS of Self-Publishing with Victor Dandridge

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM Room 101B
Superhero Movies, Past, Present & Future with Dave Schrader

6:00 PM - 6:45 PM Creative Stage
Paint the Rob Way with WWE artist Rob Schamberger

6:30 PM - 7:15 PM Room 101D
Marvel v DC: Infinity War with Tony B Kim

7:00 PM - 7:45 PM Room 101H
First They Came For Batman…Then They Came For Chuck Berry And Prince: Comics, Rock & Roll And Censorship with Alex Lubet, Danny Fingeroth and Barbara Schulz

7:00 PM - 7:45 PM Creative Stage
Drawing Disney with Clinton Hobart

7:30 PM - 8:15 PM Room 101B
Name That Pokemon with SuperKayce and RealBreakingNate

8:00 PM - 8:45 PM Creative Stage
Cosplay 101

8:00 PM - 8:45 PM Room 101H
Creatures Of The Night with Dave Schrader

6:30 PM - 7:00 PM Entertainment Stage
7days A Capella, a cappella group at the University of Minnesota

7:00 PM - 7:30 PM Entertainment Stage
The Minnesota Hot Dishes Presented By Uptown Swing

Saturday, May 6, 2017

12:00 PM - 12:45 PM Room 101B
Only Sheep Eat Rotten Tomatoes, A DC Films Discussion

12:00 PM - 12:45 PM Auditorium
His Whoniverse: A Conversation With Peter Capaldi And Jenna Coleman, moderated by Tony B Kim (Crazy4comiccon, Hero Within)

12:30 PM - 1:15 PM Room 101H
The Art Of Saturday Morning Cartoon Production with animator/director Tom Cook

1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Auditorium
Hot Takes with the Hot Shot: A Conversation With Charlie Sheen

1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Creative Stage
You Can Learn To Draw In 30 Minutes! with Emmy award winner Mark Kistler

1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Room 101B
Cosplaying On A Budget with SuperKayce

1:30 PM - 2:15 PM Room 101H
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Guardians Of The Galaxy But Were Afraid To Ask With Guardians’ writer Sam Humphries and Spider-Man’s Danny Fingeroth

2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Auditorium
20 Years In The Buffyverse with Charisma Carpenter and Nicholas Brendon, moderated by Victor Dandridge (Vantage Inhouse Productions)

2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Creative Stage
Wigs 101 With Wizard World cosplay guest Hannah Eva

2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Room 101B
Art as Resistance: Agents Of Shield and The Rest Of The MCU’s fight against Hydra

3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Auditorium
Out For A Bite, A Conversation With James Marsters

3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Creative Stage
Drawing Disney with Clinton Hobart

3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Room 101D
J. Jonah Jameson (Karl Brevik) Returns To Wizard World Minneapolis And He Still Hates Spider-Man

3:00 PM - 3:45 PM Room 101B
I’m Not A Sidekick: A Diversity In Pop Culture Discussion

3:30 PM - 4:15 PM Room 101H
Anime Trivia with SuperKayce

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Auditorium
John Barrowman’s One Man Show (Rock Horror Picture Show)

4:00 PM - 4:45 Creative Stage
Secrets Of Visual Storytelling: Top Artists Draw Comics With A Distant Soil’s Colleen Doran, Star Trek’s Gordon Purcell, Tangled’s Clinton Hobart and MCAD’s Barbara Schulz

4:00 PM - 4:45 PM Room 101B
Doctor Whoniverse Fan Panel by Dave Schrader

4:30 PM - 5:15 PM Room 101H
Intro To Cosplay With Wizard World with Hannah Eva

5:00 PM - 5:45 PM Room 101B
Nerd Off with RealBreakingNate

5:30 PM - 6:15 PM Room 101H
The Marvel Saga: The 78-Year History Of The House Of Ideas, From The Beginning To Logan To Guardians Of The Galaxy with Danny Fingeroth

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Entertainment Stage
The Last Gold Leaf (guy girl nerd pop harmonies)

