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MegaCon
StatusActive
GenreSpeculative fiction (form of COMICON)
VenueOrange County Convention Center
Location(s)Orlando, Florida
CountryUnited States
Inaugurated1993
Most recentongoing
Attendance>100,000 in May 2016[1]
Organized byInforma Canada Inc.
Websitewww.megaconvention.com

MegaCon, short for Mega Convention, is a large speculative fiction convention that caters to the comic book, sci-fi, anime, fantasy, and gaming communities, often occurring in spring at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

History

The first comic book convention held in the Orlando area was OrlandoCon, held annually from 1974 to c. 1994. Regular guests included C. C. Beck, Floyd Gottfredson, and Hal Foster.

MegaCon was founded by James Breitbiel and first held in 1993.[2] The convention was acquired by the Tampa-based publisher CrossGen in 1999,[3] with Elizabeth Widera brought on to run the show in 2000.[3] (Breitbiel became CrossGen's Marketing and Distribution Director.) During this period, from 2000 to 2003, MegaCon heavily promoted CrossGen products and creators, to the frustration of some other exhibitors and attendees,[citation needed] although the show itself grew and thrived.[4]

In late 2003, Widera purchased the convention from the failing CrossGen, which was restructuring[4] (the publisher went bankrupt in 2004). Widera, who is a board member of the comics charity The Hero Initiative, currently runs the show along with her daughter Christine Alger.[2]

In September 2008, MegaCon headquarters moved from Safety Harbor to Live Oak, Florida, although the actual convention remains in Orlando.[5]

In 2009, in addition to the main show, held February 27–March 1, convention organizers produced a "mini-MegaCon" held August 22–23, the only one to date, featuring a number of actors from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show.[6]

On April 7, 2015, it was announced that MegaCon had been sold to Informa Canada Inc.. The con now operates under the auspices of Informa's Fan Expo group, which also runs Fan Expo Canada, Fan Expo Dallas, and Fan Expo Boston.[7][8] Following Megacon 2015 it was announced that for the first time Megacon will be extended to 4 days in 2016.[9] Shortly after Megacon 2016, Megacon Tampa Bay was announced for October 28–30.[10]

The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially planned to be held April 16–19 and June 4–7, it was replaced by a smaller "limited edition" "mini-MegaCon" with the next main event to be held on March 18–21, 2021.[11]

