Wizard World Chicago 2012 T-Shirt Exhibitor Guide

Nerds do love their shirts, which is why companies like Stylin Online (booths 711, 910, 1817 & 2016) and Super Hero Stuff (732) remain  successful staples of the convention scene.  This may be fine and dandy for the comic book and pop culture fanatics but geekdom thrives on niche markets so it would make sense that shirt companies that cater to such markets would be coveted at a con (such as the previously mentioned Threadless at booth 2758.)  Which is lucky for us because this year's Wizard World is chock full of unique shirt vendors and even luckier for you because Idol Threat has decided to feature a few to help you save time while shopping so you can spend more of the con doing other things like buying prints, sketches and paintings from Artist Alley or getting to panels or photo-ops in time.

First we have Black Action Tees in booth 1936 which as the name suggests is a company that offers shirts with black culture-themed designs.  They have designs featuring black cult icons like Black Dynamite, The Last Dragon's Sho' Nuff, Black Lightning and Luke Cage aka Power Man.  They also have shirts with their own unique characters such as their "Black America" and "GI Jose" designs. Their shirts are seriously dope so be sure to swing by their booth.  Next up we have video game-centric t-shirt company Glitch Gaming Apparel (1602.)  Their shirts have clever gaming themed puns and play on words such as their awesomely shit-talking "You Noob" Youtube design and the Street Fighter "Hadoken fist in your face" Heineken inspired tee.  They also have other products besides their FPS and Fighting gamer shirts including a Left for Dead "Health Pack" and plush Portal "Cave Johnson Combustible Lemons."  Lastly we have Pinups for Pitbulls at booth 2483.  While not strictly a t-shirt company per se (their pinup calendar is their main product) the shirts that they do have are impressive enough to feature by themselves.  The fact that they raise pitbull awareness and help out rescue shelters is a huge plus as well.  They have a bunch of music-themed shirts which so far seem to be exclusive to the con so I would scoop them up while you can (it is for a good cause.) I particularly like their Minor Threat themed "Not a Threat" shirt.

There's plenty more shirt booths to be found with even more diverse designs but you'll just have to explore the con yourselves to find the rest.  Geek culture has never had their shortage of sub-cultures and the con is the best place to view them all in one spot.  If you can't make it to Wizard World this weekend you can find links to their websites below. Happy hunting.

Black Action Tees: http://www.blackactiontees.com/

Glitch Gaming Apparel: http://www.glitchgear.com/

Pinups for Pitbulls: http://pinupsforpitbulls.org/

Wizard World: http://www.wizardworld.com/