Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago with Red Blagojevich and William Shatner

Wizard World Comic-Con attracted comic and sci-fi fans to the Chicago event held at the Donald Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois over the weekend of August 19-22, 2010. This visitor attended on Saturday, a day that offered a full schedule of speakers and celebrity watching. Rosemont is in the Chicago O'Hare Airport area, making it a good central location for participants flying in to the event and for fans in the Chicagoland area.

Celebrities at the 2010 Comic-Con included former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, William Shatner, Bert Ward, Adam West, Lorenzo Lamas, Linda Hamilton, Linda Blair, cast-members from Star Trek, cast-members of Battleship Gallactica and many more. There were about 500 celebs selling autographs and photo opportunities. Fans could pose for a photo with the celebrities for a fee that usually ran in the range of $20-30.

Many of the fans wore imaginative costumes and added to the atmosphere of the event. Strolling through the booths were a variety of comic book and fantasy characters.

Rod Blagojevich

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was one of the main attractions on Saturday. Blagojevich, who is big news due to hisrecent federal corruption trial, was only at Comic-Con for one day and had one of the most popular booths at Comic-Con. The former governor was recently found guilty of one of the 24 Federal corruption charges against him, but has been on a media blitz claiming vindication. Blagojevich still faces prosecution for the 23 charges that were undecided, due to a hung jury.

Rod Blagojevich was charging $80 for photo opportunities and $50 for autographs, but the former governor appeared to be happy to have pictures taken with anyone that approached him. In spite of the many allegations against him, Blagojevich emanated personal charm and seemed concerned that people were happy with the pictures taken. I personally took two pictures for people that asked me to, because I happened to be standing there, but was not pushy, or fast, enough to ask anyone to return the favor. As a result of the picture taking, I did get to observe Blagojevich at close range and was somewhat surprised that he had a likeable personality and boyish charm. It should not have been surprising that he was personable. He is a politician after all.

Blagojevich was busily working the crowd, taking interviews, answering questions and having his picture taken with countless people. The former Illinois governor is on a mission to sway public opinion in his favor, as he still faces prosecution. Rod Blagojevich arrested in 2008
Rod Blagojevich in jail on Federal corruption charges

After leaving Blagojevich's vicinity, I browsed through the convention center and recognized celebrities including Lorenzo Lamas, Linda Hamilton, Linda Blair, Lindsay Wagner, John Schneider and Mickey Dolenz. The celebrities each had their own booth and an assistant helping to sell pictures and autographs. I did not purchase any pictures or autographs but I did get to greet some of them briefly.

Michael J. Fox was not at Comic-Con, but the DeLorean from Back to the Future was at the convention and available for photo opportunities for the price of $20. The photo sales were raising money for Fox's Parkinson's Disease Foundation.

The Wizard World Creation Experience offered a full day of speakers in a room that seated about 1,000 people. The attendees had the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers at the Creation Experience. William Shatner spoke to a crowd that filled every seat. Shatner demonstrated his storytelling skills as he told anecdotes about his home country of Canada. The former Star-Trek star was having so much fun with his storytelling that very few people got to ask questions. As his time on stage came to an end, Shatner announced that he would be back at his booth signing autographs for interested fans.

Following Shatner was John de Lancie, who portrayed Q on Star Trek, who answered questions about his role as Q and other acting experiences. The Battlestar Gallactica Final Five, was a panel discussion with four panelists answering questions about the show and their experiences.

The Comic-Con event ended at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, but many of the fans headed over to the O'Hare Hyatt, where additional events were planned. There were cocktail parties for Batman and Battlestar Gallactica and a costume contest being held.

Comic-Con offered a number of events, screenings and speakers that I did not have time to see. The event offers a cornucopia of entertainment and products for comic and sci-fi fans.