Holy comeback, Batman! Comic fans converging for a bigger Wizard World

TWO YEARS AGO it looked as if Wizard World Philly was a goner. All the regional Wizard shows - including ours - were in danger of cancellation. Then earlier this year, Wizard's print magazine - comics' most prestigious mag for two decades and from which the conventions sprang - was another victim of online publishing and went kaput.

Fans wondered whether the conventions were down for the count, but, like Rocky Balboa, they have come back stronger.

"Things are going extremely well for us in a lot of different areas," Wizard Entertainment President Gareb Shamus said. "We've been able to transition from a regional comic-con producer to the largest North American tour encompassing the largest cities in America - including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and, of course, Philly - and Toronto. There are 11 Wizard shows in all this year."

Shamus believes the ability of the Wizard cons to grow over the past couple of years is amazing.

"We have a total of 2,500 artists and writers attending our shows this year," he said. "That's extraordinary."

As far as the demise of the print version of his popular magazine, Shamus said rather than a sign of weakness, Wizard is staying on the cutting edge and reaching more people with its stories.

"We went from being a paid monthly magazine to a weekly Internet publication that reaches four times as many people four times as often," he said. "Soon everybody will have digital access to what we do. Our iPad app is out now, and we are in the final development of our iPhone app."

In a way, Shamus believes Wizard has overcome the limitations of print.

"We are able to reach millions of people who have these devices now. The potential really is limitless. We just launched our own YouTube channel."

This has helped the shows have even more impact.

"We may have 10,000 people at a show, but now we have access to and podcasts of the show that can be viewed by millions of people."

As for how Wizard World is managing to thrive when other shows can barely survive, Shamus said the reason is simple.

"Each year we do a great job of bringing in a lot of new exhibitors and dealers. Philly is a great city. The Philly show itself is going to be bigger than last year. Artist Alley is going to be double what it was last year.

"We have Adam Baldwin, Vivica A. Fox, Richard Roundtree and Pam Grier here for the first time," he said. "We also have [Bill] Goldberg for the first time. He's huge. He's still one of the biggest stars in wrestling, by far. There will be a lot of celebrities and a lot of stuff for kids. We have Don Oriolo, whose dad created Felix the Cat, and he's going to be playing with kids and giving out prizes."

Shamus is especially excited that mega-popular con favorite Bruce Campbell ("Burn Notice") is coming back to town.

"We had to cap his appearance and cut off selling tickets," he said. "There's a massive demand for him. He only does a couple appearances a year, but he had such a great experience last year he wanted to come back."

Chandler Riggs from "The Walking Dead" will be appearing, and Shamus said there will be a ton of games and prizes for small kids.

In a nod to the opening this weekend of the "Green Lantern" film, Shamus said he was able to gather 20 former "Green Lantern" artists and writers who have worked on the character through various periods of his history. It's the largest "Green Lantern" grouping in one show.

Fan favorites who haven't been here in a while, such as Humberto Ramos, Carlos Pacheco and Doug Braithwaite - who have worked on Spider-Man, Superman and Wolverine, respectively - will also be hitting town.

"An amazing collection of talents are going to be in one place at one time, as will the most impressive collection of genre cars ever assembled - the Mystery Machine from 'Scooby Doo,' the General Lee from 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' the Delorean from 'Back to the Future' and the Batmobile from the '60s 'Batman' TV show - as well as that show's stars, Adam West and Burt Ward."

Though Ward will be making his first appearance in Philly in years this weekend, he is no stranger to the comic-con scene, having made 7,000 personal appearances and signed 7 million autographs since "Batman" hit the airwaves in 1966.

"I love Philadelphia," Ward said. "I'm looking forward to interacting with the fans."

Ward explained that there are two types of Batman fans. "There's either original fans of the show or kids who are being introduced to reruns by their parents or grandparents. Their mothers will say they used to be in love with Robin, and the kids will tell them to cool it."

Ward plans on signing autographs, doing panel discussions and having his photo taken. Ward said he will be happy to repeat the more than 400 combinations of "Holy Batman" - but don't expect him to do it in his old costume. "I only appear in costume for very special times with my wife and Halloween," he said, laughing.

Fox will also be appearing all three days and said, "The love that I get in Philly is amazing."

Fox is looking forward to appearing with legends such as Billy Dee Williams, Roundtree and, most of all, Grier.

"She has a presence that is off the chain," Fox said. "I would love in the future to do a film together. I absolutely might ask her at the show. I believe in putting stuff out there in the universe.

"I've had such a blessed and fulfilling life," Fox added. "I've been able to work with so many wonderful, talented people. This girl from Indianapolis has been able to travel all over the world and work all over the world. How can I complain?"

Williams will be here all weekend as well and said that although most fans want to talk about his role as Lando Calrissian in the "Star Wars" saga, he gets his fair share of questions about his roles in "Brian's Song" and "Nighthawks."

" 'Nighthawks' was a very tough shoot. A lot of it was shooting in subway systems, and that's not easy," he said. "I haven't seen or talked to ["Nighthawks" co-star] Sylvester Stallone in a long time. That would be nice.

"For the most part, I'm just looking forward to meeting the people. It's always a great feeling to know that fans still care."

"There will be so many new experiences," Shamus added. "The show has expanded to accommodate everything people wanted to do. It will be impossible to get through in one day. There's so much to see this year."

Wizard World Philly 2011, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Friday noon-8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., wizardworld.com/home-pa.html.