This past weekend, my girlfriend and I decided to take a trip down to New Orleans to attend this year’s Wizard World, or Comic Con. I had never been to a comic con, but luckily she had so she could kind of show me around. I had a lot of high hopes for comic con. I had seen photos and videos on Instagram and Facebook of all the different events and people they get to come to the convention. I couldn’t wait to see all the cosplayers dressed up as their favorite characters from comics and pop culture in general. I couldn’t wait to see who the big celebrities were going to be. I had a lot of high hopes.
The things you see outside a comic book convention in New Orleans
The drive down to New Orleans was long, but fun. We listened to podcasts and talked most of the way. New Orleans’ traffic is ridiculous, but parking wasn’t all that bad, actually. A pleasant surprise. We walked into the convention center and were met with a massive line. Not a surprise. We waited and looked at all the costumes, while quietly making jokes to each other that no one else needs to hear. Then, we were met with an intersection of lines. People are waiting in perpendicular lines for what looks like VIP tickets and priority ticket con-goers. We go through and get to the entrance of the actual con to be told we need bands and were suppose to get them at the registration tables that I had mistaken for VIP ticket stuff. Luckily, a very nice man tells us to come with him and he snags us two bands and lets us skip the line to get back in. While tell thank him for how amazing he was being to us, he tells us he’s the CEO of Wizard World and he’s glad we came! What an awesome guy! Unfortunately, the con wasn’t as nice as that man.
Our favorite 2 outfits
We walk into the con and are met with tons of people and very little space to move around. Not a big deal, I expected as much. So, we start walking around and looking at booths. I loved pretty much everything we saw in the close to 100 booths, but I started realizing that Comic Con was mostly a marketplace for comic book, toy, and merch sellers. That’s were the disappointment set in. I was hoping to see people with their passions for comics and pop culture, but forgot that those passions tend to be headed by merchants slinging over priced comics, toys, and shirts. Now, don’t get me wrong, did I want all that stuff? Yes, I most definitely could have spent a months worth of pay at that place. That’s just not what I came for. There were people dressed up and everyone looked like they were having a great time, so I’m not saying it was a terrible experience, just disappointing. We walked around from about 3 hours, bought some shirts, then decided we needed a beer to calm our nerves. So, we left the convention and headed to the streets of New Orleans to see what it had to offer.
My girlfriend enjoying a beer from The Howlin’ Wolf Den
I snapped this shot of this horse who looked incredibly sad.
