Well, Los Angeles has seen the arrival and the departure of another Wizard World convention. We headed up to the Los Angeles Convention Center this past Saturday to count ourselves amongst the geeky masses. We arrived around 11am (Festivities kicked off at 10am!), and immediately we found ourselves surrounded by "celebrities". I only use the quotation marks because by celebrity I mean Jerri Manthey from Survior. She was walking slightly ahead of us through the parking structure, and up the escalator into the main hall of the Convention Center. Before registering, we detoured into the Starbucks that is in the Center itself for a little caffeine pick-me-up. Little did we know we'd end up running into Stone Cold Steve Austin, and some rabid WWE fans that were pestering him for autographs and photos. (Mind you, this is all before we even entered the event itself!) 
With coffee in hand (Strawberries 'N Creme Frappuccino, in my case), we proceeded to the preregistration line to pick up our exclusive comics. (Captain America #25 with the Wizard World Variant Cover is already selling for $30-$40 dollars on eBay, and some vendors on site were paying $20 per issue). We got our badges (Shown above), and walked onto the floor. Right away we were surprised at just how small the actual space was. (I guess that Comic-Con spoiled us for any other conventions we may ever attend in the future. Oh, Comic-con! I wish I knew how to quit you!!) Right away, things were looking up for your's truly. The Marvel Comics booth was right in front of the entrance we came in through, and I was able to snag a free copy of The Dark Tower sketchbook that I had been desperately desiring. (I just had to sign up to their website, which I was already a member of).
After that, we headed on over to the Diamond Select booth where I wanted to pick up another Wizard World exclusive. For just $7 I picked up a set of these cute little guys. These are the first Spider-Man 3 Mini Mates that have been released for sale. The set includes Spidey in his regular duds, and Spidey in his sleeker black outfit. (Looks more slimming, in my opinion!). I was in the Spidey mood on Saturday, sporting a Spider-Man logo t-shirt that I had gotten from CityWalk on my birthday, and a black Spider-Man hooded sweater that my mom had given me for no particular reason other than she loves me! (Said sweater caught the eye of many a geek, causing them to inquire about where to aquire one!)
Afterwards, we just decided to stroll the rest of the floor, with no particular objective. I had a few items in mind that I wanted to search for, some busts and some books. I picked up a copy of Wolverine: Origins #12 early on ($3), and that was pretty much it for my book purchases, except for a couple of issues of Supergirl that I bought for my girlfriend. We saw the typical array of costumed geeks, but not nearly as many as at Comic-Con. (That squadron of Troopers above were probably the best ones). And seeing how it was such as small space to walk around in, we ran into quite a couple of celebrities, some within arms length.
I already mentioned Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jerri Manthey. Not too long after our arrival onto the floor, we stumbled across Doug Jones. (He played Abe Sapien in Hellboy, and is The Silver Surfer in the upcoming Fantastic Four sequel). He's a tall and gangly gentleman, but from all appearances, a very nice guy. He seemed very patient and generous with the fans. Gene Simmons from Kiss was walking the floor with his son and camera crew in tow. (Filming for his reality show, perhaps?) Lou Ferrigno, TV's very own Incredible Hulk was there, as was Louis Gossett, Jr. for some reason. The Wizard booth was hosting David Arquette, who was promoting a movie he has written and directed called "The Tripper". But, by far, the cutest celebrity sighting award goes to Kristen Bell (Seen Above), who just happened to look towards me as I snapped that picture. I don't watch Veronica Mars, but after seeing her in person, I've been having a really difficult time coming up with a reason why.
Nothing much more eventful than that. After a few hours of walking the floor, I dedicated some time to really searching for those gems that I had been looking for. One of which was that awesome looking Megatron mini-bust that you see above. The dude at the booth cut me a deal, $10 off the retail price. (What a bargain!)
(There is a companion piece to it, an Optimus Prime mini-bust, but there was no luck finding one on the floor. Wish List!) 
UPDATE: Found the Optimus Prime mini bust this past Saturday at the Suncoast movie store, of all places. The collection is now complete, and the peasants rejoice!! 
I also picked up a nice looking set of statues based on Jim Lee's artwork. Based on the series "Batman: Hush", these 2 statues depict Superman and Batman in their majestic, super-heroic best. These are the first full-blown statues that I've bought, I mostly stick to mini-busts and the like. There was just something about these that caught my attention ever since I first laid eyes on them. I managed to snag them at a reasonable set price from my local comic shop's booth. (It's always nice to run into a friendly face). They're companion pieces, depicting 2 sides of the same coin. In the comic, these two reluctant friends come to blows, and it's always cool when Bruce and Clark square off.
After that, the money was all gone, and we saw it fit to make an exit. We didn't spend nearly as much time there as we did at Comic-Con, but then again, it wasn't nearly as large either. We managed to walk the floor at least 3 times in the few hours we were there, and saw everything we wanted to see. I'm still debating whether or not to go to Comic-Con this year, but it's very hard to give it up once you've had a taste, especially since our first time was so eventful. Thanks to Wizard for a fun time. Thanks to the vendors for the sweet deals. Thanks to my girl friend for putting up, and coming to terms, with the fact that she is dating a geek. And thanks to you, loyal reader, for listening to my rants. See Ya Next Time!
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