Dates and guests

Dates Official guests Notes
Spring 1993
Spring 1994
Spring 1995 Gil Kane, Dick Giordano, and Howard Chaykin
Spring 1996
March 15–16, 1997 J. Michael Straczynski and Peter David[12]
March 13–15, 1998 Stephen Furst and Robin Atkin Downes Held at the Orlando Expo Center
March 5–7, 1999
March 31-April 2, 2000 Stan Lee, Harlan Ellison and Joe Quesada
March 2–4, 2001 George Pérez, Mark Waid, Steve Epting, Rick Magyar, Scot Eaton, Andrew Hennessy, Wil Quintana, Barbara Kesel, Steve McNiven, Tom Simmons, Morry Hollowell, Bart Sears, Andy Smith, Michael Atiyeh, Ron Marz, Greg Land, Drew Geraci, Brandon Peterson, John Dell, Andrew Crossley, Jim Chuen, Don Hillsman II, and Caesar Rodriguez Show moves to the Orange County Convention Center
February 22–24, 2002 Guest of honor: Kevin Smith; other guests: George Pérez, Butch Guice, Mark Waid, Erin Gray, June Lockhart, David Prowse, Michonne Bourriague, Eugene Roddenberry Jr., Bob May, and Mark Rolston[13]
February 28–March 2, 2003 J. Scott Campbell, Scott McDaniel, Chuck Dixon, Frank Cho, George Pérez, Roy Thomas, Greg Land, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Robert Rodi, Bart Sears, Brian Pulido, and Adam Hughes
March 5–7, 2004 Kaare Andrews, Brian Michael Bendis, John Cassaday, Amanda Conner, Phil Jimenez, Andy Lee, Tony Lorenz, David W. Mack, James O'Barr, Jimmy Palmiotti, Walter Simonson, Craig Thompson, Skottie Young, Luis Amado, Tony Bedard, Jose Caraballo, Patrick Carlucci, Jim Cheung, Laura DePuy, Chuck Dixon, Steve Epting, Glenda Finkelstein, Jeff Johnson, Greg Land, Ron Marz, Stanley Morrison, Mike Perkins, Brandon Peterson, Justin Ponsor, Ariel Rivero, Tone Rodriguez, Steven Sanchez, Bart Sears, Josh Sullivan, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Allison Mack, Walter Koenig, Ken Foree, Brad Dourif, Noah Hathaway, Herbert Jefferson, Jr., Brian Thompson, Glenn Shadix, Marc Singer, Angela Cartwright, Bill Mumy, Virginia Hey, and Sid Haig
February 25–27, 2005 Mark Waid, Mike Deodato, George Pérez, Michael Avon Oeming, Chuck Dixon, Wilson Tortosa, Aaron Lopresti, Marv Wolfman, Ethan Van Sciver, Monte Moore, Phil Jimenez, Tone Rodriguez, Michael T. Gilbert, Roy Thomas, Dan Brereton, Allen Bellman, Gene Colan, George Tuska, Tommy Castillo, Andy Runton, Jinky Coronado, David Campiti, Lou Ferrigno, George Lowe, Richard Hatch, and Gil Gerard
February 24–26, 2006 Special guest: George Pérez; other guests: Sal Buscema, Bob Andelman, Mark Brooks, Tommy Castillo, Amanda Conner, Chuck Dixon, Steve Epting, Greg Land, Michael Lark, Laura Martin, Phil Noto, Jimmy Palmiotti, Mike Perkins, Brandon Peterson, Brian Pulido, Andy Runton, Andy Smith, William Tucci, Ethan Van Sciver, Robert Venditti, John Schneider, Tony Amendola, Steve Bacic, Julie Benz, Jason Carter, Alexis Cruz, Mira Furlan, John Kassir, Clare Kramer, Cirroc Lofton, Mark Lutz, Scott McNeill, Chris Rankin, Tanya Roberts, Sean Schemmel, Tracy Scoggins, Marina Sirtis, and Jamie Yeates
February 16–18, 2007 David Finch, Darwyn Cooke, George Pérez, Andy Smith, Brian Pulido, Sean Astin, Lou Ferrigno, Virginia Hey, Bob May, David Hedison, and "Lois Lane" actresses Noel Neill and Margot Kidder Guests June Lockhart and Mark Goddard canceled
March 7–9, 2008 Jennie Breeden, Brian Clevinger, Amanda Conner, Caitlin Glass, Mark Goddard, Erin Gray, Neil Kaplan, June Lockhart, George Lowe, Cynthia Martinez, Peter Mayhew, Vic Mignogna, Paul Pelletier, Joe Quesada, Stan Sakai, William Tucci, and Mark Waid
February 27–March 1, 2009 Peter S. Beagle, Jim Cheung, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Aaron Dismuke, Lou Ferrigno, Caitlin Glass, Peter Mayhew, Vic Mignogna, George Moss, Aaron Pabon, Paul Pelletier, George Pérez, William Tucci, and Mark Waid 40,000 attendees[14]
August 22–23, 2009 Charisma Carpenter, Emma Caulfield, Amber Benson, and Adam Busch[6] "mini-MegaCon"
March 12–14, 2010 Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, Lea Thompson, Claudia Wells, Nichelle Nichols, Jeremy Bulloch, and Peter Mayhew
March 25–27, 2011 Stan Lee, William Shatner, and Jimmy Palmiotti 45,000 in attendance [2]
February 17–19, 2012 Amanda Conner, Chuck Dixon, Paul Gulacy, Phil Hester, Rob Hunter, Dan Jurgens, Jimmy Palmiotti, George Pérez, Stephane Roux, Frank Tieri, Tim Townsend, William Tucci, Ethan Van Sciver, and Zeb Wells
March 15–17, 2013 Media guests included the entire Star Trek: The Next Generation cast: Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Denise Crosby, John De Lancie and Wil Wheaton, and Daniel Stewart; other guests included: Lou Ferigno, David Prowse, Jeremy Bulloch, Paul Blake, Vic Mignogna, Tara Strong, Morgan Gendel, Arne Starr, Dean Cain, Larry Nemecek, Gigi Edgley, and James and Oliver Phelps. Comic book guests included: Ed McGuinness, Mark Bagley, Frank Cho, Bob Layton, Mike Perkins, Michael Lark, Neal Adams, Mark Waid, Chris Claremont, Mike Choi, Andrew Robinson, Steve Epting, Andy Price, Doug Sneyd, José Delbo, Matteo Scalera, Steve McNiven, Michael Atiyeh, Jimmy Cheung, George Pérez, Gail Simone, Mike McKone, Dave Johnson, Dan Panosian, Brian Pulido, Brandon Peterson, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Billy Tucci, Georges Jeanty, Tim Townsend, Frenchy and the Punk and Craig Boldman
