The Guide to Pop Conventions
convention
Change Into a Blue Uniform and Other News
Apr 19th
OK, this isn’t the best news, but it’s by far the best art that went with a relatively slow news day. Florida Super Con posted this image along with the relatively cryptic message of “Change is coming to Florida Supercon! Join Cobra… or else! Info coming soon.” What that means? I don’t know. But fun image.
- Artist Brett Pinson is headed for Derby City Con.
- Haidong Gumdo instructor Cathleen Martinez will be putting on a martial arts display at Anime St. George.
- Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist is going to be at A-Kon.
- Louisianime posted their cosplay contest rules.
- MTAC put up a guide about how to park at the convention. Which believe me, is not information to be taken lightly.
Me, Grimlock in Hall of Fame and Other News Updates
Apr 14th
Sorry for the lack of wacky intro, but in a bit of a rush to get the news out today.
- Botcon has set up a Facebook page for their Transformers Hall of Fame voting. They have some wacky banners for the voting as well on the photo page, which is where I snagged this puppy.
- I-CON 30 is not sold out. You can still buy tickets at the box office.
- Discworld Convention 2012 tix are now available.
- Kids Comic Con program is up.
- Want to get your art in the Comic Con International program? Of course you do. Better hurry though, deadline is April 29.
- Baltimore Comic Con has a Formspring page. Go ask them something.
- Gen Con has almost finalized their games.
- Detroit Fanfare ticket sales start Monday morning.
- Special FX artist Greg Nicotero is going to be at Spooky Empire’s May-Hem.
- C2E2 is auctioning off a convention program signed by, and I quote, “Brian Michael Bendis, Adam Hughes, Gail Simone, Terry Moore, Gene Ha, Jill Thompson, C.B. Cebulski, Tony Moore, Cliff Chiang, David Mack, Jamal Igle, Tyler Kirkham, Kevin Maguire, Paul Cornell, Mike Norton, Stanford Greene, Skottie Young, Yildiray Cinar and many more!” Proceeds go to Japanese Disaster Relief Society.
- Pre-reging for MTAC? You get a free download from one of their guests, The Slants.
- Artist Kurt Einhaus will be at Derby City Con.
Over 1,000 Spam Replies and Other News Updates
Apr 12th
Congratulate us! Conmania has hit a milestone! As of today, I have rejected over 1,000 spam replies! That’s right, I have booted just over 1,000 posts referring you to all kinds of products, from WoW Gold and sexual aids to silver jewelery and seizure medication, I ban it so you don’t have to look at it. Also because it doesn’t aid evil spambots from taking over the world with their SEO schemes. Which means that I, in my little way, am keeping us from slavery to our robotic overlords.
- Every convention planner should be the ones from Toronto Comic Arts Festival. You want to know how awesome they are? They put together a guide to places to eat and drink around the convention center and even made it all nice and pretty on Google Maps. They even got a food columnist for the Toronto Star newspaper to put it together. I’ve actually made a low-end version of this for areas surrounding the San Diego Convention Center, and am going to eventually be putting together a Conmania 101 segment regarding this. Seriously, this is super awesome.
- Speaking of Toronto, the last day to book a hotel with their official group rate is tomorrow, the 12th. It also looks like they might be out of Sunday hotel rooms, but they still have Friday and Saturday and could still get more Sundays. Finally, if you are going to fly Air Canada to get to the con and haven’t booked your flight, email contact@torontocomics.com.
- Bad news Twilight Arlington: Julia Jones had to cancel due to filming. Good news Twilight Arlington: Leah Gibson is taking her place.
- Today is the last chance to get Texas Frightmare passes at the discounted rate.
- Anime Conji has their day and date set for next year — March 16th-18th 2012 at the Town and Country Resort Hotel. And yes, it’s already been added to the upcoming conventions section of Conmania. I am on the ball!
- Anime Expo in Los Angeles give you two, count em, two chances to win! Probably more, but that’s what they announced today. If you’re good with the drawings, enter the art show. If you’re better with the singings and the actings and what not, check out AX Idol. Also, all the proceeds from their charity auction are going to the Japanese Red Cross Society.
- Albuquerque Comic Expo (still spelling it correctly!) announced two guests — Walter Jon Williams, whom I don’t know, but is apparently a rather prolific author, and Brian Pulido, who created Lady Death and Evil Ernie and with whom I once shared a drunken ride back from a convention party with. So when I said I don’t know earlier, I meant that in a “I’ve never met him” way. They also have a badge design contest.
- Heroes Con may or may not have a t-shirt. The design is the one at the right. If you have an opinion one way or the other, go tell them about it.
- I-Con in San Francisco is looking for some setup volunteers.
- Would be Gen Con attendees, start warming up your clicking fingers — tickets go on sale Sunday, May 1.
- Clockwork Con needs people for a crafting panel.
- NorWesCon needs food prep volunteers.
- Artist Terence Hanley is going to be at Derby City Con.
