he weekend of May 21st-23rd, 2004 found many a comic book fan in the "City of Brotherly Love" for the three-day convention that brought over 25,000 attendees to the Pennsylvania Convention Center in beautiful downtown Philly. A sunny, 75-degee day greeted fans from all over the country who gathered up for the Big East convention of the summer, Wizard World East! This was the largest draw to date for the convention which grows bigger each year, providing fans with a vast array of merchants, movie previews, gaming, Anime and retailers, not to mention some of the biggest names in the comic book and entertainment industries. The facts speak for themselves with 120 retailers, 45 exhibitors and more than 115 artists and industry professionals. This year's Special Guest was Eliza Dushku direct from her successful first season of Fox's "Tru Calling" series. Eliza fans know her best from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel but she has also created quite a film following of fans as well. The Guest of Honors included illustrator Michael Turner (Founder of Aspen Comics) and Joe Quesada (Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief).

WIZARDS, COMICS & MANGA

Sky view down on the Wizard World floor

On the comic book front, Wizard Entertainment let go of a very rare original 1938 copy of the coveted Action Comic Issue #1, but not until the price tag reached a staggering $85,000. Why was this issue worth its weight in Kryptonite? Well, this comic features the first appearance of Superman himself. Accompanied in the recent Press Release, Gareb Shamus, Chairman and CEO of Wizard Conventions, Inc. commented, "Philly loves Wizard World! The success of this event is proof that the comic book, gaming, toy and anime industries are showing continued signs of growth and excitement," he stated. "Whether you're a fan looking to have fun or a company looking to reach tens of thousands of potential consumers, Wizard World events are the place to be." Wizard World has always been a staple of the comic book industry and each summer can be found among the biggest convention draws in some of the largest cities in the country while hosting Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas. The only major disappointment of the weekend was Alfred Molina (Doc Ock of "Spider-Man 2") who unfortunately had a scheduled Matinee performance of "Fiddler on the Roof" currently running on Broadway. The plan was to helicopter Molina in for his discussion panel and then fly him back for his second performance but foul weather in New York hampered that plan for organizers to the dismay of Spidey fans.

Aspiring comic artists and writers honed their craft from the best of the comic book industry. Each year the Wizard School tutorials are conducted for attendees and this year was no different as artist Alex Saviuk ("Spider-Man" comic strip) and Angel Medina of "Spawn" fame conducted various sessions during the weekend. And if you're not into the creative aspect, there was the Marvel card game tournaments hosted by Upper Deck that featured $10,000 in prizes. DreamWorks' Animated Films division was on hand with exclusive art and film footage of "Shrek 2" with a ton of related give-aways for the fans of this shy giant and the little-donkey-that-could. As with most conventions of this size, the selling floor can get over-whelming with the mass of product to catch your eye. It was evident that the attendees wouldn't get their fill quickly as up until Sunday the excitement was still in the air as Jedi Knights sharpened their skills at the battling kiosk. The question and answer panels were filled to capacity and the autograph areas were teaming with excited fans, young and old as friends, old and new alike, met in common interest at various booths.

Allan and Arlene Caplan for Inkworks Cards

You never knew who you would run into just milling about. At the View Askew booth which offered action figures, t-shirts, as well as comic book and movie items, Jersey born actor Brian O'Halloran ("Clerks", "Chasing Amy", "Dogma", "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back") was mingling with the fans. The brainchild films of Kevin Smith who had appeared at Wizard World Chicago (this year, being held August 13th-15th) during his first days when "Clerks" debuted in 1994. Never one to be without a quick wit, Brian was happy to chat it up and take his photo with fans showing the very casual and approachable atmosphere the convention offered. Among the various comic book panels on for the weekend included Marvel, which offered some details on the new X-line of comics including the "Astonishing X-Men" series which is being written by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel and Firefly creator) with John Cassaday doing the artwork for the series and Laura Martin being announced as the colorist for the books. Other panels featured the popular DC, Vertigo and Top Cow comics.

No matter who you are or where you find yourself at a convention, sooner or later you run into someone you should know, have worked with, or who knows you. Such was the case when CoA ran into Christine Mak from Richmond Hill, Ontario - one of the board directors of the event organization Toronto Trek-18 which CoA has just recently promoted. Having come all the way down from Canada to attend Wizard World we took the opportunity to catch up on related interests. "We run Toronto Trek every year which is not just a 'Star Trek' convention anymore," she admitted, "In fact our Buffy and Angel lineup has increased every year since our first year when we had Amber Benson (Tara). Our first year with Amber was 3 years ago, but this is Toronto Trek-18 so we've been in existing for 18 years now. This year we have Stephanie Romanov, who of course is our wonderful Lilah and George Hertzberg, Adam, really tall guy!" she laughed. The event is being held 4th of July weekend, up in Toronto, at the Doubletree International Plaza Hotel by the airport. But there were more important things bringing Christine to Wizard World, "We came here mainly to shop," she confessed, "and then we found out that Eliza was going to be here and that was icing on the cake and we thought well, we'll change our plans for Saturday and stick around a little longer for more of the convention." Christine is a frequent visitor to CityofAngel.com as well so we prodded her on what she liked most about the site. "All the cool special effects and the guest greetings." She admitted, "I'm forever refreshing it to get the greetings. The really nice interviews, the special news and events and the photographs too." We informed her of a new feature on actor Ryan Alvarez who portrayed the demon slave-boy, to which she laughed, "He's actually credited as 'Pee-pee Demon' in the finale. I have a friend up in Hamilton, Ontario, who attended the Nashville Vulkon, they drive down and apparently drove everybody nuts in the car by saying, "pee-pee" all the way through."

