Arts & Entertainment
Top 7 Reasons to Get Yourself to Atlanta Comic Con
What do "Doctor Who," "The Walking Dead," and a comic book legend all have in common? They will all be at the Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con.
Get ready, Atlanta. Die-hard comic book fans will be uniting all weekend at the Georgia World Congress Center for the Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con.
Fans can meet Marvel comics creator Stan Lee, along with actors Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl on the Georgia-filmed “The Walking Dead” and “Doctor Who” fans can geek out with actress Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond on on the BBC sci-fi series.
Apart from Halloween, this is one of the rare instances where no judgment will be passed for walking around town in a wacky costume. If being surrounded by fellow fanatics isn’t enough of a reason to go, here are the top seven highlights of the event this weekend.
7. A Little Bit of Everything
And we do mean everything. Comic con is not only featuring all things dealing with the graphic novel, but it unites the best of pop culture in one place for a big celebration and presentation -- movies, comics, toys, video gaming, games, televation, graphic novels, horror, wrestling, MMA, original art, collectibles, anime, manga, and so on. The event is a total immersion into all of the “greats” that have contributed to pop culture today, ranging anywhere from “Star Trek” to Batman to G.I. Joes.
6. Awesome Lineup of Programs and Presentations
While you can certainly walk around the Georgia World Congress Center and just look at all the things on exhibit -- including, but not limited to the Batmobile which could really be a reason on its own to go check it out -- Comic Con also has a stellar line up of presentations.
Here are a couple of them:
- “The Star Trek Personality Test” from 7:30 - 8:15 p.m. Friday. Trekkies, hold on to your Tribbles, writer and editor Joseph Dickerson will be talking about how the DiSC personality profiler can seriously help you understand which character your’e most like and your counterparts you should steer away from. Yes, there’s also a super practical point to this. The test and presentation is also supposed to help people learn how to work more effectively with other people.
- “Wonder Women of the 21st Century” from 12 - 12:45 p.m. Friday. Join author Genese Davis (The Holder’s Dominion), award-winning producer for film, theater, video games, and etc. Eric Kieron (Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, etc.), artist June Brigman (Star Wars, Supergirl, X-Men), writer Danny Fingeroth (Superman on the Couch), and artist Ken Lashley (Lady Deadpool, Supergirl, X-Men) to talk about the challenges of creating female protagonists and the challenges these characters face.
5. “Suit Up!”
Grab your friends, grab the best costume of your favorite character that you can find -- or make one -- and dress to impress in a competition against other superheroes, villains and favorite personas in the Wizard World Costume Contest from 7 - 9 p.m. on Saturday.
Sign-ups for the contest will be open at the information booth located in the Sidney Marcus Auditorium to compete against other die-hard fans with stellar costumes.
The contest will be judged by Mo Lightning, Billy Patterson, and special guest judges Jason David Frank (the Green Power Ranger) and professional cosplayer Indra “Fantasy Ninja” Rojas. Who knows, maybe they’ll show up in costume too!
4. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Fan Panel
Calling all super spies and super fans. Join journalist and TV personality Aaron Sagers along with other guest speakers to talk about everything that happened on the show this year, including Captain America exposing a major conspiracy. Share your opinions, questions and furious rants over the unexpected with your fellow spy agency fans.
3. Doctor Who?
Two words: Don’t. Blink. Karen Gillan AKA Amy Pond from BBC’s hit television show Doctor Who will be making an appearance on Saturday. A special presentation will be happening from 2 to 2:45 p.m. where fans can hang out with the actress.
Gillan became the Doctor’s new companion (Pond) in the fifth series of the show and re-appeared in series six and seven. And during her time as your companion for the day, Gillan will also be talking about her upcoming role as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy.
While weeping angels will probably not be coming after you even if you do blink, we seriously suggest you not miss this chance to see what it’s like to hang out with the Doctor’s companion. And if you’re a superfan, Comic Con is offering a special VIP experience with Gillan.
2. The Walking Dead
Norman Reedus who plays Daryl Dixon on the AMC television series The Walking Dead -- filmed right in the Atlanta area -- will be taking a break from running away Walkers -- more like from stabbing their brains out, literally -- to hang out with fans at Comic Con.
So for fans who want to have their own time with the star -- maybe it’ll be your own version of The Talking Dead -- there’s a VIP package available to hang out with Reedus.
1. Comic Book Legend Stan Lee
Co-creator of the X-Men, the Avengers, Spider-Man, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Iron Man, Spider Man and much much more, Stan Lee, 91, will be making a special appearance at the event! Lee is the chairman and chief creative officer of POW! Entertainment, he is in both the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame and he is credited as the man who brought Marvel Entertainment, LLC to the forefront of the comic book industry.
From 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Sunday, Lee will be at the Sidney Marcus Auditorium to talk about his career and achievements. A special VIP package will guarantee seating. at the panel on Sunday and include an autograph and photo op with the comic book legend.
So there you have it. Awesome programs and presentations, crazy competitions and chances to meet your favorite pop culture celebrities all in one place.
- Will you be at Comic Con? Tell us about your experience in the comments section!
The official dates and times for the Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con are:
- Friday, May 30 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Sunday, June 1 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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