Although we knew our body diversity panel was set to be the first discussion of the day, when Marisa and I turned to corner to our room, and saw it was already full of people, we backed out, believing we had accidentally walked into the end of a previous panel. We sat outside for a few minutes, then looked at the sign again, which reminded us that we were first up that day. Holy shit, all those people were there...waiting...for us! We peeked around the corner, noticed the panel table was empty and our name tents were there, so we sheepishly walked into the room and took our places.
The panel was fantastic! I realize I am a nerd-in-training, and so some of the conversation was over my head, but the discussion was not only about diversity in body type but also in race (both in comics and movies). It could very easily been an uncomfortable or heated conversation but everyone was extremely respectful and I felt like it was very productive.
I would like to (once again) thank Marisa of Chunky Girl Comics for including me on these awesome adventures, Gia for being reliable and fun-sized, and Ray of Tragic Hero Comics for being our Chunky Boy nerd in the know. His knowledge of comics always impresses me.
After the panel, we stayed to sign autographs and take photos. Again, we were so surprised and humbled by the number of people willing to wait to talk to us. It was just such a great day and an amazing experience. Of course, there were plenty of shenanigans, including celebrity stalking and planned debauchery (which really didn't go down as I had hoped).
On Sunday, we headed into Wizard World one last time before leaving for the weekend, We happened past Josh McDermitt and Michael Cudlitz from The Walking Dead in the hotel lobby. Marisa and I stood just close enough (but we thought, just far enough away), trying to decide whether we should say hi. Suddenly, we hear one of them say loudly (pretty sure it was Josh): "And then I killed a goat and spread its blood all over my body!" Soooooooo, we left. The bonus was Marisa got to meet Dean Cain (of Superman fame) at Peet's two seconds later. We still should have gone over to talk to TWD dudes!
As always, pictures speak louder than words, so enjoy a few photos of our adventures from that weekend. We are very much looking forward to Wizard World Reno in November!
