Dealer's Room Shuffle by Vicky

If you plan to hit any large convention that has a large dealer's hall, save a day to check it out. It takes an entire day to really explore what the Wonder Con dealer's hall has to offer. Not only you can find comics, toys, and collectibles, you can also visit fan tables and meet up and coming artists. The best part about the dealer's room was finding discounted TPB's. Several booths had TPB's going for half price. Jared was able to find a few Hellblazer comics going for half price. I was able to find the new Zatanna graphic novel. All of us were pleased with our findings. I also got some swag from Lauren Faust's Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls' booth.

You can also meet famous people in the dealer's hall. Other than autograph alley, some booths had some prominent people in nerd culture. For example, Jared met Lloyd Kaufmann, director of various Troma films such as The Toxic Avenger and Poultrygeist. Stan, while dressed as Sasori from Naruto, was able to meet Masahi Kishimoto, the creator Naruto. These guests are usually there as a courtesy of the vendor. You never know what kind of surprises you will run into.

Jared and I also ran into Ralph Bakshi, best known for the animated features, "The Hobbit" and "Cool World." Ralph was hanging out at the 20th Century Fox booth promoting Wizards. We had a good chit chat with Ralph on how his works were a huge part of our childhood. The animator also talked about how animation is a sophisticated artform that's not just kids stuff. His work on "Cool World" and "Spicy City" shows that. Otherwise, it was really fun hearing his snarky take on the animation industry today.

I stopped by the row of fan tables. Not only people were promoting the next convention, there were also costuming groups such as Rebel Legion, Saber Guild, LA Dumbledore's Army, Bay Area Ghostbusters, and more. One of my favorite tables was the Racebending table. This was run by Asian Americans who are against the white washing of Asian films by Hollywood. They are known for causing the uproar for the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie where white actors were cast as the leads. Racebending has a game where you would match the character (ie: Akira, Katara, etc) with the white actor that was selected to play said character.

The dealer's hall also had industry booths where you could purchase comics and paraphernalia from DC, IDW, Aspen, and others. Sometimes, they even had creators sign autographs. Another highlight was the Comic Book Legal Defense Team. This booth sold signed comic books to raise money for their cause. I ended up picking up at copy of Morning Glories and donating $10. Other dealer's room highlights were interactive gaming booths by Capcom. There was also plenty of booths selling t-shirts and giving away eco bags.

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