WonderCon, part of Comic-Con International’s (CCI) family of nonprofit comics conventions, today announced the latest additions to a guest list that already has fans buying passes at an unprecedented pace for the three-day celebration of comics and related popular art forms. The additions include fan favorites cartoonist Carol Lay (WayLay, The Simpsons), award-winning writer Scott Snyder(Batman, American Vampire, Swamp Thing), and actor/author Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Big Bang Theory). WonderCon will be held March 16-18, 2012.
Passes and hotel accommodations for WonderCon became available on www.comic-con.org/wc/in December. The event, traditionally held in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1987, relocated the Anaheim Convention Center for 2012 due to renovations at the usual venue. Organizers for the event are pleased to offer southern Californian fans a chance to attend WonderCon who otherwise may not have been able to make the trek to San Francisco. Fans from Orange Countyand the Los Angeles area have expressed delight in having an event akin to San Diego Comic-Con at their doorstep.
WonderCon’s format resembles the world-renowned Comic-Con albeit on a reduced scale. The 2011 WonderCon welcomed nearly 50,000 attendees, which is less than half of the 130,000 who attended the 2011 San Diego show.
Joining Lay, Snyder, and Wheaton among the newly announced special guests are Renae De Liz (artist/editor, Womanthology, The Last Unicorn), Rebekah Isaacs (artist, Angel & Faith, Magus), Todd Nauck (artist, Amazing Spider-Man, Young Justice ), Humberto Ramos (artist,Amazing Spider-Man, Impulse, Crimson), and Ryan Sook (artist, The Spectre; cover artist,Justice League Dark, DCU Presents).
“The guest list just keeps getting more impressive,” said David Glanzer, director of marketing and public relations for WonderCon and parent company, Comic-Con International. “That, along with rapid badge sales, indicates WonderCon will be just as exciting, if not more so, than the 2011 blockbuster show.”