He wasn't actually here for WonderCon; he wandered in off the street. The homeless problem in SF is staggering...

WonderCon is the middle child of the Comic-Con family. If San Diego is the overachieving oldest child, and APE is the free-spirited art school student, WonderCon is the slacker that is perfectly happy just doing its own thing. And I, for one, prefer it that way.

For one, I was pleasantly surprised that most of the panels were actually comics-related. Sure, I saw a panel about Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and got to see the Series 5 premiere of Doctor Who (which was exceptional), but almost all other panels had comics as their primary focus.

Plus, unlike Comic-Con, I was only unable to get into one of the panels I wanted to see. People may have complained about how crowded it was on Saturday, but it was a leisurely stroll compared to the lightest day of Comic-Con foot traffic. And San Francisco was not ground to a halt in the wake of WonderCon, although I do feel a small amount of power knowing that my people and I control an entire city for a week.

Anyway, on to the highlights:

• In his hour-long panel, Ethan van Sciver gave some pretty good insights into how to break into comics, and how quickly an animation deal can completely fall apart. Bonus points for being completely unburdened by tact, and that made for an entertaining panel.
• Got to meet fellow Cyb.org Cory Ringdahl, and found out that it is possible to like someone who is absolutely wrong about almost everything.
• Heard about the upcoming Larfleez Christmas Special, and saw Geoff Johns commit to doing an Atrocitus Valentine’s Day one shot if the upcoming one-shot sells well.
• There was a panel called “Comics Writers Unite!” James Robinson, Jimmy Palmiotti, Judd Winick, Gail Simone, Johns, and Greg Rucka told anecdotes about the business, and the craft of writing (Winick’s “baby-killing” admission refers to the pain of sacrificing great “bits” in service to the overall story).
• Speaking of killing babies, James Robinson’s spotlight panel was full of out-of-context gems:
  • “I just love killing kids!”
  • “I enjoy the feel of Dick… oh, maybe I shouldn’t say that!”
  • “…and because England is a drinking nation, I would meet them down the pub.”
• In more serious news, he announced his plans for JLA, and an upcoming Shade series.
• And did I mention that the Doctor Who Series 5 premiere was awesome?

As always, I left with a suitcase full of graphic novels, a few pics, and some pretty good memories. Go next year, if you can.