[Groop] WonderCon Report

[Gary Grossmann]

Hi Folks!
 
We had a great time, of course.  However, I didn't see any Groopies!  Where were you guys?  We actually arrived in SF on Thursday and did a lot of touristy stuff, like ride the cable cars. It was a blast!  The weather was amazing.  On Friday we went to the Con and met up with my Greek Groo friend, Antonis Nicolopoulos, who coordinated a trip to visit his friend Phillipe with going to WonderCon. (He sends me the Greek Groos when they come out.)  Antonis and Phillippe are great guys and they were thrilled to meet Sergio.  
 
The funny part of the day came in the afternoon.  I had promised The Long Suffering Mrs. G. that the trip would be as much about seeing San Francisco as seeing WonderCon, so I got everything I wanted to do at the con out of the way by around 2:30 and told her we could go if she wanted to.  Much to my surprise she wanted to stay and see the panel on the upcoming Green Lantern movie, which meant sitting through a couple other panels (they don’t clear out the big rooms, yet, like they do in San Diego).  So we stayed at the con until 6:00!
 
Saturday was the Groo panel, which took place in the same room and right after the WonderCon 25th anniversary panel, which included Mark.  Sergio and I arrived early, so we snagged a couple of cupcakes that had been laid out in the hall as part of that panel.  Antonis and Becky snagged some too.  They moved the Groo panel (actually the “Mark & Sergio Panel”) into a bigger room after last year’s cramming debacle.  Among other things, we learned that Sergio has shaved his mustache off three times:  1) In college when his movie producer Dad needed extras to play Indians, 2) When he served in the Mexican military and was told at induction that he had to shave it off, only to see afterward that everyone in the Mexican military had a mustache!, and 3) When his wife wanted to see what he looked like without it and when she did, told him to grow it back immediately!  Each time he grew it back in a day.  Or so he said.  
 
No new stuff from what I listed in the Emerald City report except that Sergio has already completed 2 issues of Sergio Funnies for Bongo.  They are being completed so fast in part because Sergio is very fast, but also because the lettering is being done by computer instead of Stan and the coloring is being done by Bongo’s in house colorists instead of Tom (which kind of stinks, but Sergio had no say in it.) The first one will be released around the time of the San Diego con, just like Groo v. Conan.  So San Diego should be a real Sergio-Fest!!  (Nothing new on the Groo Movie front, but then did you really think there would be?)    
 
The crowds were manageable on Friday and horrible on Saturday.  As bad as San Diego, even in Artist Alley.  The only difference was you had 14 isles to get through instead of 56 or so.  Eric Chun, who I somehow missed but e-mailed later, pointed out that this was probably good for the vendors even if it made it hard to get around.  I talked to a number of folks who had come to WonderCon because they couldn’t get into San Diego.  I think there is room to expand and if there is they need to do it!  
 
There was the usual spectrum of fabulous costumes and holy-crap-what-were-they-thinking costumes.  Zombie anything is “in.” Zombie robots, zombie pirates (no zombie Rick), and even a zombie storm trooper.  The most colorful costume was a Mardi Gras guy and there was a little girl who looked exactly like the girl in KickAss.  The absolute worst was a Slave Girl Princess Lea costume that barely covered the essential parts of a more than hefty (much more!) young woman.  There are some things I don’t need to see!     
 
Anywho, we left Saturday afternoon to catch an early Saturday evening flight home, so I don’t know how the con was on Sunday, but I’m sure they set another attendance record.  We had a great time both inside and outside the con and I hope they are allowed to use more of the Moscone Center so getting into WonderCon doesn’t become a lottery like San Diego.
 
Take care all,  Gary G.   		 	   		  
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