While I wasn’t able to spend as much time at Comicpalooza 2013, Houston’s preeminent comic-con, as I normally would due over Memorial Day Weekend to the birth of my new twin boys, I actually was able to go for more time than I expected with three week old babies at home. It’s amazing how much Comicpalooza has grown over the past four years since The Blot started attending. You would not believe how huge this show is now! It took on special significance to The Blot with the addition of a designer toy element to the show.
This year Comicpalooza brought in The Sucklord, Scott Tolleson and Nathan Hamill to Houston and I hope it was a great convention for all three artists. Personally I thought it was amazing for the city as it introduced designer toys to a broader Texas audience. All three tables were loaded with killer toys, including an exclusive Occupy Cybertron bootleg resin figure by The Sucklord, an exclusive Deadbeet by Scott and an exclusive Curiosity by Nathan. Anything we can do to raise the profile of our little niche corner of the art world is great, and The Blot loved meeting so many fellow toy collectors from around the area. Plus I finally scored one of Sucklord's bootleg resin Dumnys!
This was a huge year for celebrity autograph seekers as well, as Comicpalooza brought in some serious heavyweights! If you’re a fan of Star Trek then you can’t ask for more than two Starfleet captains, Patrick Stewart (Picard of The Next Generation) and Avery Brooks (Sisko of Deep Space Nine), along with DS9 stars Armin Shimerman and Rene Auberjonois! They also hosted fan favorites Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, the cast of Lost Girl and more Power Rangers than you can throw a stick at. Comicpalooza also teamed up with Galacticon, the world’s largest Battlestar Galactica convention, to host almost every star of both the original and rebooted BSG series. It was seriously geek heaven!
But what really got The Blot excited about Comicpalooza 2013 were the comic book artists in attendance. Two of my all time favorite artists were brought in this year, the legendary George Perez and David Mack. I’ve been lucky enough to meet them at a few conventions over the years, but I never miss an opportunity to chat with these two amazing talents. Both are so gracious with their time and sharing insight into their creative processes. I was also really excited to meet Cheeks Galloway, an artist I’ve followed online for years but never expected to meet at a show. I was shocked to learn he’d created 10 different badge designs for the show, which were all epic!
All in all it was a fantastic Comicpalooza 2013! The show still has some growing pains to work through, but you can tell the team behind it has a strong game plan to continue the show’s success. So many of the negatives other conventions, including lack of space, have already been eliminated. If anything there’s too much space, but I think that’s probably a good problem to have as the show continues to grow. Every year the guest list gets longer with bigger and bigger names across a variety of genres. Here’s hoping this show turns into Texas’ largest and most successful comic-con (if it isn’t already!). Hope to see you all in Houston next year for Comicpalooza 2014!