March 21–23, 2014 Stan Lee, John Barrowman, Torchwood’s Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd, Manu Bennett, Karl Urban, The Walking Dead's David Morrissey, Danai Gurira, Stephen Yeun, Emily Kinney, and Sonequa Martin-Green, Buffy's Eliza Dushku and James Marsters, Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Battlestar Galacticas's Herbert Jefferson, Jr. and Anne Lockhart, Smallville's Allison Mack, John Glover and Laura Vandervoort, Wil Wheaton, Jon Heder, Jason David Frank, Ivy DoomKitty, Bryan Johnson, Comic Book Men's Ming Chen and Mike Zapcic, Matt Senreich, Robot Chicken's Zeb Wells and Tom Root, Peter Mayhew, Vic Mignogna, Jennifer Hale, George Lowe, Phil Lamarr, Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Quinton Flynn, Richard Horvitz, Tom Kane, and Arne Starr 80,000 attendees [2]
April 10–12, 2015 Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Alex Kingston, Cary Elwes, Clifton Collins Jr., Danielle Panabaker, David Della Rocco, David Ramsey, Hulk Hogan, Jeremy Shada, Karen Gillan, Lou Ferrigno, Mark Boone Jr., Michael Rooker, Milo Ventimiglia, Norman Reedus, Olivia Olson, Robbie Amell, Sean Patrick Flanery, Stan Lee, Summer Glau, Tony Curran, George Pérez, Ed McGuiness, Mike Perkins, Marv Wolfman, Allen Bellman, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Frank Cho, Ethan Van Sciver, Andy Smith, Darwyn Cooke, Drew Geraci, Rob Hunter, Katie Cook, Bob Layton, Chuck Dixon, Andy Price, Mike Lilly, Sean Chen, Greg Horn, Dan Parent, Sergio Cariello, Billy Tucci, Brian Pulido, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Callies, Ron Perlman, Jenna Coleman, Arthur Darvill, Grey DeLisle, Troy Baker, Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, Tress MacNeille [15]
May 26–29, 2016 Stan Lee, Frank Miller, William Shatner, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Kevin Smith, John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, Hayley Atwell, Adam West, Burt Ward, Jason Isaacs, Tom Felton, James and Oliver Phelps, Ming-Na Wen, Anthony Daniels, Katie Cassidy, Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Vivica A. Fox, and Curtis Armstrong.[16] First to reach over 100,000 guests
October 28–30, 2016 (Tampa Bay) David Tennant, Billie Piper, Henry Winkler, Matthew Lewis, Graham McTavish, Brett Dalton, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Kevin Sussman, Wallace Shawn, Kevin Sorbo, Will Friedle, Mitch Pileggi, and Verne Troyer.[17] debut of MegaCon Tampa Bay
May 25–28, 2017 (Orlando) Stan Lee, Richard Dean Anderson, Brent Spiner, Alice Cooper, Meat Loaf, James Marsters, Tim Curry, Ian Somerhalder, Famke Janssen, Tom Cavanagh, Caity Lotz, Danielle Panabaker, Eliza Dushku, Matthew Lewis, Felicia Day, Jeri Ryan, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Elyes Gabel, Gina Torres, Tom Wilson, Ray Park, Spencer Wilding, Barry Bostwick, John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Catherine Bach
Sept 29–Oct 1, 2017 (Tampa Bay) Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, John Barrowman, James Marsters, Alex Kingston, Katie Cassidy, Ruth Connell, Zach Callison, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, William Shatner, Ian Somerhalder
May 24–27, 2018 (Orlando) Jeff Goldblum, Lucy Lawless, Jason Momoa, Stephen Moyer, Norman Reedus, Elijah Wood, Amy Acker, Alexa Bliss, John Cena, Charlie Cox, Michael Cudlitz, William B Davis, Keir Dullea, Cary Elwes, Joe Flanigan, Annabeth Gish, Amy Jo Johnson, Gary Lockwood, China McClain, Jennifer Morrison, Shinsuke Nakamura, Mitch Pileggi, Paul Reubens, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, Jewel Staite, Braun Strowman, Joonas Suotamo, Catherine Tate, Billy Dee Williams, Cress Williams, Nafessa Williams
Sept 21–23, 2018 (Tampa Bay) Manu Bennett, Peter Capaldi, Jonny Cruz, John de Lancie, Michael Dorn, Jason David Frank, Summer Glau, Ali Hillis, Pearl Mackie, David Mazouz, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Sean Pertwee, James and Oliver Phelps, Marina Sirtis
May 16–19, 2019 (Orlando) Christopher Lloyd, John Barrowman, Jason David Frank, Tom Wilson, Will Friedle, Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson , James Tolkan, Peter Weller, Zachary Levi, Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, David Tennant, Mike Colter, Tyler Hoechlin
Oct 30–Nov 1, 2020 "mini-MegaCon" planned after cancellation of the 2 dates for the main 2020 event.
April 16–19, 2020
June 4–7, 2020
Mar 18–21, 2021

