Never been to, but heard dragon con is fun gaming convention

Lvlup expo in Vegas

Anime Expo currently feels like Comic con right before it became a Hollywood event. Still has that homegrown "feeling" yet has enough corporate backing to make it feels "professional"

SDCC for how much exciting things to see and do, Dragoncon for just having the most relaxing fun times with friends and fellow nerds.

I've gone to almost every con in Cali and Vegas and SDCC is by far the best.

SDCC Hands down the best out of other cons I’ve been to like LA Comic con, wondercon, Star Wars celebration, Long Beach CC ( SUCKED ), and anime expo. I do want to attend NYCC and dragon con to check them out. Smaller cons like the ones that used to be at the shrine in LA don’t compare to the bigger cons.

SDCC by far

Wondercon in Anaheim. It has an SDCC vibe, but smaller and less stressful. In my experience, it also is run a bit smoother.

I run a convention tracker that regularly gets mentioned here

I have one upcoming appearance for Jason Aaron. I haven't done a story universe specifically for TMNT comic artists, but if you look at the TMNT story universe you can find a bunch of the artists who were involved in the movies and TV shows.

Also, Once Upon a Time, Star Wars, and just about anything else you want should be there

He’s going to be at Planet Comic Con in Kansas City this month.

There aren’t a ton of Star Wars people going to be there, just Katee Sackoff and Andy Serkis.

https://planetcomicon.com/guest-2025/

Um… Jason is a writer…

You'd probably like fan expo or galaxycon, depends where you live they might stop near you

Omg my husband photographs this con every year!!

Wait I wanna go 👀👀

To anyone else confused, DMV apparently means ‘District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia’ in this context, not ‘Department of Motor Vehicles’ 😵‍💫😵‍💫

Does this mean they are going to be there?

I enjoyed both Wondercon and LA Comic Con but I live in LA so they are good for a weekend adventure not sure if they are worth planning a whole trip around them.

Just asked a couple of weeks ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/comiccon/comments/17sww8h/so_postpandemic_what_us_cons_are_in_the_tier_just/

NYCC is easily #2 convention in terms of size. It’s definitely more comic centric than sdcc

Star Wars celebration when it’s in the US

I am also very familiar with both C2E2 and SDCC. SDCC has no equal, but I would recommend either NYCC or DragonCon in Atlanta. Both are great and you won’t be disappointed with either selection.

I would say the top 1% of cosplay is the same across the largest conventions in quality, but Dragoncon in Atlanta has much more of it, and it's not even close. Tickets are easy to get as well.

I'll second that Wondercon is great and easy to attend.

Dragoncon has some of the most interesting and varied cosplay. If you're set on SDCC, you don't really need a ticket. You can hang out in the gaslamp and get some good shots.

I'm a big fan of Planet Comic-con in Kansas City.

Beautiful downtown venue, the best BBQ in the US (come out me LOL), it's not so big that you get overwhelmed, but big enough to get big names. Always good cosplays and lots of fun.

I haven't been to Denver's comic-con since 2019, and I really enjoyed it. It's downtown venue is probably nicer then KC's also gets some really big names and has some EXCELLENT cosplays. I had some issues with how they laid out where the various panels were and their maps, but that is minor. Denver's been through some ownership changes since 2019, so I'm not sure how good it is these days

sign up for an SDCC member id now so you can participate in the ticket lottery. Thats my favorite one each year if i can go

If you want cosplay photos, go for Wondercon. Cosplay is declining at the huge cons like SDCC & NYCC.

Some might have already happened, but NYCC, MegaCon Orlando, SDCC, Dragon Con, ECCC, and C2E2.

SDCC, Dragon Con and NYCC for sure have over 100k

I would assume Megacon in Florida does, I know their Saturday attendance alone is pretty high. But that's also already passed for the year.

One thing to note that could vary an attendance count is the method a convention counts the number of attendees.

The two common types are the following methods

• Number of badges: this is commonly tied to direct badge sales (a weekend badge = 1 person, 1 day = 1 person still)
• Turnstile: 1 weekend badge = 1 multiplied by the number of days the convention runs (example a full weekend badge for a con that runs 3 days will count as 3 people, a 1 day badge = 1 person)

Also the other count is if the convention counts just attendee or do they also count staff and other support services in their attendee count.