12:00 PM - 1:45 PM Entertainment Stage
Rock It Man Entertainment Dueling Piano Show

4:00 PM - 4:30 PM Entertainment Stage
7Days A Capella

5:00 PM - 5:30 PM Entertainment Stage
The Minnesota Hot Dishes Presented By Uptown Swing

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM Entertainment Stage
Hudson Master Magician

Sunday, May 7, 2017

11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Creative Stage
What’s Under Your Skirt? (Or Bodysuit, Or Costume… with Mogchelle

11:30 AM - 12:15 PM Room 101B
How To Build A Geek Brand (And Get Paid!) hosted by Tony B Kim.

12:00 PM - 12:45 PM Creative Stage
Let’s Draw Muppets And Ninja Turtles! With Guy Gilchrist

12:00 PM - 12:45 PM Room 101H
U Cre-8 Comics Presents: Character Crafters hosted by Victor Dandridge.

12:30 PM - 1:15 PM Room 101B
Security Gaps At Hogwarts

1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Creative Stage
You Can Learn To Draw In 30 Minutes! with Mark Kistler

1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Room 101H
Spotlight On Ren And Stimpy’s Bob Camp with Danny Fingeroth

2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Creative Stage
Drawing Disney With Clinton Hobart

2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Room 101H
Saturday Morning (Cartoon) Fever And New Comics Day Flu: Animation And Comics Of The ‘70s And ‘80s with Tom Cook and Danny Fingeroth

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Entertainment Stage
Rank And Style Brass Band

11:00 AM - 11:30 AM Entertainment Stage
Nick Sharpe Magician

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Entertainment Stage
The Last Gold

11:30 AM - 12:15 PM Room 101D
A Conversation with Micky Dolenz & Peter Tork of The Monkees, moderated By Dave Schrader (Darknessradio.Com)

12:00 PM - 12:30 PM Entertainment Stage
The Minnesota Hot Dishes Presented By Uptown Swing

12:30 PM - 1:15 PM Room 101D
A Conversation with Star Trek The Next Generation’s Marina Sirtis, moderated by Tony B Kim (Crazy4ComicCon)

12:30 PM - 1:00 PM Entertainment Stage
7 Days Acapella

1:00 PM - 1:30 PM Entertainment Stage
Hudson Master Magician

1:30 PM - 2:00 PM Entertainment Stage
Victor Johnson (solo piano and synth interpretations of fun songs)

1:30 PM - 2:15 PM Room 101D
A Conversation With Barry Bostwick, moderated by Victor Dandridge (Vanatge Inhouse Productions)

3:00 PM - 3:30 PM Kids Stage
The Splatter Sisters

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Northern Spark: Helado Negro at Minneapolis Convention Center Plaza (11 June 2016)

About Northern Lights.mn Northern Lights.mn is a roving, collaborative, media-oriented arts nonprofit based in the Twin Cities. Since 2008 we have worked to bring innovative art to the public sphere and spark new relationships between audience and artwork, and more broadly, between citizens and their built environment. We support global and local artists working at the intersection of disciplines to freely create new work that excites the senses, explores ideas that matter, and re-imagines ways of engagement among artists, sites, and audiences. Northern Lights.mn shines throughout the year with projects such as the Northern Spark festival, The Creative City Challenge, Artists on the Verge, The Giant Sing-A-Long at the Minnesota State Fair, and permanent, interactive public art for Saint Paul’s Union Depot. Helado Negro Tour Dates 06/24/16 Friendly Gathering Fest Windham, VT 06/28/16 Bowery Ballroom- New York, NY 07/07/16 Playstation Theater New York, NY 07/08/16 Addams/Medill Park- Chicago, IL Read More Helado Negro Helado Negro's "Island Universe Story" show at the Ordway Concert Hall for March 21st, 2015, in St Paul. We've already mentioned the show earlier in January, so just a reminder ...