Events

Events include the Indy Film Festival, annual cosplay/costume contests, all-genre costume contest, panels, and rave dances. MegaCon also offers attendees the option of game playing. Current game systems offered are Dungeons & Dragons living campaigns, Living Forgotten Realms, Pathfinder Society and Legends of the Shining Jewel. Other non-campaign role playing games are offered. Magic: The Gathering is also offered in a card room, and board and strategic games are often on the dealer floor.

Since 2001, MegaCon has also been the location of the long-running "Paranoia LIVE!"[18] LARP, based on Mongoose Publishing's Paranoia.

Awards

In 2007, MegaCon hosted the first live presentation of the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards.[19]

In August 2008 MegaCon announced that it would host the first inaugural Project Fanboy Awards ceremony, awarding authors, writers and publishers with honors voted on by Internet users on the Project Fanboy website.[20] The Project Fanboy Awards are now an ongoing event.

References

  1. ^ Carchidi, Jim (May 29, 2016). "MegaCon 2016 raises the bar for Orlando's convention future". Orlando Business Journal.
  2. ^ a b c d Walt, Andra (February 13, 2012). "Owner/Director Beth Widera of Orlando's MegaCon Stops by InvestComics". InvestComics.
  3. ^ a b Weiland, Jonah. "Battling Conventions? Talking with the NY Comic Con and MegaCon Organizers," Comic Book Resources (June 10, 2005).
  4. ^ a b "CrossGen Sells MegaCon To the Show's Director," ICv2 (November 19, 2003).
  5. ^ "MegaCon Headquarters move to Live Oak, FL" (Press release). MegaCon official website. Archived from the original on May 28, 2009.
  6. ^ a b Chien, Philip (2009). "MegaCon". NeatInformation.com. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
  7. ^ Dineen, Caitlin (April 7, 2015). "Orlando's MegaCon sold to Informa". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  8. ^ Mantei, Shelley (April 9, 2015). "Informa Exhibitions Expands Pop Culture Convention Portfolio With MegaCon Orlando" (PDF) (Press release). Orlando, Florida: Fan Expo HQ. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  9. ^ Busdeker, Jon (April 13, 2016). "MegaCon 2016: Convention extended to four days next year". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  10. ^ Pavlinskaya, Anastasia (June 10, 2016). "MegaCon Orlando: Fantasy and Fandom". Knight News. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  11. ^ Carter, Ashley. "MegaCon Orlando 2020 Canceled Amid Coronavirus Pandemic". Spectrum News 13. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  12. ^ "Spotlight," Orlando Sentinel (14 Mar 1997), p. 43.
  13. ^ Szadkowski, Joseph. "The keen and obscene at Florida's MegaCon," Washington Times (09 Mar 2002), p. B02.
  14. ^ "Convention calendar," Orlando Sentinel (Mar. 13, 2009).
  15. ^ "MEGACON RETURNS APRIL 10-12, 2015". Orange County Convention Center. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  16. ^ "Fans unite at MegaCon 2016 in Orlando". Florida Today. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  17. ^ O'Reilly, Sean (2016-10-28). "MegaCon Tampa Bay features celebrity guests, comic book creators and cosplay events". WFTS. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  18. ^ Paranoia LIVE!
  19. ^ "MegaCon Convention". MegaCon Convention. Archived from the original on 2007-02-03. hosting the 6th annual Web Cartoonist Awards. After six years of growing, world-wide popularity, the WCCAs will, for the first time ever, be presenting the 2007 winners at a live ceremony.
  20. ^ Project Fanboy Awards to be announced at MegaCon Archived May 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
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