On a rainy first day of March, my gf and I trekked (pun intended) towards the Moscone Center in San Francisco for our first ever Wonder-Con trip. The sea of people in attendance convinced me that the Comic Book (I am sorry… Graphic Novel) industry is alive and well. As soon as we finished the registration process, raced toward the Esplanade Ballroom to get prime seats at the Chuck Panel event.
To those who do not know, Chuck is a TV series on NBC (airs Mondays at 8pm [Before Heroes]) about a geeky normal guy named Chuck (Zachary Levi) who became the US Government’s top secret asset. As a result, Secret agents from the NSA (Adam Baldwin) and CIA (Yvonne Strahovski) are on the mission to protect Chuck while beating up bad guys who threaten US interests.
Anyway, we got there rather late and therefore got seats near the cameras towards the middle aisle. The view was not bad but we needed to stretch our necks to see the actors and taking photos required steady hands and digital zoom. Times like these, I wished I invested on a SLR camera.
Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez and Zachari Levi
Adam Baldwin, Yvonne Strahovski and Joshua Gomez
The panel began with an exclusive trailer from Chuck’s second season. There were tons of season spoilers. The only info I am willing to reveal is that Chuck finally finds his father (Quantum Leap anyone?). After the trailer, the panel had a warm reception from fans and the event got on its way. It was a Q&A style panel and fans got an insiders scoop on how the cast felt working on the set and their favorite episodes. I was a little bit disappointed that the moderator did not ask enough questions to Yvonne and that I was not able to get close enough to get an up-close picture of the cast. However, when the panel was leaving I was able to snap photos of Zachary Levi and Joshua Gomez (They are totally nice and geeky guys).
A few minutes later the Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles panel followed. The panel was not as big as the Chuck panel but stars Summer Glau (she plays Cameron the “good” Terminator) and Shirley Manson (lead singer of Garbage as Catherine Weaver the “bad” Terminator) attended. The format was the same as the Chuck panel but this time I got a closer shot of the stars (see photo below).
Shirley Manson and Summer Glau
When the panel was over, we headed to the convention floor to look around. We soon drowned in the sea of people dressed comic book characters. There were so many that I did not even bother taking pictures. A geek’s bonus was being able to see Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia).
As we left Wonder-Con, looking at the costumed fans and trying to recover from the experience made me remember of my younger days as comic book collector. Those lazy rainy afternoons spent at the Comic Book shop while waiting for my ride home. The stories read and enjoyed made the current madness the world is experiencing right now seem… distant. I guess this is why people come in droves and flock to convention like these. To live out a fantasy, meet up with their idols and for three days, forget the realities of life.
Filed under: Events, 2009, Adam Baldwin, Canon Powershot camera, Carrie Fisher, childhood, chubax, Chuck, comic book movies, Comics, Costume, Firefly, Garbage, Graphic Novels, Heroes, Joshua Gomez, Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill, Moscone Center, NBC, Panel, photo, pictures, Princess Leia, San Francisco, Serenity, Shirley Manson, Summer Glau, Terminator, Wonder Con 2009, Wonder-Con, Yvonne Strahovski, Zachary Levi
