The Baltimore Comic Con, 2024 edition began Friday, September 20th (and runs through Sunday, September 22) with a special ceremony to commemorate the 25th annual gathering of comics business celebrities, writers, professional and independent artists, publishers, cosplay contest participants (which now occur across two days) and a giant showroom of vendors (hopefully having available that collectible comic, etc you've been looking for).
Things kicked off at 1 p.m. with a presentation by Baltimore Convention Center officials, City of Baltimore administrative officials, and the Baltimore Orioles mascot to recognize the hard work and efforts of Marc and Shelly Nathan every year for the past 25 years to make the Baltimore Comic Con the major event that it is. Nathan was presented several plaques and prints as a thank-you from the city, followed by a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to open the convention floor doors.
Marc Nathan gave a brief speech, noting that the Con has been held at the Baltimore Convention Center for 23 of its' past 25 comic-cons.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I've been attending the Baltimore Comic Con since 2000, which I believe was the second edition, held at a local hotel. Main guest that year was illustrator George Perez, who was previewing the DC vs. Marvel mini-series. The vendor room was small and the convention utilized no more than a few rooms. I also recall my first attendance at the Baltimore Convention Center in perhaps its' second year at this location. The convention only utilized the large vendor showroom and areas were partioned off for presentations, which sometimes made it difficult to hear. Today, the Baltimore Comic-Con utilizes two floors of the Convention Center, filling the showroom with guests (comics pros as well as media celebrities), an artist alley, exhibitors and retailers, and gameplay areas, etc.
MARC NATHAN, pictured at right
You won't find a larger gathering of comics writers and artists in one place, unless you can attend San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con. Here's just a sample of those who are here: Arthur Adams, Kaare Andrews, Rodney Barnes, Russ Braun, Mark Buckingham, Howard Chaykin, Frank Cho, Steve Conley, Amanda Corner, Rich Douek, Steve Epting, David Finch, Franco, Ron Garney, Mitch Gerards, Michael Golden, Gene Ha, Dean Haspiel, Mike Hawthorne, Jamal Ogle, Klaus Janson, Nikkol Jelenic, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Joelle Jones, Dan Jurgens, Tom King, Barry Kitson, Greg Land, Jae Lee, Jim Lee, Jeph Loeb, Ron Marz, Al Milgrom, Fabian Nicieza, Jerry Ordway, Jimmy Palmiotti, Dan Parent, Andrew Pepoy, Khoi Pham, Joe Pruett, Don Rosa, Liam Sharp, Walter and Louise Simonson, Don Simpson, Jim Starlin, Joe Staton, Arthur Suydam, Peter Tomasi, Billy Tucci, Robert Venditti, Mark Waid, Lee Weeks, Mark Wheatley, G. Willow Wilson and Rich Woodall.
So what else is going on this weekend? What's new or different than prior years? In addition to the meet and greet creator tables in the showroom, there as always is a wide assortment of panels in the presentation rooms on the third floor. All of them are very interesting, and each year I have to make some decisions as there are usually two panels I'm interested in going on at the same time. On Friday I attended the Bad Idea panel, and career reviews with Jeph Loeb and Dan Jurgens. I'll write about those in a separate article.
One thing I noted, which has been occurring over the past several years (since the Covid pandemic) is the absence of the bigger publishers. It began with the omission of Marvel and DC and in the following years more publishers declined to participate in Baltimore Comic-Con. It's not the fault of Baltimore Comic-Con. Due to increasing costs publishers are reluctant to participate in as many cons as previous and usually combine their forces for the biggest of the bigs, namely SDCC and NYCC. It continued with the smaller of the national publishers (Avatar, Dynamite, Valiant, etc) and then the others (Boom, IDW, Image, etc.)
The upside to that is that the small independent publishers get a chance to present their offerings to the public without competing with the distractions of the bigger publishers. This year, the national comic publishers in attendance are just five: Bad Idea, Red Stylo Media, Mad Cave Studios, Top Shelf Comix, and Zenescope Entertainment. However, there are plenty of indie comics publishers (sometimes just a one-person company, writer/artist/publisher) and this is the best place to get acquainted with interesting works that are too under-the-radar to find in most comic shops.
There are plenty of vendors here with vintage comics and recent back issues, as well as bargains. I picked up some trade paperbacks of interest for $5 each. Comics, Cards and Collectibles (Reistertown, MD - and Marc Nathan's shop) has a big display area in the center of the vendor area. There are also some notable absences that I will miss, offset by the first Baltimore Comic Con appearance of Groundbreaking Comics (doesn't have a physical shop, sells only at comic conventions) who have a gigantic assortment of books.
The other notable change is a new location for the RINGO AWARDS, from the Sheraton Inn beside the Convention Center to the Marriot Inner Harbor at Camden Yards.
At Left . . . I was too intimidated to buy anything from this guy's table.
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