On a balmy late Spring evening, it was warm enough to want ice cream… even black ice cream—

And that’s what Minneapolis got, as Helado Negro kicked off the 2016 Northern Spark with a genre-expanding, somewhat experimental performance outdoors on the lawn of the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Northern Spark: Moose

Northern Spark is a unique, free, annual, dusk-to-dawn, multidisciplinary arts festival that takes place on the second Saturday of June in the Twin Cities.

For the 2016 and 2017 festivals, the theme of Climate Chaos | Climate Rising will explore the interconnected, evolving, and  long-term consequences from climate change, giving artists a platform to facilitate concrete actions anchored in a realistic and hopeful map for the future.

Northern Spark: Wolf

Highlights of the festival space included giant, lighted moving sculptures of a wolf and moose, make-and-take antler workshop, vendor booths, and poetry readings.

Helado Negro (“black ice cream” in English) is the musical alias of South Florida native Roberto Carlos Lange and who has made several trips locally, enough that he should consider getting a second home here.

In addition to world-premiering his Island Universe Story here last March, Lange was back in town less than a month ago, to help Devandra Barnhart with his Wind Grove Mind Alone performance at the Walker Art Center last month.

The spark of the festival lost the flame temporarily as unexpected PA issues at the very beginning delayed the performance for 10-15 min. before everything could get switched out.

The Laurels Quartet

Singing in first in mostly Spanish then into English, Lange and an eight-piece band, which included local strings The Laurels Quartet, finally got going accompanied by two Tinsel Mammals, dancing figures draped in silver glitter that have become a visual extension of the musical compositions.

The string quartet effectively replaced the electronica beats on ‘Ojos Que No Ven’ from 2015’s Double Youth (Asthmatic Kitty Records), with the lush arrangement of their own, making the song sound more elegant than on record and to the delight of the camped on lawn crowd.

Helado Negro

‘Relatives’ was the first song in English, with a nice bassline guiding the track, as the tinsel mammals moved expressively in place.  The crowd howled like wolves between songs (likely the spill-over result of an earlier wolf howling tutorial) with Lange amused and saying, “you can go a little bit louder than that, right?!”

Lange apologized for keeping things moving, feeling somewhat making up for time after the sound delay, breaking into the new song, ‘Young, Latin and Proud’, which featured noteworthy saxophone at its break.

‘Transmission Listen’ had a gentle western groove and ‘2º Dia’ was lush in strings in the style of the best experimental chamber pop. “I know you got a long night ahead of you”, Lange said towards the end of the set (the festival ran from 9pm to 5:26am), “we’re just trying to set it off right”.

Closing with ‘Paz a ti’ and it’s infectious chorus of “claro que si” and then a glimpse into ‘Private Energy’ from a new album coming in the fall, Helado Negro overcame early technical difficulties to provide the initial fire for this year’s Northern Spark.

Helado Negro at Minneapolis Convention Center Plaza - Northern Spark (11 June 2016)

john ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Wizard World Comic Con at Minneapolis Convention Ctr (08 May 16)

Read More Wizard World Minneapolis It is pretty much all-Wizard World all weekend! W♥M will be bringing you extensive coverage of the three-day event - plus the traditional kick-off free event at the Mall of America on Thursday. …

Wizard World Minneapolis ended on Sunday, May 8th, at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Like Friday’s show, Sunday’s Wizard World show is only a half day: from 10am to about 4pm.

Here is the recap on Sunday’s show:

Victor Dandridge

U-Cre-8 Comics Presents: Character Crafters With Victor Dandridge: Writer, artist Victor Dandridge talk about how you can create and design your superhero... and take it to the next level of storytelling and backstory.

As previously mentioned, Dandridge’s comic company Vantage:Inhouse Productions launched in 2011 and publishes The Samaritan, Origins Unknown, The Trouble w/Love and 8 Mins.

Secrets Of Comics Writing Revealed! With Superman’s Dan Jurgens, The Red Hook’s Dean Haspiel, Albert The Alien’s Trevor Mueller & Spider-Man’s Danny Fingeroth:

Secrets Of Comics Writing Revealed

The group described the basics of storytelling, script writing and dialogue and delved further into differences between writing comics “full script” vs. “Marvel-style” which just fleshes out a plot for the artist, to be followed by dialogue insertion after the artwork is drawn.

