Motor City Comic Con

The Motor City Comic Con is a fan convention held in Novi, Michigan, United States, at the Suburban Collection Showplace. It is traditionally a three-day event (Friday through Sunday), usually held in May of each year. The Motor City Comic Con was founded in 1989 by comics retailer Michael Goldman.

Motor City Comic Con
Status	Active
Genre	Speculative fiction
Venue	Dearborn Civic Center (1989–1998) Novi Expo Center (1994–2004) Rock Financial Showplace/Suburban Collection Showplace (2005–present)
Location(s)	Novi, Michigan
Country	United States
Inaugurated	1989
Attendance	50,000 (2015)[1]
Organized by	Motor City Conventions
Filing status	for-profit
Website	www.motorcitycomiccon.com

Though it primarily focuses on comic books, the convention features a large range of pop culture elements, such as film actors, professional wrestling, science fiction/fantasy, film/television, animation, anime, manga, toys, horror, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels. Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming feature films, portfolio review sessions with top comic book and video game companies, and such evening events as a costume contest. Traditional events include gaming and hours of other programming on all aspects of comic books and pop culture.

The Motor City Comic Con features a large floorspace for exhibitors. These include media companies such as movie studios and TV networks, as well as comic-book dealers and collectibles merchants. Like most comics conventions, the show includes an autograph area, as well as the Artists' Alley where comics artists can sign autographs and sell or do free sketches. Despite the name, Artists' Alley can include writers and even glamour models.^[2]

History

Southfield, Michigan, comic book retailer Michael Goldman, owner of Motor City Comics,^[3] staged the first Motor City Comic Con at the Dearborn Civic Center^[4] in 1989. Antecedents to the Motor City Comic Con include the seminal multi-genre convention the Detroit Triple Fan Fair which was held annually in the Detroit area from 1965 to 1978;^[5] and Gary Reed's King Kon, held in the area from 1984 to 1986.

Show promoter Goldman brought on Gary Bishop in 1989 to manage the convention;^[4][6] Bishop worked for Motor City Conventions until 2007.^{[citation needed]} From 1992–1998, the Motor City Comic Con was the site of the Compuserve Comics and Animation Forum's Don Thompson Awards (also known as the Thompsons). From 1993–2004, the convention was held twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. Typically the larger three-day spring convention was held in Novi and the smaller two-day fall show was held at the Dearborn Civic Center.

The fall 1998 show hosted the convention's fourth annual Red Cross blood drive and the seventh annual charity art auction to benefit of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. By this point, the Motor City Comic Con had raised nearly $35,000 to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.^{[citation needed]} In 1999, Goldman claimed the Motor City Comic Con was the third-largest comic convention in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

By 2003, the most popular elements of the Motor City Comic Con were the appearances of celebrities from the world of film, television, and other media; rather than the comic book creators who were the namesake of the show.^[7] (This mirrored the situation at other so-called comic book conventions nationwide.)

In fall 2005, after many years of being held at the Novi Expo Center, the facility closed and the convention moved to the newly built Rock Financial Showplace (later renamed the Suburban Collection Showplace).

In 2010, Motor City Comic Con scheduled a fall component to its show for the weekend of October 30–31. That same weekend was the debut of the new show Detroit Fanfare; Motor City Comic Con changed its fall show to November 20–21,^[8] and later canceled the fall 2010 show altogether.^[9]

The 2020 edition of the show was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[10]

The 2021 edition was held in October of that year, but COVID precautions were put in place so guests, VIPs, and artists would be safer until the pandemic began to slow down. The 2022 edition would be held back in its original month of May.

