A new convention has emerged onto the Southern California scene. Fan Expo Anaheim: Special Edition was first announced back in March with Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, as the Guest of Honor. For those unfamiliar, Fan Expo has run numerous conventions throughout the US and Canada, including the massive MegaCon in Orlando, Florida. These are the types of cons where you’ll find a murderers’ row of celebrities signing autographs and posing for professional photos. As you’d expect, Fan Expo Anaheim announced a steady stream of guests representing just about every major fandom a geek could imagine. Todd Stashwick, John Rhys-Davies, John Barrowman, Catherine Bell, Edward Furlong, Don Bluth, Corey Feldman, along with renowned voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker were amongst the guest list.
Joining Hamill from the world of Star Wars were Ahmed Best, Giancarlo Esposito, Sam Witwer, Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder, Denis Lawson, Vanessa Marshall, Amy Allen, Matt Lanter, and Gideon Adlon from Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord. A really good deal for anyone who wasn’t able to get tickets to next year’s Star Wars Celebration in Los Angeles.
Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki, Ruth Connell, Mark Pellegrino, Jim Beaver, and Timothy Omundson, who appeared to be in good health and spirits in spite of suffering from a terrible stroke in 2017. The actors were reunited for a panel on Saturday afternoon where they reminisced about their favorite moments from the show and some of the pranks they pulled behind the scenes. And, yes, Psych fans, Omundson was joined by co-star Maggie Lawson from the USA Network series.
The main event for Sunday was An Evening with the Hobbits featuring Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd. The participants discussed their friendship on and offscreen and memories of making The Lord of the Rings. For me, the highlight panel was Villains of Batman: The Animated Series, which took place late Saturday afternoon. Paul Dini, a writer/producer of the show and co-creator of Harley Quinn, moderated the panel with Mark Hamill and Paul Williams, the voices of The Joker and The Penguin, respectively. Each actor talked about bringing a little humanity to their character or lack thereof in the case of the Joker. Hamill himself remembered practicing the Clown Prince of Crime’s manic laughter while stuck in traffic. He joked the sight of a man cackling to himself would be a normal occurrence in Los Angeles. The more soft-spoken Williams discussed his friendship with fellow Penguin Burgess Meredith as well as working with Jim Henson and the Muppets. Much like LA Comic Con, the stages were set up in different areas of the main hall. Thankfully, Fan Expo actually laid out plenty of chairs and the ambient noise was never loud enough to drown out the panelists.
While Fan Expo Anaheim claimed a far more star studded collection of guests than Wondercon, it was only a fraction of the size of March’s convention. In fact, the staging area that Wondercon used in Halls D and E of the Anaheim Convention Center for badge pick-up was the entirety of the exhibit hall for Fan Expo. The downstairs area was delegated for autographs and photo ops with the celebrity guests. Fan Expo shared the building that weekend with VidCon, a gathering for YouTubers, Twitch streamers, and social media influencers. VidCon took up about ¾ of the main exhibit hall as well as the courtyard and center fountain area. This forced most Fan Expo attendees to walk from one side of the convention center to the other while taking the long way around the courtyard. Funny enough, VidCon and Fan Expo are run by the same organization, which makes it all the more curious why they didn’t sell both events as a package deal. That certainly would have helped increase foot traffic as many vendors and independent artists complained afterwards of lack of sales. Many booths were left empty on Sunday as exhibitors dipped out early. With many attendees dropping over $300 for a Mark Hamill autograph, there’s not much left over for vintage toys, laser etched wooden cutting boards or other tchotchkes.
The exhibit hall itself didn’t feature any major booths like Image Comics, Funko, or Toddland. Some regulars could be found such as Tee No Evil, Stylin Online, and Nuclear Comics. Non-profit groups 501st Legion and Kids Can Cosplay were present with the droid builders, who delighted convention-goers with R2 units, a Wall-E, and a remote controlled Grogu. One of the more prominent vendors was Tubbz, a retailer selling pop culture themed rubber ducks. Attendees could purchase the cute little birds dressed as everyone from Gandalf to John Wick. In addition to doing a little shopping, fans could also book a few minutes in a Millenium Falcon bouncy house or play tabletop and collectible card games in designated areas.
Though not specifically a comic book convention, Fan Expo did manage to book several big name comic book creators. Former editor-in-chief Marvel Comics Joe Quesada made a rare appearance at a SoCal convention. No doubt, he signed plenty of copies of Sword of Azrael #1 as the character is set to make a major appearance in the upcoming Batman: Knightfall animated film. With Friday evening serving as a de facto preview night, crowds were low and I was easily able to knock out several signatures I needed including Carl Potts, Ariel Diaz, Mark Texeira, Tate Brombal, and Lobo artist Simon Bisley. Greg Capullo had the longest lines on Saturday though they were still relatively doable compared to SDCC or LA Comic Con. Other luminaries present were Mark Brooks, Mitch Gerads, Jhonen Vasquez, Bill Morrison, David Mack, Kevin Grevioux, and many more.
The inaugural Fan Expo Anaheim was a mixed bag. For the autograph hounds, they surely had a good time, but many exhibitors took a hit due to the vendor fees and low attendance. It didn’t help that Fan Expo took place a week after the similarly-themed Nostalgia Con was held at the very same venue. Not to mention Anime Expo and SDCC on the horizon. No surprise purse strings tightened. While dates for next year’s VidCon have already been announced, dates for Fan Expo Anaheim are listed as TBA. If there is to be a sequel, let’s hope Fan Expo learns some hard lessons. Lowering ticket prices, better marketing, and making the entrance more accessible are a good start.
For more photos from Fan Expo Anaheim, click here.