Wondercon 2024 had an uphill climb this year to achieve the kind of attention and attendance it had in past years – with major media companies like Warner Bros. (and with that, DC Comics) and AMC+ not having as much of a presence as they used to. It was hard not to want to guess how many people would actually show up. Add in a rainy weekend and the convention being scheduled during Easter weekend and the situation starts to look a little worse.

That being said, any doubt about the spirit and enthusiasm of attendees being dampened by the aforementioned factors fell to the wayside as I witnessed cosplayers enthusiastically pose for photographers indoors and convention attendees find more time to chat with vendors and panelists than they normally wouldn’t otherwise, The more spacious isles of the Anaheim Convention Center exhibit hall also made wandering around much less chaotic and more relaxing than bigger conventions and in this author’s personal opinion, also a better convention to bring friends and family who have never been a comic book/fantasy convention before.

And while the star power was felt much less than in previous WonderCons, there was still plenty to see. 30 Years of Gargoyles: A Celebration for Fans featured creator Greg Weisman and key players of the series’ staff, all of whom provided great behind-the-scenes stories. Unfortunately, no questions were allowed about the rumored live-action series.

The fully packed X-Men Fandom panel featured most of the voice cast from “X-Men ‘97” and provided a lot of insight into the development of the series’ voice casting. Lenore Zann, who is the voice actor for Rogue for both “X-Men ‘97” and 30 years before that, “X-Men: The Animated Series,” had a particularly inspiring personal story – after losing reelection after a 12-year stint in Canadian politics and losing a niece to cancer in 2021, Zann felt lost until Disney called and asked her about auditioning again for a character she made so iconic.

But what makes WonderCon stand out in California has always been its ability to highlight upcoming comic book projects, as well as highlight comic book culture as it is now without being too distracted as much by the glitz and glam of Hollywood projects.

Bad Idea, a comic book company whose mission is to provide a high-quality comic book reading and collecting experience that involves eschewing doing trades and digital versions of their stories, not only previewed some gorgeous artwork for upcoming projects like “Tankers” and “Megalith”, but also gave attendees a WonderCon exclusive – the 4th-anniversary version of their Hero Trade, copies of which are going for hundreds of dollars on eBay.

Comic Culture in Museums: Pop Culture on Display! was an amazingly informative talk from industry and education professionals who have run exhibits like the Comic-Con Museum. Patrick Reed, who has curated some major exhibitions for Disney and Marvel, led audiences on a journey on what it takes to set up such exhibitions and preserve comic book art, as well as what makes comic book art collecting so different from fine art collecting.

It’s hard to tell whether WonderCon next year will be more or less the same as it was this year, but one thing was made clear this year – rain or shine, nothing is going to dampen the resolve of attendees to dress up and have a great time, and for speakers and panelists to connect with their fanbase in a more intimate way bigger conventions can’t provide.

WonderCon is produced and operated by Comic-Con International, the fans who organize San Diego Comic-Con, the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world, according to Guinness World Records.

WonderCon’s 37th year will return in 2025 and will be held from March 28 – 30 in Anaheim.