James Marsters

Out For A Bite With James Marsters: Buffy’s favorite English-accent vampire-with-a-soul Spike (James Marsters), talked about his early, humble beginning. He initially turned down his role in Buffy, as he thought it sounded absolutely terrible. When his agent pressed him to at least watch the (then-unaired pilot), he caved in and loved it so much he did everything he could to become one of the greatest villain-turned-friendly Spike.

Dan Jurgens v Danny Fingeroth

Batman V Superman: Threat Or Menace? With Superman’s Dan Jurgens & Spider-Man’s Danny Fingeroth: The pair explained their reactions to the DC/Warner movie, differences between it and the recently released Captain America: Civil War, and previous incarnations of the DC heroes.

Jurgens (admittedly DC-biased) explained the admiration of adapting his Death of Superman storyline form the comics while admitting a few character flawas of the movie, while Fingeroth (Marvel-biased) compared and contrasted the approach the Marvel Studios movies take to their characters and stories, vs. DC/Warner.

Whether or not each was age-appropriate for children, possible future direction for DC/Warner movies, and what changes each would have made, were also discussed.

Brichibi

Love Your Cosplay Body: Cosplayers Brichibi talk about the challenges of being a nerd, black, gay, and the wrong bodytype. Instead of shying away from the discouragements, she is spreading her message of equality and ‘love your cosplay body’. Love and peace, and most of all, have fun.

Their Time Is Now: Falk Hentschel And Franz Drameh: The pair from CW’s Legends of Tomorrow showed they get along famously, with UK-born Drameh wearing goofy Wonder Woman glasses and Hentschel holding up and spinning Drameh “Dirty Dancing-style” at one point.

Drameh knew of the Firestorm character before getting the role and grew up reading comics, while the German-born Hentschel began his career as a dancer and choreographer before crossing over into acting.

Legends of Tomorrow has been renewed for a second season, but the actors are still waiting to hear a start date for filming.

Legends of Tomorrow (Falk Hentschel And Franz Drameh) at Wizard World Minneapolis (08 May 2016)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Wizard World Comic Con at Minneapolis Convention Ctr (07 May 16)

Cosplayers Of course, the real stars of any comic book conventions are the cosplayers. Here are some photos: Adventure Time Skyrim Scooby Doo Batman’s Rogues Gallery Read More Wizard World Minneapolis It is pretty much all-Wizard World all weekend! W♥M will be bringing you extensive coverage of the three-day event - plus the traditional kick-off free event at the Mall of America on Thursday. …

Wizard World Minneapolis’s big day was Saturday, May 7th, at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

We’ve previously mentioned there was a lot going on that first week in May in Comic May-hem. So with Captain America: Civil War on Friday, Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, Mother’s Day on Sunday, and AniMinneapolis all weekend, Wizard World Minneapolis just didn’t quite land on the best weekend.

Here is the recap on Saturday’s show:

Kirk vs Raiden

Street Fighter V: Double Elimination Tournament: Player “krock” won the cash prize, a fight stick, and the title of Wizard World Gaming, Minneapolis SFV champion. The gaming area, as previously mentioned, was a lot larger this year... and fans spent a lot of time demoing and playing games at the console stations.

Victor Dandridge

Corel Painter 2016 with Guest Artist Victor Dandridge: The ‘studio stage’ was in the middle of the exhibition hall. Dandridge gave us some valuable tips on Corel Painter 2016. The software simple, but complex, to use and Dandridge created art from scratch. Dandridge’s comic company Vantage:Inhouse Productions launched in 2011 and publishes The Samaritan, Origins Unknown, The Trouble w/Love and 8 Mins.

Barry Bostwick

Adventures in Middle Earth with Billy Boyd: Billy Boyd, who played the hobbit Pippin’ Took, in Lord of the Rings trilogy was a lot of fun. He came on stage with bottles of water and told fans to remember to “stay hydrated.”

