Broken Frontier

Wizard World Philly was a much smaller show this year, due to once again competing with Heroes Convention in Charlotte. 

However, while that meant there was a limited exposure from the Big 2, it did give smaller companies a chance to shine.

Like Newgrounds, who had videos and toys to show off...

 ... and local publisher Zenoscope, who now publish one of the longest running independent books you can get at your local comic shop.

It also allowed a company like Aspen to spread its wings as one of the bigger publishers in the building.

For the second year in a row (and hopefully many more to come) the Kaiju Big Battle performed their special brand of Pro Wrestling meets Japanese Monster Movie at the official Wizard World After Party.  And yes, that is as cool as it sounds.

Zombies are huge right now.  And if they ever actually start to appear, this is the guy you want to befriend; Max Brooks, writer of the Zombie Survival Guide.

JG Jones takes a break from his hectic sketching schedule to eat a granola bar.  I was trying to catch him mid-bite but he saw me.  He's a perceptive one that JG.

Meanwhile, Billy Tan and Khoi Pham refused to take any breaks from sketching and worked themselves to the bone all weekend.

Another of the hardest working people in the industry, Amanda Connor is an industry darling for a reason.  If you are lucky enough to catch her at her table, get in line, get a sketch, and listen to the hysterical stories.  Just don't try to take her prized fake dog poop.

New American resident Mike McKone and girlfriend Lena Floyd plant one on friend Mike White.

Meanwhile at the next booth over, Mark McKenna is just happy to not have been involved.

My collaborator at Cave Drawing Ink  on Atomic Joy Ride From Outerspace (from Rise of the Outlanders, buy it at the site!), Ian Glaubinger is always a hit at the convention with his unique cartoon style.  Stop by for a free sketch, stick around to pick up many of his fantastic prints.  And no, I'm not just heaping praise on him so he'll work with me again.

I also finally got a chance to talk to my former message board buddy Sean McKeever.  And while we traded tales of old, he did sneak me some information about a cool surprise happening at the show...

... his return to Marvel to write...

... a brand new Nomad series!

Which certainly turned the heads of Greg Pak, Dan Slott, and the rest of the Marvel panel.

Not to be outdone, Dan Didio presided over the DC Nation panel, where he allowed Rags Morales to announce the writer for his Doc Savage series to be Brian Azzarello...

... and give the luckiest fan at the convention a chance to read through the first issue of their new Wednesday Comics series.  Personally, I think they should've had a Kaiju Big Battle to decide who got to read it.

About the only thing that could possibly have improved Wednesday Comics would have been a story by these two luminaries, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, who sat on a panel to discuss their history in comics.

Zombie writers weren't the only ones who came out to the show, as Night of the Living Dead actor Russ Streiner was signing and taking pictures at the Avatar booth all weekend.

Sadly this is probably the closest we'll get to the fanboy dream of Hulk getting the Venom costume.

Even Vader couldn't bring himself to hurt this little Yoda.  Although his father should definitely have been paying more attention.

Sure he's going to have two ongoing series and a movie eventually, but even Deadpool couldn't stay away from the show and his fans. 

Finally, a very cool thing that was started last year was the Toy Fair Hall of Fame...

...which they continued this year with Randy Bowen, Tim Bruckner (DC Direct), and Jesse Falcon (Marvel Select) being inducted and getting their cool rocket ship trophy (designed by last year's inductees The Four Horsemen).

And with their 25th Anniversary and blockbuster movie sequel coming out this year, Transformers were inducted as this year's toy line.

 Which just goes to show even the John McCain toy line can't win.