Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, and a broader use of the term "cosplay" applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Favorite sources include anime, cartoons, comic books, manga, television series, rock music performances, video games and in some cases original characters. The term is composed of the two aforementioned counterparts – costume and role play.
MegaCon, short for Mega Convention, is a large speculative fiction convention that caters to the comic book, sci-fi, anime, fantasy, RPG, and gaming communities, often occurring in spring at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The convention is the largest fan convention event in the Southern United States and second largest in North America with an attendance of 190,000 recorded in 2024.
The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. With an attendance of 200,000 in 2022, it is North America's most attended fan convention.
Armageddon Expo is a New Zealand owned and operated pop culture convention that holds multiple events around New Zealand in cities including Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga and Christchurch. The event, run by Beyond Reality Media Premier Event Management, has been running continuously since 1995. It has evolved from its roots of comics and trading cards to showcase computer and video gaming, animation, film and television, cosplay, comics, live wrestling, and retailers selling pop-culture merchandise.
Notable events of 2008 in comics.
Notable events of 1970 in comics.
London Film and Comic Con is a fan convention held annually in London that focuses on films, cult television, gaming, anime, cosplay and comics. It is organised by Showmasters Ltd.
Notable events of 2010 in comics. It includes any relevant comics-related events, deaths of notable comics-related people, conventions and first issues by title.
The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) is a Chicago fan convention dedicated to comics, pop culture, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television. The inaugural event was held April 16–18, 2010 at the McCormick Place in Chicago.
The MCM Comic Con London is a speculative fiction fan convention held at the ExCel London twice yearly since 2002, usually on the last weekend in May and October. The convention primarily focuses on comic books, video games, sci-fi, cosplay, anime and popular media.
Notable events of 2011 in comics. It includes any relevant comics-related events, deaths of notable comics-related people, conventions and first issues by title.
Comic Con India (CCI) is a series of annual comic-based conventions held in India. The first edition was held in New Delhi in 2011 and over the years has expanded to other major cities in India such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmadabad. There are annual comic cons now in all these cities. Cumulatively these five cities attract over 200,000 visitors with over 1200 exhibitors. Jatin Varma, the founder & managing director of Comic Con India, launched the first comic con in India in Delhi in 2011. Since 2014, Comic Con India has been conducted in collaboration with ReedPop, the organisers of the New York Comic Con and the MCM London Comic Con.
Fan Expo Chicago, is a comic book convention held during the summer in Rosemont, Illinois, United States, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. It was traditionally a three-day event, but in 2006, it expanded to four days. It was founded in 1972 as Nostalgia '72, Chicago Comic Con and later as the Chicago Comic and Nostalgia Convention by a local dealer named Nancy Warner.
L.A. Comic Con is a three-day multi-genre convention held annually in downtown Los Angeles, California. L.A. Comic Con is one of the largest independent conventions in the United States and encompasses several categories, including comic, horror, sci-fi, anime, gaming, and pop culture, with a particular focus on the local Los Angeles community.
Notable events of 2012 in comics. It includes any relevant comics-related events, deaths of notable comics-related people, conventions and first issues by title.
Notable events of 2013 in comics. It includes any relevant comics-related events, deaths of notable comics-related people, conventions and first issues by title. For an overview of the year in Japanese comics, see 2013 in manga.
The British Comic Art Convention was an annual British comic book convention which was held between 1968 and 1981, usually in London. The earliest British fan convention devoted entirely to comics, it was also the birthplace of the Eagle Awards.
Fan Expo Denver is a speculative fiction fan convention held annually in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. The event is a celebration of comics, books, movies, TV, gaming, and other pop culture.
Alamo City Comic Con (ACCC) is a pop culture convention that is annually held in downtown San Antonio, Texas, taking up the majority of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. ACCC brings top tier celebrities from the world of pop culture movies, TV, comics, video games and cosplay and is currently the largest convention in San Antonio as well as one of the largest events of its kind in the state of Texas. It is also one of the fastest-growing conventions in the United States, with approximately 73,000 attendees in 2014 and just over 78,000 in 2015. In 2014 director and producer Alejandro Cabrera followed and documented The Alamo City Comic Con and the surrounding community for his 2015 documentary, Syfytonians. The film was complete success locally and has credited for reinvigorating the company 2015 show turnover.
A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Comic book conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which publishers, distributors, and retailers represent their comic-related releases. Comic book conventions may be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s.
