Black Gate

Way back in 2010, Black Gate photog Chris Z suggested we check out the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con. This was by no means a new event in our fair city. In fact, the Chicago Comic Con was first held at the Playboy Towers Hotel (yes, that Playboy) in 1972. Wizard World, original publishers of the famous Wizard Magazine, purchased the event in 1996, giving it nationwide publicity and eventually expanded to host similar events in nearly twenty cities. By 2011 it was the largest convention of its kind in Chicago, and though it wasn’t strictly in the idiom of GCN, the show runners were gracious and granted us press passes that year. It turned out to be one of our favorite events and we have covered it every year since.

Like so many other businesses, the entertainment convention industry took a huge hit during the covid-19 pandemic. Even the biggest comic convention in the world, San Diego Comic-Con, which is run by a non-profit organization that also runs WonderCon, admitted the lack of live events during 2020 put a huge burden on the company’s finances. By 2021 Wizard World had cut back their conventions to six including Philadelphia, New Orleans, Portland, Cleveland, and St. Louis. Luckily Chicago remained as well since by now the people we met at this event were the sources of ongoing GCN content throughout the year. However, in August 2021 Wizard World announced they would be selling the convention events business to FAN EXPO.

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The fabulousness that is the Halloween season does not simply appear on October 1st. Much like Christmas décor in September, the haunt season needs a good long runway, with the primary difference being that we aficionados don’t normally start blasting Monster Mash while temperatures are still in the 80’s. No, our lot is slightly more subtle. When we start getting all spooky in the summertime, we do it in private at events like the Midwest Haunters Convention.

The MHC is the largest Halloween show of its kind in the US, dedicated to all Halloween lovers; actors, enthusiasts, home/pro haunters, makeup artists and special effects creators. MHC is part of the TransWorld family of events and organizers of the largest professional haunt show in the country, the Halloween and Attractions Show which takes place in the early part of each year in St. Louis. However, unlike the earlier show, MHC is open to the public, and Black Gate photog Chris Z and I were once again lucky enough to score an invitation to this year’s event at the Rosemont Convention Center outside of Chicago.

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Last Friday, Goth Chick photog Chris Z and I once again had the pleasure of a press invitation to the annual Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (or C2E2 for you cool kids). If you haven’t heard of this event, C2E2 is a Chicago fan convention dedicated to comics, pop culture, graphic novels ,video games, toys, movies, and television.

The inaugural C2E2 was held in 2010 at the McCormick Place in Chicago and hosted roughly twenty-eight thousand people over three days. Thirteen years later and according to our inside sources, all three individual days were sold out, as well as the three-day passes. Though C2E2 show runners have been tight-lipped these last few years as to attendance numbers, estimations I’ve been able to gather put the total in the 110K neighborhood for 2023, making C2E2 in the top five largest comic conventions in the US.

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Two weekends ago, Chicago’s largest convention space, McCormick Center, played host to over 100K attendees to the 12th annual Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2 for you cool kids), and I am once again reminded why Chicago ranks in the top cities for people-watching. Amidst the oodles of MCU, Star Wars, and anime merchandise, aisles of comic illustrators (many of whom appeared to have a near cult-like following) and celebrity autograph queues, mingled individuals who seemed to have ample expendable income for use on high-end costumes.

Though the mother of all cosplay costume contests occurred on Saturday (the Cosplay Central Crown Championships), it didn’t stop the Friday attendees from turning out. In fact, we learned that plenty folks have 3-day passes and appear in a different persona each day. And though I could have easily grabbed a spot on the floor opposite the entrance and spent the day people-peeping, Black Gate photog Chris Z and I waded in with the rest of the press at the opening bell on Friday morning.

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Last week I told you all about the adventures Black Gate photog Chris Z and I had on the Haunted House Bus Tour which was the appetizer for the Midwest Haunters Convention. The MHC, held in Chicago in early June, is the largest Halloween show of its kind in the US, targeted at haunt actors, attraction owners, home haunters and Halloween enthusiasts, making it the place to be for all aficionados of scary stuff.

Unlike a lot of shows we cover for Black Gate, the MCH is open to the public and we met attendees from all over North America, which helped explain why my favorite season is a $10B+ annual money spinner.

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I’m going to go ahead and say it, because I know you’re thinking it. Yes, its only June and yes, there are a solid four months until Halloween.

But all the spooky wonderfulness that pops up in the month of October doesn’t materialize overnight. Nope, it requires months of planning, therefore making it necessary for Black Gate Photog Chris Z and I tool around the Midwest wracking up enormous expense reports to bring you news from this incredible unseen world; a world which is moving year-round, and ultimately generates $10B plus annually in the US alone (NRF, 2021).

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