A Long Time Ago….
Almost exactly one year ago to be exact, I attended Louisiana Comic Con 2016. Due to real life, surprises, scheduled events, and all out chaos, the very same convention became my first within a year’s time. Now, I didn’t forget that I attended Calcasieu Serial Fest just a few weeks ago, but I don’t consider that particular event a convention. It’s a festival, a celebration of all things cliffhanger (and I highly recommend you attend next year). Louisiana Comic Con, on the other hand, isn’t as niche-focused. Nope, it’s a celebration of all things geek, and the 2017 edition was just as fun as last year’s event.
Last year’s event featured the Library Bards, and I managed to get a peck on the helmet from Bonnie Gordon (pictured above)! That alone made 2016 a pretty special event, so 2017 had to blow the roof off of the Cajundome! In all fairness, though, a kiss from Bonnie is pretty tough to beat, so I went into this year’s event with the hope that I’d at least have a lot of fun. I did.
A few months ago, it was announced that Shannon Purser (poor Barb from Stranger Things) would be attending the convention. Since I’m a pretty big fan of that show, and really loved Barb, I was excited to attend the event. Unfortunately she had to cancel because of some awards show (The Emmy Awards or something **sarcasm activate!**) and couldn’t make it. While it broke my heart that my favorite best friend in all of TV history wasn’t going to be able to be at the event, I totally understood why she would be absent.
Just a few days after her cancellation, though, Louisiana Comic Con upped the ante and announced Sean Astin as her replacement. I basically grew up watching this guy grow up on the big screen, so I was excited to see that he was added to the show. Along with him were a number of other screen and voice actors including Barry Bostwick, Jason David Frank, Michael Biehn, Cherami Leigh, and Tiffany Vollmer. Also in attendance were pro wrestler Jake “The Snake” Roberts, legendary screenwriter John Russo, multiple cosplayers, and comic artists such as Rob Guillory and Greg Burnham. There were many more guests in attendance as well.
I arrived at the event around 9:30 on Saturday morning. There were two lines. One was for those that had prepaid and already had their tickets and the other was for those of us who had to purchase tickets on site. Despite being rather long, the line for “day of” purchasers moved quickly (as it did last year). Once I got inside the venue, it was reasonably crowded, but with plenty of elbow room to go mobile when needed. The Spidey Team, Krewe du Moon (a Sailor Moon fan/cosplay group), the 501st (Star Wars fan group), and other fan groups lined the hallway. Corporate sponsors like 106.3 Radio Lafayette were also on hand.
My friends from Orion’s Envy were also at the event and I finally got to check in with them for the first time in a year. It was good to see them in full force once again! There were also a number of excellent costumes on display at the event. Everybody from Deadpool to Eric Cartman was represented to varying skill levels. Some of my favorites included Aquaman, Harley Quinn, and the soon-to-be-legendary Batfam (in my featured photo). It also looked as if the vendors were doing nicely on the main floor as well. Toys and t-shirts were prevalent, but there were also plenty of comics vendors, custom item vendors, and Man Made Soap on hand with plenty of wares to purchase.
There were also some excellent panels at the convention. I attended a few of them and one of my favorites was “Basics of Modding A Nerf Gun For Steampunk with Cajun Moon Creations.” Miss OoLaLa, Brigette Rose, was there for the assist.
I was unable to attend the After Party on Saturday evening, and life called me back for Sunday, so I was only able to attend one day of Louisiana Comic Con. With that said, though, I’ll definitely be back next year! Be sure to click on the links to read about last year’s event and to show a little support to the Louisiana-based artists and cosplayers I mentioned in the post. Also, feel free to share this post with anybody that I might have talked about here. I’d love for them to know that this little nobody showed them some love.
As always, thanks for reading. I don’t want to commit myself to any upcoming conventions at the moment, but I REALLY want to make it to at least two events that are coming up next year. Those events are CyPhaCon and Southern Geek Fest. As we get closer to those events, I’ll definitely post about them. Until next time, stay hungry my friends!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 