Since MegaCon was held earlier in 2024 (February 1-4), I actually attended my first con of the year pretty early this time!
MEGACON 2024
As I always like to point out, I go to MegaCon in Orlando, Florida, each year because it’s near where I live these days! It’s a four-day convention that draws a LOT of fan favorites when it comes to guests and pros. This year I managed to talk with Geoff Johns (and several others on the “new” Ghost Machine team including Peter Tomasi), artist Scott Hanna, Indie comics creator Onri Kompan, Tom King, Charles Soule, John Beatty, Tom Grummett, the writing team of Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, Garrett Gunn, one of the Soska Sisters from the Rippaverse, Jordan Plosky from Zoop.gg, Ryan Kincaid, and a few others along the way! I even bumped into comics friends in the aisles who also were just there to enjoy the experience and find a few other things (like I was looking for podcast guests)! For a look at the media guests/stars that were at MegaCon, check the graphic with this paragraph!
What continues to be different for me is that I’m still on the other side of the table. In past years, I’d been helping friends from the selling side. That meant early mornings and late nights from Wednesday to late Sunday, and that also included lugging boxes of stuff there, setting up, talking with people who attended, then tearing down and removing what we had left so we could do it again at the next con.
This year, just like the last two years, I found myself walking the floor, often in Artist Alley (but not always—more on that soon). I always eat before we go, which helps me make it through the day. I say “day” because once again we only attended on Friday, which is one of the “quieter” days during MegaCon. I actually got to accomplish what I wanted to do in a few hours, again very similar to 2022 and 2023.
I always have to warn fans, but if you go on Saturday, get ready for crowded aisles and such! I heard from friends who went every day that Saturday was once again completely packed, with everyone stopping at various booths, which of course slowed down the foot traffic. That’s to be expected, naturally, because people want to interact with the creators and stars and such!
If you go to buy action figures and comics, you should always be sure to get there as early as you can on Thursday! The later you go, the more picked-through these items will be. The best selection is available as soon as the doors open. Oh, and if you can’t do that, go at the end when vendors are anxious to unload as much as they can so they don’t have to carry it all back home! That’s true of pretty much every convention, not just MegaCon!
IT REALLY WAS AN ARTIST ALLEY THIS TIME
I often fuss with conventions when they call an area “artist alley” because in many cons, that’s a name for the area that includes not only artists, but writers, publishers, and really anyone who has anything to do with the making of comics.
This year, though, MegaCon really did a good job of organizing creators into pretty specific locations. For instance, the sign that had Artist Alley above it pretty much exclusively had artists in it. Since I have often attended Artist Alley in the past, I went there after I traversed the outer rim of that space, which usually has the biggest names in comics there. However, I began to quickly notice that there were only a few comics creators in that area. Most of it was full of artists who were selling their paintings and other wares that simply were NOT comics! You know, I saw stickers and all kinds of posters and such, but I was very disappointed not to see many comics for sale!
Luckily, I noticed that down a nearby aisle was a booth that specifically mentioned IDW Comics. I was puzzled since it wasn’t really part of Artist Alley (at least, it didn’t seem like it to me), so I ventured to that part of the floor where I ran into the writers of the current Star Trek comic. I told them how much I have enjoyed their current run and how I wanted to interview them for my weekly podcast—something I hope to arrange soon! After I finished that conversation, I noticed that the aisles nearby also had a lot of comics, something I hadn’t seen much of before. So, I switched gears and started going down those aisles, significantly near by not included in Artist Alley. I found a lot of good books there, so I hope they will do that again in 2025!
TOO MUCH MUSIC?
Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer to not have all varieties of music playing so loudly nearby when I’m talking with comics creators and others. I’d rather we can carry on a civil conversation, but I found it difficult at times with loud jazz and other kinds of music filling the air around me.
I have noticed this trend on the upswing at cons in the past few years. I mean, there are times when I simply cannot hear the person on the other side of the table!
And it wasn’t only inside the main area of MegaCon, either! In the hallways outside, I was often having to dodge the musical groups as they filled the air with their loud sounds.
Now, I enjoy music as much as the next person, but if I have to sit and eat to loud music as well as try to carry on a conversation, I don’t find that very conducive to me having a good time! Yikes!
I found myself wishing they would have provided blocked-off musical rooms available for those people who wanted to really enjoy times away from the con floor or discussion panels. If I was in the mood for that, I’d be grateful for a break! This was just too much for me, though!
Still, I had a great time even though I was only there for one day! Well done, MegaCon!
WHY ATTEND A CON?
Since this is the first time I’m talking about cons in 2024, I’d like to discuss comic conventions and why they are important on several levels. If you have made your own comic and want to get the word out, a booth at a con can be a very helpful way to let people know about it. Also, if you sell comic-related wares, you have an audience that is already interested in the books and such, so a booth can also be a good way to sell your stuff!
The most important reason for going to a con is to make connections. Granted, it’s not NEARLY as much fun attending alone—I’ve done that several times, and it just doesn’t work for me. When it’s just me, I zoom through all the offerings in an hour or so, regardless of the size of the con. Having someone to go with just makes it a more social event.
It’s also fun to interact with creators you admire. It makes it a more personal experience when you buy and read that person’s books later on. You also learn a lot from them when it comes to why they made the choices they did. If you are interested in making your own comic, ask good questions and you will save a lot of time and money!
It’s also a chance to browse what others have been busy making. I’ve discovered many excellent comics at conventions, and that makes me a better fan!
Moving forward, I’m hoping I will be attending some local cons as well as Free Comic Book Day on the first Saturday in the month of May. I hope to get to a bigger con later in the year (like, maybe NYCC), but we’ll see!
What do you think? Do you prefer to go to conventions in your area or travel somewhere else? Do you like bigger or smaller cons? What advice would you give to someone attending for the first time? Whatever your opinions, be sure to share them in the space below!
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Wayne Hall creates the Wayne's Comics Podcast. He’s interviewed Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, John Layman, Kyle Higgins, Phil Hester, Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray, David Petersen, Christos Gage, Mike Grell, and Matt Kindt. On this site each week, he writes his "Comics Portal" column (general comics comments and previews) and reviews comics.