Dates and locations

Dates	Location	Official guests	Notes
1989	Dearborn Civic Center[4]		2,500 attendees[4]
February 17–18, 1990	Dearborn Civic Center	Erik Larsen, Gary Kwapisz, Jeff Albrecht, John Ostrander, Kim Yale, Marshall Rogers, Matt Feazell, Mike Grell, Norm Breyfogle, Rob Liefeld, and Tim Dzon	Admission $4 each day; $7 for the weekend
1991
1992
Fall 1993			Program booklet cover by Tom Morgan
March 25–27, 1994	Novi Expo Center, Novi, Michigan		Program booklet cover by Rich Buckler and Sheldon Moldoff
October 1–2, 1994	Dearborn Civic Center		Program booklet cover by Dick Sprang and Whilce Portacio
Spring 1995			Program booklet cover by Brian Murray
October 7–8, 1995	Dearborn Civic Center		Program booklet cover by Franchesco
March 22–24, 1996[11]	Novi Expo Center		Program booklet cover by David W. Mack and Sheldon Moldoff
October 12–13, 1996	Dearborn Civic Center		Program booklet cover by Jim Mooney
March 21–23, 1997[12]	Novi Expo Center		Program booklet cover by Rob Prior
October 11–12, 1997	Dearborn Civic Center		Program booklet cover by Kirk Jarvinen and Randy Zimmerman
May 15–17, 1998[13][14]	Novi Expo Center		Program booklet cover by Will Eisner
October 10–11, 1998	Dearborn Civic Center	Kyle Hotz, Guy Davis, Vince Locke, Rob Prior, David W. Mack, Mike Okamoto, Franchesco, Scott Rosema, Randy Zimmerman, Jason Moore, Susan Van Camp, William Messner-Loebs, Mark Crilley, Joe Jusko, David Quinn, Dan Brereton, Lurene Haines, James Robinson, James O'Barr, Matt Feazell, Ken Gale, Mercy Van Vlack, Dan Mishkin, Timothy Truman, Adam Hughes, Joe Chiodo, and John Hollis	$8/day; program booklet cover by Joe Chiodo
May 14–16, 1999	Novi Expo Center		Program booklet cover by Joe Kubert and Sheldon Moldoff
October 23–24, 1999	Novi Expo Center	David W. Mack, Tim Vigil, David Quinn, Vincent Locke, Jill Thompson, John Ostrander, Guy Davis, Mark Waid, Devin Grayson, and William Messner-Loebs	Program booklet cover by David Finch and Joe B. Weems
May 19–21, 2000	Novi Expo Center	James Doohan	Program booklet cover by D-Tron, Andy Park, and J. D. Smith
October 21–22, 2000	Novi Expo Center	Dick Ayers, Terri Boyle, Frank Brunner, Sal Buscema, Guy Davis, Dan DeCarlo, Franchesco, Cully Hamner, Adam Hughes, Georges Jeanty, Joseph Michael Linsner, Vince Locke, William Messner-Loebs, Jason Moore, James O'Barr, Mike Okamoto, David Quinn, Greg Rucka, Marie Severin, Brian Steelfreeze, Karl Story, Randy Zimmerman, and Bob May	Program booklet cover by Joseph Michael Linsner
May 18–20, 2001[15]	Novi Expo Center	Sergio Aragonés, Todd Dezago, David Finch, Franchesco, Andy Lee, Steve Lieber, Paul Jenkins, Jason Moore, James O'Barr, Michael Avon Oeming, Brian Pulido, Stan Sakai, Chris Sprouse, J. Michael Straczynski, Michael Turner, Randy Zimmerman, Murphy Anderson, Pam Bliss, Mark Crilley, Marshall Dillon, Dick Giordano, David W. Mack, Eddy Newell, Martin Nodell, Mike Okamoto, Diana Okamoto, Jim Ottaviani, Greg Rucka, Billy Tucci, and Chris Yambar	$15/day; program booklet cover by David W. Mack
