Gem City Comic Con was the big one for me, and it was in April. Not a comic con, but I will be going to the Origins Gaming Expo over in Columbus for one day next month. I think Tim Zahn and Mike Stackpole will be there again (they usually are) as will some fantasy artists like Larry Elmore. There's a chance my wife and I might do Gen Con for a day in Indy in August-she went last year but I had to work, it's been about 6-7 years since I have gone. 

I'll be attending a small con on June 7th over in a  suburb of Dayton that is a fundraiser for the arts program of the school system there, but will be at the Twilight Star Studios table all day. It's so small I think we are about 1/4 of artist's alley at the con 

Champion City Comic Con (or C4) is the local con put on by the owner of my LCS in Oct, and I will be doing the Twilight Star thing there too. 

The Studio has a table at artist's alley at Derby Con down in Kentucky in July, not sure if I am going to be able to make that one (definitely can't make the Sat and it's a 3 hour drive one way which is rough if I am doing Sunday only). Gary and Kevin will be there in full effect though. 

I might go to one or both of the Cincinnati cons in September-there 2 weeks apart on opposite sides of the river and there is a bit a feud between the organizers of the 2 shows and neither will blink about timing of their show, but both have decent guest lists. I'll have to see what my budget looks like. The Cincinnati Comic Expo is Sept. 19-21 and features both Marv Wolfman and George Perez as guests of honor, plus media guests like David Prowse, Peter Mayhew, John Rhys-Davies, Lou Ferrigno, and Jewel Staite. Other comic creators there include Herb Trimpe, Cary Nord, Khoi Pham, Mike McKone and others. If I only do 1 of the 2 shows, this is my first choice because of Perez and Nord. The Cincy Comic Con is Sept 5-7 and across the river in northern Kentucky (part of the Cincy metro region though) and featured guests include Ethan Van Sciver, Tony Moore, Ryan Stegman, Jason Latour, Skottie Young, Gerry Duggan, Katie  Cook & Andy Price (of MLP), Matt Fraction, Dennis Hopeless, Tony Millionaire, Chris Samnee, Tim Seeley, Mike Norton and others...Samnee and Skottie Young are the two big draws for me there. 

However, if I decide to break down and get tickets to see the Red Sox play when they come to Great American Ballpark in August, I won't be attending either show. 

-M

We did Motor City Comic Con in Novi Michigan last weekend.

I plan to hit up Lake Effect Comic Con in the Cleveland OH area on Sunday.

Pittsburgh Comic Con is September 26-28. Among the guests already announced are George Perez (who's here nearly every year), Mike Grell, and Bill Sienkiewicz (so many of my Moon Knight and New Mutants books will be signed that weekend); Katie Cook, who writes My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, will be here as well, so I'll probably get some things signed for my daugheters. They haven't announced the Guest of Honor yet, so I'm curious what big name they'll get this year; last year it was Jim Steranko, who is about the coolest creator I've ever met.

If Marv Wolfman is going to be in Cincinnati the weekend prior, I may have to make the trip out there; I was really bummed when Gene Colan had to cancel here in Pittsburgh a few years back, as I really wanted to get my TOD #10 signed by him and Wolfman, but getting half of that duo to sign it will be cool as well. However, the show at the beginning of September that has Skottie Young and the two creators on MLP:FIM, along with Fraction and Hopeless, is pretty enticing as well.

Nothing this year it seems but I'm hoping to attend London Super Comic Con in 2015...one of the best UK stores (Limited-Edition) isn't far from our place in Hertfordshire.

By the way, I'll always remember the con I attended a few years ago. My dealer got to work in the Mile High booth ($100 smacks per 4 hour shift) while Chuck was sleeping on the floor because he was ill.

That's funny...I just met Neal Adams today at my LCS. You wouldn't happen to be going to Comicpalooza would you?

I attended Awesome Con this past April in Washington DC, which is a relatively young convention (this year was its second year). There were a few kinks to be worked out, but considering the huge increase in size and scope of the con from the first year, and that fact that it's only in its second year, I thought the hiccups were forgivable. I came in with lowered expectations though, so I was actually pleasantly surprised that it was run pretty decently all things considered.

There was a decent celebrity presence -- the biggest celebs there were Billie Piper, Cary Elwes, Danai Gurira, and Sean Astin -- but I would have liked to see a greater comics presence. Awesome Con was scheduled the same weekend as Wonder Con in Anaheim though, so they got they likely got short end of the stick when it came to securing guests. Boom Studios was the only publisher that I noticed to have an official presence at the con. Although it is run by comics people, Awesome Con looks like it is trying to go for mainstream media appeal (TV shows and movie guests) rather than stay a primarily comics-focused event. I don't blame them though, that's where the money is for sure!

The highlight of my time there was that I got to meet George Perez. I had planned to show up to the con early in order to secure a good place in line to get a sketch and books signed, but ended up getting there two hours after the show started. I expected there to be a really long line for George, but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was pretty short. After about 30 minutes of waiting, I got two books signed and a Superman sketch from the man himself. So I say that I was pleasantly surprised from a selfish perspective, but at the same time I was disappointed because someone like George should really have had a much longer line of people waiting for him.

All in all I thought it was a fun time and I'm looking forward to see who they can book for next year when (hopefully) they won't have to compete for guests with another major con.

Long Beach Comic Book Expo is this weekend. I'm working the booth for the Hero Initiative, so we'll have some fun and mirth at our tables.
A couple of signings, possible foosball playing....