Immediately, the first question Mo Lightning asked Boyd was why they misspelled ‘Beefcake’, referring to Boyd’s band Beecake. Boyd quickly corrected the moderator by saying that it was intentionally called Beecake. Apparently LotR’s co-star Dominic Monaghan sent Boyd a picture of a cake covered in bees.

Boyd had a lot of fun stories about being on the set of LotR, but clearly his passion is in music. When a fan asked him to sing ‘Denethor’, Boyd was more than happy to sing for us.

Kristen Bauer

Blood on the Bayou with Kristen Bauer: Although HBO’s True Blood series ended, fans still fondly remember Kristen Bauer and her role as vampire Pam. Most of the questions and stories involves True Blood, but occasionally Bauer would also mention her role in Once Upon a Time. Cosplayer/model Brit Bliss moderated the panel.

Beyond the SHIELD

Beyond the SHIELD: a Conversation About Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and Greater Cinematic Universe: Adam Wells and Robert Young discussed Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. Like last year, the two are big fans of the show and I believe the full recording may be available on beyondtheshieldpodcast.com (I couldn’t find it at the website as of this writing).

Trevor Mueller, Zak Sally, and Victor Dandridge

Inside the World of Independent Comics with Billy Dogma’s Dean Haspiel, Sammy the Mouse’s Zak Sally, and Origins Unknown’s Victor Dandridge: As you can see from the photograph, in fact, Trevor Mueller stepped in and replaced Dean Haspiel. All the writers/artists on the panel had a lot say about the freedom and owning their characters vs working for a big corporate company, such as Marvel or DC. Although Zak Sally is best known for being in bands like Low and Enemymine, he’s also an important figure in underground comics, as he demonstrated as moderator to Daniel Clowes’ recent Minneapolis appearance.

Jewel Staite

Everything’s Shiny, Cap’n: Jewel Staite: Everybody’s loveable mechanic, Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite) talked a lot of Firefly and various shows and films. Among some of her biggest complaints about playing different characters is that she often has to become an expert in something only weeks before shooting. For example, she once played a doctor and they had flown in an expert to teach her how to play a surgeon. Or horseback riding, and various other jobs and skills that she ‘lacked’.

When asked what her biggest fear was, her go-to answer was “I’ll never work again.” Her biggest love is her family, especially her children.

J. Jonah Jameson

Spider-Man: Menace or Super-Menace? Hosted by J. Jonah Jameson: The turnout to this panel was surprisingly quite popular! Spider-Man’s hater J. Jonah Jameson (played by Karl Brevik, member of SAG/AFTRA and San Diego Comic Con International Professional) basically screamed and yelled about how Spider-Man was a menace to society.

Fans tried to defend Spider-Man by saying how he’s saving the city, but, of course, Jameson turned it all around by saying Spider-Man attracted these villains, etc.

Karl Brevik isa . This panel has been hosted in several states as a performance based panel of entertainment. Fans of Spider-Man get all the laughs and joy of seeing J. Jonah Jameson talk his way out of almost everything thrown his way. Full of audience participation, it's a mix of a stand-up act, a roast, a Q&A and a good old fashioned sharing of Spider-Man knowledge.

Michael Golden

Storytelling with Michael Golden: One of the best artist around, Michael Golden talked about how to tell story through artwork. Golden’s expressive artwork can be seen on The ‘Nam, Batman, X-Men, Micronauts and G.I.Joe.

Unfortunately, it was hard to hear as you can hear J. Jonah Jameson’s loud voice over at the ‘Spider-Man: Menace or Super-Menace?’ panel (next door).

Non-Compliant Geek’s Guide to Self Care

The Non-Compliant Geek’s Guide to Self Care: This all-women was all about loving yourself, not some idealized, media-fueled of the perfect body type. Some of the panelists are also moderate the Yoga Quest: Narrate Yogic Adventures, so they know a thing or two about keeping yourself healthy and flexible.