November 17–18, 2001	Novi Expo Center	Aaron Bordner, Peter David, Guy Davis, Marshall Dillon, Vince Locke, Jason Moore, Mark Schultz, William Stout, Randy Zimmerman, Chase Masterson, Vaughn Armstrong, Julie Caitlin Brown, Jeremy Bulloch, Angus McGinnis, Garek Hagon, and Kenneth Colley
May 17–19, 2002	Novi Expo Center	Cindy Williams, Frank Cho, Guy Davis, Christopher Golden, Carmine Infantino, Joseph Michael Linsner, Vince Locke, Andy Lee, David W. Mack, Tom Mandrake, Dan Mishkin, Bill Morrison, Mike Okamoto, Scott Rosema, Thomas E. Sniegoski, Brian Stelfreeze, Roy Thomas, S. Clay Wilson, and Randy Zimmerman	14,000 attendees;[16] admission: $16 per day;[17] program booklet cover by Matt Groening
October 26–27, 2002	Novi Expo Center	Richard Herd, James Horan, Michael Edmunds, David Prowse, Shannon Baska, Glori Anne Gilbert, Patrick Bauchau, Jon Gries, and Richard Marcus	Program booklet cover by James O'Barr
May 16–18, 2003	Novi Expo Center[7]	Aaron Bordner, Mark Bode, Dan Brereton, Norm Breyfogle, Guy Davis, Dan Fogel, Frank Kelly Freas, Laura Freas, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Vince Locke, William Messner Loebs, James O'Barr, Jim Pitts, Paul Ryan, William Stout, Billy Tucci, Neil Vokes, and Larry Welz	15,000 attendees;[2] program booklet cover by William Stout
October 18–19, 2003	Novi Expo Center	Kurt Busiek, Andy Lee, and David W. Mack	Program booklet cover by Paul Ryan
May 14–16, 2004	Novi Expo Center[18]	Julie Benz, Erin Gray, Kate Jackson, Ron Perlman, and Alfonso Ribeiro	15th anniversary show;[18] program booklet by Dick Ayers and Greg Horn
October 16–17, 2004	Novi Expo Center	Dan Mishkin, Rowena Morrill, Bill Morrison, Stephanie Murnane, Eddy Newell, Diana Okamoto, Mike Okamoto, Mike Pascale, Scott Rosema, Steve Rude, Stan Sakai, Paul Sizer, Layne Toth, Daniel Webb, Bill Wilkinson, and Randy Zimmerman	Program booklet cover by Steve Rude
May 13–15, 2005	Novi Expo Center	Terry Austin, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, Mark Texeira, Billy Tucci, Guy Davis, Vince Locke, Scott Rosema, Randy Zimmerman, James O'Barr, Pam Bliss, Matt Feazell, Art Baltazar, Andy Bennett, Dave Aikins, Aaron Bordner, Bill Bryan, Kevin Leen, William Messner-Loebs, Carl Lundgren, Mick McArt, Eddy Newell, Diana Okamoto, Mike Okamoto, and Paul Sizer	Program booklet cover by Mark Sparacio, Mark Texeira, and Billy Tucci
October 15–16, 2005	Rock Financial Showplace	Dick Ayers, Mark Bode, Guy Davis, Dave Dorman, Al Feldstein, Ron Garney, Mike Grell, Paul Gulacy, Casey Jones, Trent Kaniuga, Ray Lago, Andy Lee, Vince Locke, William Messner-Loebs, David W. Mack, Brian Pulido, Don Rosa, Scott Rosema, Paul Ryan, Timothy Truman, and Randy Zimmerman
May 20–21, 2006	Rock Financial Showplace[19]	Adam West, Burt Ward, David Faustino, and Jerri Manthey[19]	Program booklet cover by Jim Steranko and Mark Sparacio
October 14–15, 2006	Rock Financial Showplace[20]	Guy Davis, William Messner-Loebs, James O'Barr, Ken Osmond, Robert Culp, Bill Daily, Lori Petty, and Michael Dorn[21]
May 18–20, 2007	Rock Financial Showplace	BarBara Luna,[22] Louis Gossett Jr.,[4] and Lou Ferrigno	Program booklet cover by Joe Corroney and Mark Sparacio
