What: San Diego Comic Con International 2016
When: Thursday, July 21 to Sunday, July 24, 2016
Where: San Diego Convention Center
Description:
Comic-Con International returns to the San Diego Convention Center in 2016, beginning with Preview Night on Wednesday, July 20, and running Thursday, July 21 through Sunday, July 24. 2016 marks the 47th year for the show, making it the country’s longest continuously-run comics and popular arts convention.
With attendance topping 130,000 in recent years in a convention center that has maxed out in space, the event has grown to include satellite locations, including hotels and parks. Many celebrity appearances, costume competitions, art installations, lectures, workshops, and the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival take place outside of the Convention Center, creating a campus-type feel for the convention in downtown San Diego.
To learn more about Comic-Con, go to www.comic-con.org.
Special Guests/Lineup:
This year’s lineup features some big names like Jason Aaron (Writer, Scalped, Star Wars, Thor), Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Writer/producer, Afterlife with Archie, Riverdale), Sergio Aragonés (Cartoonist, MAD, Groo), Derf Backderf (Writer/artist, Trashed, My Friend Dahmer), Mike Baron (Writer/co-creator, Nexus, Badger), Michael Barrier (Author/comics and animation historian, Funnybooks, Hollywood Cartoons), KateBeaton (Writer/artist, Step Aside, Pops; Hark! A Vagrant!), Emily Carroll (Writer/artist, Through the Woods), Jonathan Case (Writer/artist, The New Deal; artist, Green River Killer, Batman 66), Howard Chaykin (Writer/artist, American Flagg!, Star Wars), William Gibson (Author, Neuromancer, Peripheral, Archangel), Hidenori Kusaka (Writer, Pokémon Adventures), Stan Lee (Writer/editor/publisher, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man), Bjo Trimble (Author, Star Trek Concordance; Convention Organizer), John Trimble (Convention organizer), Satoshi Yamamoto (Artist, Pokémon Adventures) and more.
Comic-Con International’s 47nd Annual Masquerade – Costume Contest:
Comic-Con’s Saturday night big event is a unique evening of fun and amazing costume creations as the stage lights brighten, the music swells, and the huge audience that’s lined up hours in advance takes their seats for the annual costume competition. Not a dance nor party as the name might imply, it’s an onstage event in the style of a talent competition, with a Master of Ceremonies, a panel of guest judges, and impressive awards and generous prizes presented in assorted categories.
Why is it called a Masquerade and not simply a costume contest or fashion show? Because it’s more than just posing on stage, it’s about portraying characters too, creating moods, sometimes a sense of story. There can be bits of drama, comedy, lightsaber battles, even some song and dance, and you never know what’s going to appear on stage next. The Masquerade reminds us that the creative arts reside in all of us, that the arts are not meant to be just a spectator sport, and that among our attendees there is plenty of amazing talents and creativity worth showcasing. More than a few times over the years we’ve seen our contestants go on to professional costuming or related careers in the arts.
Beautiful Comic-Con awards, featuring our custom-created Comic-Con Masquerade medallions, will be presented in the categories of
- Best In Show
- Judges’ Choice
- Best Re-Creation
- Best Original Design
- Best Workmanship
- Most Humorous
- Most Beautiful
- Best Young Fan
Our award medallions were designed by fantasy artist and illustrator Sue Dawe, whose internationally published creations have been featured by the Franklin Mint, as well as on greeting cards, stationery, posters, porcelain statuettes, and more.
Any costumed entry winning one of the above Comic-Con award categories will also receive a FREE 4-day membership badge to our 2017 Comic-Con! If you’re a winning costume you’ll have your badge for 2017, Comic-Con’s extra thank you for all your hard work and talent! Badges are non-transferable; and if a group wins, up to four memberships will be given.
At the event there will be all kinds of events that can happen only at Comic Con: Costume contests, screening for movies that don’t have distribution, and QA sessions where artists and contributors from every arena in the entertainment industry can answer your personal questions regarding what they do. You can even get your favorite comic books and other memorabilia autographed by your idols and inspirations.
Come enjoy San Diego’s mild, sunny, gorgeous summer weather as the whole city is packed to the brim with like-minded people there to soak in the atmosphere and have some good clean fun.