Jason David Frank

One-On-One with Power Ranger: Jason David Frank: As usual, the ever-animated Jason David Frank (the Green Ranger) engaged with his fans. Frank was also live-streaming his Q&A and seemed excited about his reality television show My Morphin Life. Among some of the questions asked was about the upcoming 2017 Power Rangers, which Frank said he has nothing to do with the film.

Trevor Mueller

Making Webcomics: Harvey Award nominated creator Trevor Mueller described his own over eleven-year experience with web comics, his process and general tips and tools, transitioning to print and benefits and drawbacks to both versions.

Jeremy Shada

What Time Is It? With Jeremy Shada: The voice of Finn from Cartoon Network’s insanely popular Adventure Time revealed stories from the studio, being in a band called Make Out Monday, and doing work outside of Adventure Time, including the voice of Lance in the upcoming Voltron: Legendary Defender, debuting on Nexflix in June.

Security Gaps In Hogwarts

Security Gaps In Hogwarts: Surprisingly Harry Potters is still a big deal, as this popular panel (featuring Karl Brevik as Albus Dumbledore) touched on the imaginary security gaps in the imaginary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The school is just not safe from troll in the girl’s bathrooms, giant three-headed dogs, corrupted professors, etc. They also offered some suggestions in keeping Hogwarts safe.

Danny Fingeroth

The Marvel Legacy: The 77-Year History Of The House Of Ideas, From The Beginning To Deadpool To Captain America: Civil War With Spider-Man’s Danny Fingeroth: This panel was similar to last year’s Fingeroth panel about Marvel. Fingeroth studied the early years, from Timely Publications to Atlas Comics, to eventually Marvel Comics. Although it is mostly about Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, these two guys built the foundation of everything Marvel today.

Intro to Cosplay

Intro to Cosplay with Wizard World Cosplay Guest Hannah Eva: Over next door was cosplayer Hannah Eva and SuperKayce. The two bounded over their various DIY costume ideas and gave fans suggestions on where to start if they are thinking of creating that perfect costume.

Paige

Inside The Ring With WWE Superstar Paige: The English WWE and NXT wrestler had some of the longest lines of the weekend and her panel/Q+A had a good turnout, with fans asking questions of various subjects.

She referenced her UK TV documentary The Wrestlers: Fighting with my Family, which chronicled her rise to fame, her desire to team up with fellow wrestler Sasha Banks, and finding musical inspiration with 80’s hard rock, modern metal, occasional Adele, and some country music as well.

David Ramsey

Protecting Star City and Oliver Queen with David Ramsey: Arrow’s John Diggle provided perhaps the most enjoyable Q+A of the weekend, revealing how much of a “co-star” fight scenes are to the series, the logistics in scheduling a TV crossover, how The Flash set has canned soda pop (something craft service on Arrow does not have) including Mountain Dew, and his relationship with the other actors, including Eugene Byrd, who plays his brother.

Ramsey also revealed he was originally written as John Stewart (Green Lantern - but DC Comics wouldn’t approve it, and also mentioned a new helmet (designed by Cisco from The Flash) is coming (and is “less Magneto-looking”) and that he would like to assume the role of Moonknight or The Guardian, if he could pick another hero.

Storytime is Over: David Giuntoli, Bitsie Tulloch, and Sasha Roiz: Undeniably the biggest draw of the Wizard World Comic Convention was the cast of Grimm.

Some of the questions asked were if there were some hijinks behind the stage, and Bitsie volunteered that she swapped out David’s car keys so he couldn’t figure out why his car wouldn’t start, etc. The vibe I got was that the Grimm cast had a lot of great chemistry, and it shows.

Another question was about make-up prosthetics, but Sasha quickly answered that all the special effects are digitally done and very little theater make-up is needed.

According to the cast, the season 5 finale is perhaps the best show they’ve ever done. They suggested that some characters won’t be returning and even hinted that the show has ended (which is untrue, since NBC just renewed the show for a sixth season).

Grimm: Sasha Roiz, Bitsie Tulloch, David Giuntoli at Wizard World Minneapolis (07 May 2016)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic