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Crowds in the thousands flocked to Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City over the weekend to attend the three-day Planet Comicon Kansas City, the region’s largest and longest-running comic and pop culture event which celebrates comic books, science fiction, superheroes and fantasy, and its creators.
The fact that the show (in existence since 1999) was even able to carry on as a safe and fun event, was a minor miracle in itself- since their last show inMarch 2019, pandemic-related cancellations and postponements left its return in doubt (wristbands, lanyards still showed the original March 2020 dates), but organizers were able to pull things together, despite many virus protocols and the city’s current strict indoor mask mandate, to put on a very welcome and well-received weekend.
In coordination with the city’s Health Department, a free walk-in Covid vaccination clinic was also offered to anyone in the community needing the vaccine, with a free officially licensed Baby Yoda, the Child Mandalorian pin offered as additional incentive.
A wide array of guests were present, despite some pandemic-related and schedule conflict cancellations, including celebrities from shows such as Supernatural, Cobra Kai, Stranger Things, Entourage, and Disneyshows, along with comic creators, authors, artists, voice actors, cosplayers, wrestlers and more.
The dealer exhibit space of comics, collectibles, anime, nostalgia and memorabilia, along with gaming and entertainment spaces, covered over seven football fields worth of area and the show was generally busy, especially on Saturday with aisles often elbow-to-elbow and dealers mostly saying they had a very successful weekend.
Guests that attended included:
Supernatural cast (Misha Collins, Felicia Day, Emily Swallow, Rob Benedict, Samantha Smith and Kim Rhodes)
from CW series Arrow- Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy
Cobra Kai cast (William Zabka and Martin Kove)
from Netflix’s Stranger Things- Gaten Matarazzo and Gabriella Pizzolo
Disney voices- Jodi Benson (The Little Mermaid) and Irene Bedard (Pocahontas)
Kevin Dillonfrom HBO’s Entourage
AEW wrestling stars Christian Cage and Britt Baker
80’s Flash Gordon Sam Jones
and retro TV stars Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch) and Cindy Williams (Laverne & Shirley) who spent her birthday weekend at the show.
Comic creators included Marvel and DC legendary writer/editor Roy Thomas, longtime DC artist Doug Mahnke, Black Panther artist Afua Richardson, Iron Man/Star Wars scripter John Jackson Miller, and many from the local area and region.
Celebrity meet-and-greets and photo opportunities were available (some with safety plexiglass between) and one of the best ways to learn about these attendees or ask them a particular question, was to attend their public Panel discussion/Q&A..
We’ll be covering those more in depth, in an upcoming separate post.
Despite the necessary virus-related cancellations and date postponements, consider Planet Comicon Kansas City a great success – able to provide fans of the genre a near sense of normalcy with a well-attended, varied, safe and fun three-day event.
The one silver lining of having to wait through calendar delays for the 2021 edition, is that the show is already hard at work, planning its return for April 22-24, 2022, a mere seven months from now.
(click any image to enlarge, photos by Brian Davenport / Beed Photography)
The fact that the show (in existence since 1999) was even able to carry on as a safe and fun event, was a minor miracle in itself- since their last show inMarch 2019, pandemic-related cancellations and postponements left its return in doubt (wristbands, lanyards still showed the original March 2020 dates), but organizers were able to pull things together, despite many virus protocols and the city’s current strict indoor mask mandate, to put on a very welcome and well-received weekend.
In coordination with the city’s Health Department, a free walk-in Covid vaccination clinic was also offered to anyone in the community needing the vaccine, with a free officially licensed Baby Yoda, the Child Mandalorian pin offered as additional incentive.
A wide array of guests were present, despite some pandemic-related and schedule conflict cancellations, including celebrities from shows such as Supernatural, Cobra Kai, Stranger Things, Entourage, and Disneyshows, along with comic creators, authors, artists, voice actors, cosplayers, wrestlers and more.
The dealer exhibit space of comics, collectibles, anime, nostalgia and memorabilia, along with gaming and entertainment spaces, covered over seven football fields worth of area and the show was generally busy, especially on Saturday with aisles often elbow-to-elbow and dealers mostly saying they had a very successful weekend.
Guests that attended included:
Supernatural cast (Misha Collins, Felicia Day, Emily Swallow, Rob Benedict, Samantha Smith and Kim Rhodes)
from CW series Arrow- Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy
Cobra Kai cast (William Zabka and Martin Kove)
from Netflix’s Stranger Things- Gaten Matarazzo and Gabriella Pizzolo
Disney voices- Jodi Benson (The Little Mermaid) and Irene Bedard (Pocahontas)
Kevin Dillonfrom HBO’s Entourage
AEW wrestling stars Christian Cage and Britt Baker
80’s Flash Gordon Sam Jones
and retro TV stars Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch) and Cindy Williams (Laverne & Shirley) who spent her birthday weekend at the show.
Comic creators included Marvel and DC legendary writer/editor Roy Thomas, longtime DC artist Doug Mahnke, Black Panther artist Afua Richardson, Iron Man/Star Wars scripter John Jackson Miller, and many from the local area and region.
Celebrity meet-and-greets and photo opportunities were available (some with safety plexiglass between) and one of the best ways to learn about these attendees or ask them a particular question, was to attend their public Panel discussion/Q&A..
We’ll be covering those more in depth, in an upcoming separate post.
Despite the necessary virus-related cancellations and date postponements, consider Planet Comicon Kansas City a great success – able to provide fans of the genre a near sense of normalcy with a well-attended, varied, safe and fun three-day event.
The one silver lining of having to wait through calendar delays for the 2021 edition, is that the show is already hard at work, planning its return for April 22-24, 2022, a mere seven months from now.
(click any image to enlarge, photos by Brian Davenport / Beed Photography)
Princess cosplay |
Star Wars Tusken Raider |
eSports gamers |
Predator display |
Disney villians |
Monty Python cosplay |
SheRa and Harley Quinn cosplayers |
Star Wars Tie Fighter |
Star Wars The Armorer |
Cosplayers |
Star Wars Droid factory |
Art Print Dealer |
Ghostbusters |
anime cosplay |
cosplayers |
Art Print Magazine style |
Black Window cosplay |
Planet ComiCon Kansas City, Bartle Hall (2021) |
| john ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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