HEROES AND VILLAINS

Buffy figures from the Gentlemen to Dark Willow

Brian Thompson keeping it real

A long time associated merchant of CoA was in attendance, the excellent Inkworks Trading Cards company. Allan Caplan (President and CEO of Inkworks Cards) has been a huge supporter of CoA since our first days and we're always glad to be able to see their booth and thank them in person. Interrupting his lunch would not stop Allan and his wife Arlene from a cheery greeting and an opportunity to tell us that Inkworks has had, "Great fan support with the Inkworks' Angel cards and we aren't going anywhere. We've got a new line of the Buffy cards coming out, 'Big Bad' and more Angel cards." The Angel Season 5 card sets will be launched this September, but Allan offered us up a tidbit on who will be gracing the autograph cards. Fans can look forward to collecting, Mercedes McNab (Harmony), David Fury (Gregor Framkin), Adam Baldwin (Hamilton), Vincent Kartheiser (Connor), Jonathan Woodward (Knox), and Tom Lenk (Andrew) among others. Plus they will, once again have, the now very sought after, Pieceworks cards. Inkworks was handing out plenty of free goodies to the fans including the Buffy "Big Bad" promos cards. If you missed them at Wizard World check your nearest convention, or see them at the San Diego International Comic Con in July. Of course, Allan wouldn't be Allan without letting us in on some gossip, "There are going to be new Angel figures coming from Diamond Select Toys!" So, next stop... DST.

Carolyn Hoyt as Wonder Woman

Diamond Select Toys

We caught up with Scott Braden (Marketing and Sales Coordinator) at the Diamond Select Toys booth who was happy to tell us what would be coming out in the very near future for Angel fans. "We've announced the Spike and Darla lines," began Scott, "and as far as the Spike figures we're talking about a variance: Spike when he gets his soul back, punk Spike (the 70's look), vampire Spike, and regular Spike." Scott also offered, "And we're doing regular Darla and vampire Darla and there's another surprise Darla that we're going to be announcing soon. It's interesting because so many of the characters crossed over, we're releasing it under the Angel banner but obviously some of those Spike versions appeared in Buffy, not in Angel. Like the Faith statue that we're doing," he clarified, "that comes out in the Angel banner but obviously she was a major player in Buffy too." Scott told us that any time they do figures of Angel or Buffy characters, going forward, they'll continue to do multiple versions and they'll be episode specific. "There will definitely be more Angel coming out," he confessed, "and there will definitely be another version of Darla that the fans will be very happy about." With a little CoA dark magick, Scott gave up a little something, something for the CoA fans. "I'll give you a little scoop," he whispered, "there' s something from this season of Angel that all the fans want and Diamond Select is going to be doing it." "Connor?" we asked. "All the fans want, not want to kill," he joked. "There's something key that the fans love from this season of Angel that we've required the ability to produce and the fans will be very, very please. It will be a total surprise; well it was going to be a total surprise," he joked. He wouldn't split the proverbial stake, so we can only guess, Puppet Angel? But as far as the future for Whedon fans and Diamond Select Toys go? "Basically we're going to keep making products that the Buffy and Angel fans love."

There is no question that you will find Storm Troopers roaming the aisles at Wizard World, and now it's quite common to see Elves and Hobbits but we ran into a classic comic heroine who epitomizes not only the world of comics and television but the strength and appeal as an inspirational role model of young women everywhere; none other than DC Comic's "Wonder Woman"! From the pages of 1940's comics, few characters rivaled the intensity that William Marston created in his heroic icon. The beauty behind the costume at the Philly convention was Carolyn Hoyt up from West Virginia. She's just another attendee enjoying the weekend and admitted she has never met actress Lynda Carter who brought the character to life for the television series in 1976 but always had an admiration for Wonder Woman. If there was ever a perfect match, we think we found her, Diana Prince look out! There is one man who is as familiar to the convention circuit and as to most, if not all, Buffy and Angel fans and that would be actor, Brain Thompson. Best know for his duel portrayal of Luke and The Judge on Buffy, Brian boasts a huge list of film and television accomplishments including, "Star Trek, The Next Generation", "The X-Files", "NYPD Blue", The Terminator, Alien Nation, Dragonheart, and The Order to name just a few. Overall, Brian has appeared in over 42 feature films and can honestly be said to be one of the busiest actors in the industry.

Saturday morning opened the dealer's floor with an already expected line in the autograph area for Eliza Dushku's arrival. Although she wouldn't be signing and meeting anyone until noon, fans were already waiting and by ten minutes after 10:00am the cut-off had begun. Eliza arrived on-time and waved to the fans as she sat down with her Starbucks in hand having just arrived from Manhattan. She was in great spirits and greeted each person with a smile, handshake, and a few words before signing her autograph and posing for a photo. Those early bird fans, who mostly consisted of the male persuasion, were quite the lucky ones, because as the hour quickly went by, her publicist noted that Eliza would never get through the first group of autograph seekers before she headed to her question & answer panel at 1:00pm. She would return again at 3:00pm until 5:00pm to complete a second round of autographs which allowed her to meet close to 300 of her fans who offered everything from posters to DVDs to the Faith action figure for her to sign. But at 1:00-sharp she took her leave and headed downstairs to the Julius Schwartz room where her 1-hour panel was being held.