The Comic Media Expo took place October 17th at the Mesa Convention Center in Mesa, Arizona. This was the first year of the convention, and albeit a small convention, it really did aim to please.

The very first thing I noticed upon arrival to the convention center was an absolutely astonishing number of people in Cosplay. It seemed that two out of every three people were dressed up. Even some of the vendors were in costume.

The convention spaceDante-Basco-Banner was rather small, but what it lacked in size it made up for in content. It had a slew of great panels to attend and a ton of great vendors and artists. For a convention of this size, the guest list was pretty astounding and thoughtfully picked. It had just about something for everyone. There were great voice actors like Dante Basco (The Last Airbender) and Janet Varney (Legend of Korra). For fans of online programming, it had Sandeep Parikh and Amy Okuda from The Guild and YouTube sensation SSSniperwolf. For us comic book fans there were great guests like Jay Fotos and the legendary  Marv Wolfman. For the insane amount of cosplayers in the building, two of the Heroes of Cosplay were in attendance in Riki “Riddle” Lecotey and Monika Lee.Riddle-Banner

One of the things I enjoyed the most was the abundance of original artworks and handmade products that the vendors all had. I was able to see great pieces from pop art Spider-man posters to an Iron Man pendulum clock. There were not quite as many comic book vendors as I would of like, but the few that were in attendance had treasure troves of great books.

For an initial offering of a small convention, they did an outstanding job. I am already excited to see what they have in store for next year.

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