WonderCon 2010 Hits San Francisco!

The streets of San Francisco have taken a comic turn this weekend as thousands of people, many in fancy dress, have arrived for a conference celebrating comics, sci-fi and fantasy.

WonderCon 2010 is taking place at the Moscone Center, a gathering of the superstars of writers, illustrators and actors from the world of comics and films, together with publishers, dealers and fans. Tomorrow, actors Nicolas Cage and Zachary Levi - 'Chuck' in the TV show - are due to appear.

Outside the Moscone Center, Mette, Bryan, Elena and Chris were just leaving.

'I'm just here in general to dress up in the conference and to see which people have shown up,' said Elena, meaning the vendors, actors and artists. She and Chris were characters from Watchman, the comic and film. Before the weekend was over she was hoping to find James Marsters, of Torchwood and Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame.

Brian was Resident Evil, a film and video game, while Mette described herself as a rif of the evil Time Lord of Dr Who. She pointed to the punk element of trainers, a trademark of the last and one of the most popular-ever Dr Whos, actor David Tennant.

For Chris, Wondercon is about two things, to dress in costume and to take photos. He enjoys the camaraderie. 'A lot of the time I'm chatting to people in between taking photos,' he said.

 Inside the center, the floor was decorated with stalls plying comics and memorabilia. Actors, writers and illustrators met their fans and signed autographs, there were talks on aspects of comics, movies and TV shows, and people in imaginative character costumes provided entertainment and photo opportunities.

It was easy to tell who Gabriel and Garrett were, as Batman and the Joker. This was Garrett's first Wondercon.

'It's a lot of fun, everyone's really nice,' he said. But he hadn't been prepared for his popularity! 'I didn't expect everyone would want to take my picture!'

With them was Erin as Anarchy from DC Comics. 'It's just so much fun,' said Erin, who had met Jeff Johns, writer of the newest version of Teen Titans.

However, there was a downside she thought to the plethora of actors offering autographs. 'It's sad. All the big actors charge for their autographs,' she said. James Marsters, who has appeared in a string of popular TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, Torchwood, and films P.S. I Love You and Dragonball Evolution, and is currently in the TV show, Caprica, was charging $45, while last year, Mark Hamill, actor of Luke Skywalker and voice of the Joker in the animated version of Batman, charged $100.

According to the WonderCon website, the guest list included comics legends Murphy Anderson, Sergio Aragonés, and Joe Kubert along with some of the superstars of today's most popular comics, science fiction/fantasy authors Peter S. Beagle and Tim Powers, WonderCon moderator supreme and also comics historian and writer, Mark Evanier, and pop culture icon Stan Freberg and his wife, Hunter.
Actor/producer/writer Michael Chiklis was also making his first appearance and introducing his new comic book series.

Superstar artist and DC co-publisher Jim Lee also joined DC co-publisher Dan Didio and chief creative officer Geoff Johns on the DC Nation panel.

Last year, Wondercon attracted record numbers of 34,000 people.