Wizard World Portland: Count The Deadpools & More

Over the weekend, I had the chance to fly out to Wizard World's Portland Comic Convention. Mind you, I've been to a lot of comic conventions in the past two years. That said, repetition has not damaged the excitement or fun that comes with comic conventions for me.

Portland was no exception.

Having teamed up with Wizard World and ConTV to make my way out west, it was time to explore the show floor and a city I had never visited prior. Mission accomplished.

Portland, an interesting and weird city in its own right (its slogan is, "Keep Portland Weird"), is a mecca for comic publishers. Needless to say, there were countless writers, illustrators, and other artists on hand, including one who wrote a full on story about a T-Rex's adventures. There's not much you can't find at these things.

For Wizard World, gaming was a major focus of their Portland convention (well, that and the fact the Krysten Ritter, a.k.a. Jessica Jones, was making her first ever comic con appearance and spoiled child me got to chat with her!). They hosted the world's first Naruto tournament and gamers flocked from around the globe. I didn't dare enter the tournament but I did put away an 11-year-old girl named Coco who called herself a pro. Ha! Take that, Coco!

Outside of gaming, the panels were pretty stacked with Milo Ventimiglia dishing on Gilmore Girls and Heroes, Elizabeth Henstridge spilling Grant Ward's true villainous identity, and William Shatner taking questions from fans from all around. The experience wasn't hurt by the fact that Wizard World hooked me up with an exclusive live Q&A with Leverage and Librarians star, Christian Kane, who turns out to be a huge Gambit fan and would really love a shot at playing an X-Men somewhere down the line.

There was also a huge, huge, huge cosplay turn out. Not only was there impressive quantity, but also impressive quality. Iron Man, Rick & Morty, and Rey were all on hand but Deadpool was by far the most popular costume of the weekend (which I'm sure has nothing to do with his massive success and launch into fandom at the movies recently...).

Be it counting Deadpool's, snatching up the first Walking Dead issue to feature Jesus, the city life outside the convention, or meeting celebrities - Portland's comic con was a blast.

Wizard World is currently set up in Cleveland for a big show with Captain America: Civil War directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, and Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get out to Ohio this weekend but if this was fun for you, we should make it a thing. Either get out to a comic convention near you or keep coming back to ComicBook.com to see the fun we have on the convention floors.