Dragoncon, maybe. San Diego Comic Con for sure.

I want to go alone but my husband also wants to go. 😆 Not exactly what you asked, but I was daydreaming about going solo this past weekend while there with fam.

If I went alone I'd stand in long lines and talk to random strangers, explore all I want, not have to coordinate which things I see or do, meet so many stars (hubs was overwhelmed by the claustrophobic lines).

I def think you can have fun solo, so many new friends to meet!

I went alone and made life-long friends

I've gone alone. It's fun, just in a different way. Go to whatever panel you want, don't have to worry about losing someone in the crowd, easier to find a single seat, etc.

I went to Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo in Mississauga by myself in 2018 and had a lot of fun!! I learned about the con 2 weeks in advance so it was a hurry to get things in line and didn't even think to invite someone to come with because I was so rushed. I did end up making some new friends for the duration of the con, but also I went to the different events alone, like the Hidden Block panel, the Normal Boots panel, the gaming dev panel, and the Hidden Block vs Normal Boots edition of Family Feud. It was a bit freeing to not have to worry so much about working your schedule around your friend's schedule (e.g. when I went to London [Ontario] Comic Con in 2024, I was with a friend and his friends and dad, so we had to plan out together when I wanted to do drag stuff, when my friend wanted to do Wolverine stuff, and when we both wanted to do ATLA stuff, and when I got stopped for my cosplay then I had to stop my friend as well when he was trying to go places but I didn't want to lose him in the crowd lol). I was researching about going alone to cons when I was preparing for EGLX and one of the things I still remember was to bring a card game or two in your bag so if you're in line for something, you can whip it out and invite the people around you to play while you wait.

Going alone can be fun, you can do what you want on your own time table. You might meet fellow fans in lines while there and strike up conversations based on similar interests. Even if you’re shy it’s pretty easy to just chat about shared interests like the guest you are waiting to meet, with vendors, etc.

Some I dig from personal experience:

Short Run, coming up on November 5th in Seattle. A smaller show but super fun energy, positive vibes, and the Seattle clientele is pretty good about buying plenty of books. Well worth checking out if you are in the Pacific NW.

SPX is a lot of fun, there is a certain "gathering of the comics nerds" vibes to the show that can be very friendly or can occasionally feel a bit clique-ish, too. But I think it is the show that most brings together the indie comics "scene" for one big party, and there is something great about that. I see they have posted the dates for 2023, September 9-10.

Angouleme is definitely like no other show I can think of, and it deserves its place on any comics reader's "bucket list." The "Nouveau Monde" tent is where a lot of the best indie/alt stuff can be found, and as mentioned the F-OFF side festival is amazing for the truly indie/punk/DIY side of things. The art shows that run, both the official and the independent ones that run alongside the show, are also of an amazing quality. I wish I could go again next year for Julie Doucet's turn as the president but no can do!

TCAF is next scheduled for April 29-30, 2023. I went this year and the show was slower and a bit less of a fun vibe than previous editions, but even an off year at TCAF is still a great festival by any measure. Hopefully if Covid calms down a bit 2023 will be a real return to form (I'll be there for sure).

Another Canadian show that I think has recently become really worth taking notice of is the Montreal Comic Arts Festival, which will be May 26-28, 2023. I am biased, since it is my hometown show and I have helped them with things like programming and translations, but I honestly think this last year it "leveled up," and I think it is probably the closest thing we have in North America to Angouleme. MCAF literally shuts down a one-mile section of a busy commercial street (no cars), and its a huge audience (they said it was 80K plus who came thru last year). It is about 70% French and 30% English, so there is a lot of stuff to check out. This video they put out does a good job showing the vibe of the show, I think (and I'm in it, haha).

Angoulême

I love Short Run and so glad it’s back this year! I’ll be there this weekend 😇

There is a weird, very small comic Festival called the Bilderberg Konferenz- Underground Comix Festival in Berlin. It's more like a houseparty with bands and bars. Very great atmosphere and really great overview of theGerman Zine scene. Pure chaos though.

I really love MICE, Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo, in Boston each October -- good panels and always find some interesting stuff. I also wouldn't sleep on artist's book and zine fests. I feel like more and more often there are decent comics showings there, especially if you're interested in stuff in the middle ground between comics and art books.