- EXP Con will start their hotel booking and weekend pass pre-reg tomorrow.
- Florida Super Con is going to have 2 Player Productions in their Geek Film Festival.
- And finally, Chicago Horror Fest tickets are now on sale.
ZomBCon Passes and Other News Updates
Apr 11th
It’s a quiet, quiet weekend. All of two updates.
- ZomBCon passes are up.
- Boston Comic Con did a little reshuffling to their show floor and now have 12 open Artist Alley tables.
Crazy Number of Florida Supercon Guests and Other News Updates
Apr 9th
Great Googly Moogly a lot of guests just got announced for Florida Supercon. Enough to make listing them all frustrating, anyway.
- Lazaro Suarez, creator of “My Date With The Devil’s Daughter.”
- Golden Age Comic Book Legend Sheldon “Shelly” Moldoff.
- Artist Javier Lugo.
- Artist Tayler Bryan.
- LeVar Leo and Face Palm Comics.
- Pat Martin from Students of the Unusual.
- Voice actor Melissa Fahn.
- Voice actor Michelle Knox.
Ya got all that?
- Speaking of which, Cincinnati Comic Expo (and no, I didn’t spell Cincinnati correct on the first try) announced they have over 70 guests.
- Want to go to Anime Expo in LA for free? Willing to dress up like a maid and serve people to do it? Boy are you in luck. Also, more charity Ebay auctions from the con for the crisis in Japan.
- Oh no, more of the giant lists! Albuquerque Comic Expo (right on the first try!) announced artist alley guests.
- Eclectic Elements
- David “Artassassin” Harrigan
- Jamie Chase Arts
- Summer Amber
- Robert Elrod
- Andy Perez
- Kevin Gentilcore
- Stephen McCranie
- Enrique Martinez
- Chris Yates Studios
- John Peters / Gypsygirl Press
- Dale Deforest
- HappyJack Comics
- Jon Sanchez
- Jeremy Montoya
- Jonathan Perea
- Jeff Benham / ACME Anvil Scenic
- Paul Z. / Sotoman
- Hey kids, do you like the World of Warcraft? Do you like watching movies of the World of Warcraft? Good, then I-Con has a panel for you.
- Retweet this tweet, you might get a free shirt from MTAC. And by telling you, I just lessened my chances of winning. D’oh! Also, they got con maps!
- Wanna buy Megacon tix? Clicky clicky.
Kirk Dirt and Other News Updates
Apr 7th
TrekFest 2011 is doing a little fundraising to keep their Star Trek convention going. Unlike other Star Trek conventions, they do have on advantage in that arena -- it's held in Riverside, IA, the birthplace of Captain Kirk. So they're selling the land itself, one tiny vial at a time. A $25 donation will get you a vial of Kirk Dirt, complete with certificate of authenticity. Which is less gross than selling off pieces of Bill Shatner.
- Big fan of Felicia Day, who I am calling queen of the web video? If you planned on attending Calgary Comicon, San Diego Comicon, Chicago Comicon or DragonCon, you're in luck, because that's where she says she is going.
- Speaking of convention guests, Florida Supercon just announced bunches: Bruce "Tron" Boxlietner, Todd "Creepy Bad Guy on 'The Riches'" Stashwick, Derec Aucoin "Artist on Tons of Superhero Stuff" Donovan and Vinnie "'Hack/Slash' Artist" Tartamella.
- Botcon has an event listing up on Facebook. So if you want your peer circle to know you're going to Botcon, go click.
- I-Con is holding video game tournaments, specifically focusing on Pokemon and Rock Band.
- Going to Toronto Comic Arts Festival? Today is your last day to save on airline fair through Porter Airlines. Unless you're reading this tomorrow. In which case, you're on your own.
- Registration for Anime Expo's AX Idol goes live on Friday, with masquerade registration opening on the 15th. Which is Tax Day. So that should be easy to remember.
- There's going to be quidditch matches at Comicpalooza in Texas. Which brings up a question -- when you're writing about pop culture conventions, is it throwing stones in glass houses to goof on quidditch matches?
Anthony Michael Hall and Other News Updates
Apr 6th
I don’t know why, but I love when seemingly incongruous guests are invited to conventions. Take Anthony Michael Hall here. He’s going to be at Spooky Empire’s May-Hem. Now granted, he was the guy from the TV version of “The Dead Zone,” so really, he does fit. But it’s hard not to hear the name and think of him more as the nerdy one from “The Breakfast Club.”
- Speaking of special guests, Richard Horvitz, the voice of “Invader Zim,” will be at Florida Supercon. See, that makes more sense to me for some reason. So is Shawn Crystal, frequent drawer of Deadpool in a wide variety of titles for Marvel. Man, Deadpool has a lot of books.
- Also, Stern Pinball head honcho Gary Stern will be at the NW Pinball Show. And that makes the most sense of all. If anything, it wouldn’t make any sense to have a pinball convention without the one guy still making new pinball games.
