The inaugural edition of Comicpalooza took place on June 19, 2008 in the lobby of Houston’s Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. It coincided with the release of Christopher Nolan’s film The Dark Knight (the second part of The Dark Knight Trilogy). The event wasn’t very large scale. It featured a handful of events dedicated to The Dark Knight premiere and several tables with local comic book artists.
Despite its modest programming, the first Comicpalooza was a success so the organizers decided to hold it annually and expand to a two-day event. The next year the convention moved to West Oak Mall. The second edition featured a line-up of comic and animation guests such as comic book author David W. Mack, cartoonist Terry Moore, comic book artist Tom Hodges, author Mat Johnson, and multimedia artist Dirk Strangely. The event attracted around 3,000 attendees.
In 2010, Comicpalooza became a three-day event and moved to the George R. Brown Convention Center where it has been held ever since. Originally focused exclusively on comics, its program expanded to include science fiction, fantasy, steam punk, horror and other genres. The highlights of the convention included a three-day film festival, live DJ room, a costume contest, numerous panels with comic and media guests, a Magic: The Gathering tournament, and cockpit simulators. The next year Comicpalooza featured anime for the first time.
With an audience of over 40,000, today’s Comicpalooza is the largest multi-genre pop culture convention in Texas and one of the most popular events of its kind in the Southwest. Its offers more than 3,000 hours of programming catering to interests as diverse as science fiction and fantasy, science and technology, Japanese fashion and culture, comics and gaming. Some of the most exciting activities at the convention include a film festival, a literary conference, video game tournaments, cosplay competitions, and more.
Photo: comicpalooza.com
