WonderCon also provides a venue for fans to dress up in their favorite costumes and show off. Among some of the costumes that I saw were the regular assortment of Darth Vader and Storm Trooper costumes, as well as a couple of remote-controlled R2D2s. There were some comic heroes like Vision and Hellcat, Green Arrow and Black Canary, Polaris, Psylocke, Chamber, Catwoman, Joker (including a The Killing Joke version), Wonder Woman, Robin (both males and females), and Batman, though I must admit my surprise that there weren't any Superman costumes (that I saw). Also, DC Characters were definitely a bigger hit than the Marvel ones. Characters from The Watchmen were also popular with Rorschach being represented the most.

Celebrities who have become famous for their portrayals of characters from popular television shows and movies were also in full force. Among some of the stars to appear were Adam Baldwin (most popular as Jane from Firefly/Serenity), Chase Masterson (Leeta of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Mark Hamil (Luke Skywalker, Star Wars), Erin Gray (Buck Rogers and Silver Spoons), David Franklin (Lt. Braca, Farscape), and Gigi Edgley (Chianna, Farscape).

Since no WonderCon would be complete without a look at some of the things that have an LGBT slant to it, one mustn't overlook the presence that Prism Comics made on the convention. Prism hosted a booth where gay creators signed their work, including such creators as Justin Hall (Glamazonia), Tommy Roddy (Pride High), Sean Z (Myth), Brian Andersen (So Super Duper) and many others.

Prism also was host to three panels on gay comics. The first was on The Birth of "Gay Comix" which took place on Friday afternoon. On Saturday was the panel called Queer Women in Comics. Admittedly, the only panel of the three that I was able to attend was Self-Publishing Queer Comics, which took place on Sunday afternoon. With that panel, Zan Christensen (Mark of Aeacus and founding president of Prism Comics) moderated a panel of self-publishers as Johnny Nolen (Gravity Faggot), Brian Andersen (So Super Duper), Paige Braddock (Jane's World), Andy Hartzell (Fox Bunny Funny, Monday), Sean Z (Myth) and Justin Hall (True Travel Tales). In this panel, the creators passed along words of wisdom to up and coming creators on how to break into the self-publishing industry and what role being a gay creator plays in their work. This was an informative panel with plenty of anecdotes as well as suggestions for the new creators in the audience.

With such a wide range of activities and exhibitors, as well as an increase in participation by attendees, WonderCon 2009 should go down as one of the best conventions of the season. While I definitely hope I can attend some of the other cons this year, I am happy with my WonderCon experience and would be satisfied with having it be the only convention that I have attended. For the first time in a few years, I've come home from the convention tired but excited about being a comic fan.