2021 Comicpalooza Pre-con Hype!
Convention season in Houston has emerged from the cancellation-prone mire of the pandemic era and is picking up steam. Last weekend’s Houston Horror Film Fest gave local genre fans a taste of the camaraderie we remember from the before-times and now it’s time to prepare yourselves for the return of Comicpalooza! Houston’s largest festival celebrating pop-culture moved from its usual May timeframe to July 17-18, 2021. In the short time since making that announcement, the con’s organizers have worked hard to put together an enticing slate of celebrity guests to lure fans back to Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center. That, plus the top-notch panel programming AND the wallet-flattening vendors in the Exhibit Hall make this return to in-person convention attendance a can’t-miss for Texas-based pop-culture fans. Be sure to visit the Comicpalooza site for complete info on COVID safety concerns and up-to-date info on guests and programming.
Who Can You Expect To See?
Just updated today, here’s the list of celebrity guests available for pictures and autographs –
- David Ramsey – John Diggle from the Arrowverse
- Dominic Purcell – Mick Rory from the Arrowverse
- Danny Trejo – Machete from… well, Machete, Machete Kills, and of course Desperado, plus roles in Predators, the Spy Kids franchise, so freaking much really
- Giancarlo Esposito – Don’t you dare say “who’s that?!” He’s Gus Fring from Breaking Bad. He’s Moff Gideon from The Mandalorian. Plus a lot more than that. THAT’s who he is.
- Tati Gabrielle – From The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
- Gavin Leatherwood – From The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
- Mark-Paul Gosselaar – Zach from Saved by the Bell and Wolgast from The Passage
- Mario Lopez – Slater from Saved by the Bell
- Martin Kove – John Kreese, the evil sensei from The Karate Kid franchise and the evil sensei with #reasons from Cobra Kai
- Ron Perlman – Clay Morrow from Sons of Anarchy, Hellboy from GDR’s Hellboy movies (those are the good ones), plus so much more
- Michael Rosenbaum – Lex Luthor from Smallville
- Katee Sackhoff – Kara “Starbuck” Thrace from Battlestar Galactica, Vic Moretti from Longmire, and Bo-Katan from The Mandalorian, Rebels, and The Clone Wars
- Carl Weathers – Apollo freaking Creed from Rocky I-III, Chubs from Happy Gilmore, Greef Carga from The Mandalorian
- Ming-na Wen – Mulan from Mulan, Agent May from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fennec Shand from The Mandalorian and the new The Book of Boba Fett. If none of those roles register, you might be reading the wrong article – we tend to focus on pop culture here, and an actress that’s been a Disney princess, a Marvel secret agent, and a Star Wars bounty hunter ranks -pretty- high on our “awesome” meter.
You will also have the chance to meet comic creators, professional wrestlers, anime voice actors, and authors, such as:
- Donny Cates – comic creator
- Ariel Diaz – comic creator
- Matt Hawkins – comic creator
- Ryan Stegman – comic creator
- Ming Chen – comic enthusiast
- Britt Baker – wrestler
- William “Christian” Jason Reso – wrestler
- Christopher Sabat – Vegeta and Picollo from the Dragonball series
- Sean Schemmel – Goku from the Dragonball series
- Preston Fassel – author
What Can you expect to Do:
- Exhibit Hall – Shopping, eating, laser-tag, cosplay watching
- Anime Track – Voice actors, art, discussion, otaku culture
- Comics Track – Comic creators, comic career panels, comic storycraft discussion
- Cosplay Track – Cosplay contest, Kid’s contest, Cosplay techniques, 501st Legion Meetup
- Electronic Gaming Track – Game systems to play
- Literature Conference – Panels with working authors, storytelling techniques, discussions of genre works (Discworld, Harry Potter)
- Kids Stuff – Kid’s Cosplay Contest, kids library, trivia contests
- Tabletop Gaming – Gaming space, Gamemasters running Pathfinder and Starfinder, Ultimate Werewolf