- Finally, if you didn’t make it to Gem City Comic Con this year, you can still buy their swag for charity on Ebay. The charity being the Hero Initiative, so yay!
Anime Expo Goodies and Other News Updates
Apr 5th
Listen up Conmaniacs, hope you liked the video from yesterday. More should be on the way, so keep your eyes open.
- Anime Expo in Los Angeles is approaching, which you should be able to tell from the little countdown clock. Speaking of which, you can download your own and more website goodies by making with the clicky.
- Speaking of goodies, MTAC has their T-shirt designs up. Only $20.
- “G-Man” and “Mini Marvels” artist Chris Giarrusso is going to be at Mid-Ohio Con.
- Want to know how awesome the Animated Detour convention was last weekend? $36,195.42 worth of awesome. That’s how much they raised in their donation buckets for the crisis in Japan.
- Ready for a ton of news from I-CON? The New York con put up their gaming schedule and autograph schedule, as well as their interactive programming schedule. They also announced a panel with Peter David, Joe Lansdale and Bob the Dinosaur on comedy, and a trivia game show. I love those. Cleaned up the prizes at several.
- Albuquerque Comic Expo is giving you a couple chances to win some major convention upgrades. Wednesday, someone gets their three-day pass bumped up to a VIP package. And one VIP ticket holder will get a chance to win a special one-on-one sit down with Stan “The Man” Lee, although that won’t be determined until after all the VIP passes have been sold. So in theory, you could win a one-on-one with Stan for the price of a three-day pass. Although unlikely.
- Time for vengeance, eh? “The Crow” creator James O’Barr is going to be at Toronto Comic Arts Festival.
- Going to Fanaticon in North Carolina? Want to be interviewed by Bold Life Magazine? Make with the clicky.
- Apparently the Hall of Fame event at GIJoeCon was a blast, so BotCon would like to remind you not to miss theirs.
- Spooky Empire’s May-Hem’s newsletter is up. Most of the news has been reported on here, but there it’s all in one nice place.
It’s Not April Fools Day News Updates
Apr 3rd
Yay! It’s not April Fools Day! Real news!
- Hey kids, comics! Image to the left? Poster for the Kids’ Comic Con in New York. Nice art. Except they forgot the apostrophe in Kids’ at the top. Damn my copy editing skills!
- How excited are you to go to Gen Con? Really excited? Good, because they want you to beta test their registration system.
- Tuscon Comic Con is holding their fourth show on November 5-6.
- Texas Frightmare extended their pre-reg discounts. Although they haven’t said for how long, so don’t dawdle.
- Otafest sold out their charity passes in an hour. Impressive! Most impressive. Because when in doubt, quote “Empire.”
- Spokane Comic Con posted an update. I’m not entirely sure which news is new, so you might want to make with the clicky.
- El Paso Comic Con is cooler than you are. They’re holding the Guerrilla Music Festival along side of the convention. I have to admit, from their postings, I’m having a little trouble figuring out if the concert entry is separate from con entry, but this is intriguing enough that I am going to contact them and get to the bottom of this! Also, they have Chewbacca, so either way, it’s a win-win.
Best Photo Op Ever? And Other News Updates
Apr 1st
This is the kind of stuff Star Trek fans’ dreams are made of. You, Shatner and Stewart, together in one spot, with a photo op to capture the moment for posterity. I’m imagining if I did it, it would look a little like the picture at the left. Or, if you’re the more cerebral type, you, Len Nimoy and Brent Spiner, with a picture as it you were all buddies. Impossible you say? Nay, not if you’re at Star Trek Vegas, where for $299 and $159 respectively, you too can take part in these photo sessions, which according to the convention, has never happened before, ever!
Is it me, or do the captains look a little peeved at me?
- Hey kids, do ya like “True Blood’s” Sam Trammell? Then get thee to Comicpalooza.
- MTAC has their programming up. Also in PDF, if you so desire.
- Yesterday I said that WonderCon wasn’t San Diego. I might have been wrong. They aren’t going to be selling any 3-day ticket sales on-site. Although they still are selling them on the website.
- Cincinnati Comic Expo announced Mitch and Elizabeth Breitweiser on their guest list.
- Need Ancient City Con’s games schedule? I’ve got good news for you.
- If it wasn’t for the Star Trek stuff, this would have been the top news of the update. And the only reason why it’s posted this low, I wanted to make sure the images didn’t interfere with each other. But Heroes Con just announced a pretty awesome assortment of comic artists as guests – Frank Cho, Darwyn Cooke (who drew the awesome Ambush Bug to the right), Joe Jusko, Ryan Sook, Billy Tucci, Buzz, Jamie Cosley, Rob Hunter, Eric Layton, and Tommy Smith.
- Geek Girl Con passes are online.
- Want to cosplay at Florida Super Con? Then you’d better read this. Also, Thom Zahler’s gonna be there.
- Louisianime has two more guests – cosplayers “We *Heart* Card Games” Productions and the DJ team NeardRaves.
