Wizard World Indianapolis 2015

This past weekend, Indianapolis’s first Wizard World Comic Con rolled in town. Geeks and geeky lovebirds alike celebrated Valentines weekend at the Indiana Convention Center with celebrity panels, meet and greets, and browsing the vendor booths. While the crowd was smaller than PopCon, the event space was much better suited for the size. This allowed a the crowd at Wizard World to generate a better energy than the cavernous space that plagued AwesomeCon in 2014.

I checked out Wizard World with the Husband and the Geekling on Saturday. The smaller size was more kid-friendly, allowing us plenty of time to walk the vendor floor before she got bored and began bouncing off the walls. The vendor stalls’ wares were about average- a few unusual items sprinkled among the usual fare. I’m not a huge collector of comic books, but I enjoy browsing the stalls and seeing the rarer finds. Almost every stall was piled with Pop figures- if you’re a collector, conventions are starting to be the best place to find your rare and collectible characters.

The celebrity panels were varied and well-scheduled. The large panel room had the vibe of bigger conventions and I saw a lot of similarities to SDCC and similarly successful conventions in other cities. We had the opportunity to attend Karen Gillian and Liam McIntyre’s panels on Saturday. Gillian was bubbly, friendly, and appreciative of her fans. It was great to get to hear her perspective as a former Doctor Who companion and her opinions on how everyone should go bald. Liam McIntyre, best known for his role as Spartacus in the Starz hit. Liam discussed taking down the Roman empire, his Spartacus bootcamp training, and his upcoming role as the Weather Wizard in The Flash. We got the chance to talk with Liam while getting a Spartacus signature (Manu was lonely) and he is a genuine, personable guy. Just don’t ask him to quote Shakespeare at the drop of a hat. During the panel, the Husband got the chance to ask him what it was like to take over from Andy Whitfield int he role of Spartacus when Andy fell ill. The answer was honest and heartbreaking- showing the real human passion that drove the last two years of the groundbreaking series. Check out the Pure Geekery Facebook page for the full video.

Overall, Wizard World had a great first year in Indianapolis. I hope to see them back next year, bigger, better, and shinier!