May 16–18, 2008	Rock Financial Showplace[23]	Robert Armstrong, Dick Ayers, Art Baltazar, Jeremy Bastian, Gary Scott Beatty, Pam Bliss, Matt Busch, Tommy Castillo, Chris Claremont, Guy Davis, Matt Feazell, Al Feldstein, David Finch, Gary Friedrich, Tony Gray, Ken Kelly, Robert Kraus, Vince Locke, William Messner-Loebs, David Petersen, Arthur Suydam, Billy Tan, Billy Tucci, Daniel Way, Bernie Wrightson, Chris Yambar, and Randy Zimmerman	Program booklet cover by Matt Busch and Marc Wolfe
May 15–17, 2009	Rock Financial Showplace	Art Baltazar, Dwayne McDuffie, Guy Davis, Carrie Fisher, John Schneider, Aaron Douglas, Michael Hogan, Kristy Swanson, Julie Newmar, Doug Jones, Catherine Bach, Garrett Wang, and Joyce DeWitt[24]
May 14–16, 2010	Rock Financial Showplace	Linda Blair, Lindsay Wagner, and Adam West
May 13–15, 2011	Suburban Collection Showplace	David Petersen, Tim Sale, George Takei, Brent Spiner, Kate Mulgrew, Tricia Helfer, Sam Huntington, and Ernie Hudson[25]	Program booklet cover by Keu Cha and Mark Sparacio
May 18–20, 2012	Suburban Collection Showplace	Billy Tucci, Mike Grell, Ethan Van Sciver, Peter Bagge, Joseph Lee, Nichelle Nichols, Colin Ferguson, Dean Cain, Loni Anderson, Howard Hesseman, Billy Dee Williams, Christopher Knight, Butch Patrick, and Erin Gray[26][27]	18,000 attendees
May 17–19, 2013	Suburban Collection Showplace	Comic Guests: Stan Lee, George Pérez, David Lloyd, Greg Horn, Katie Cook, Mark McKenna, Tony Moore, Kalman Andrasofszky, Simon Bisley, Carlos Pacheco, Ryan Stegman, Mike McKone, Tom Raney, Yanick Paquette, and Chris Sprouse; Media Guests: Alex Winter, Norman Reedus, Cary Elwes, Marina Sirtis, Edward James Olmos, Meaghan Rath, Colin Baker, Micky Dolenz, Curtis Armstrong, and Robert Carradine	30,000 attendees
May 16–18, 2014	Suburban Collection Showplace	William Shatner, Jason David Frank, Billy Zabka, Martin Kove, Burt Young, Milo Ventimiglia, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, The Nasty Boys, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Robert Hays, Kristanna Loken, Brittany Daniel, and Paris Themmen	40,000 attendees
May 15–17, 2015	Suburban Collection Showplace	William Shatner, Linda Blair, Billy Boyd, Dean Cain, Robert Englund, Lou Ferrigno, Tom Kenny, Ralph Macchio, John Schneider, Jimmie Walker, and Dawn Wells; The Walking Dead: Chad Coleman, "Tyrese", Michael Cudlitz, "Abraham", Lawrence Gilliard Jr., "Bob", Emily Kinney, "Beth", Chandler Riggs, "Carl", and Scott Wilson, "Hershel"	50,000 attendees
May 13–15, 2016	Suburban Collection Showplace	Lea Thompson, Lena Headey, Adam West, Jon Bernthal, Michael Cudlitz, Michael Nesmith, Brenda Strong, Ric Flair, Tara Reid, and Robin Lord Taylor	55,000 attendees
May 19–21, 2017	Suburban Collection Showplace	Ryan Stegman, Mena Suvari, Ron Perlman, Sean Astin, Neal Adams, Zach McGowan, LeVar Burton, Scott Wilson, Billie Piper, and Michael Rooker	55,000 attendees
May 18–20, 2018	Suburban Collection Showplace	Black Lightning: Nafessa Williams, Cress Williams, and China Anne McClain; Black Panther Lexus LC 500, Lucy Lawless, Frank Quitely, and Jerome Flynn; It Kids: Chosen Jacobs, "Mike", Jackson Scott, "Georgie", Jack Grazer, "Eddie", Jaeden Lieberher, "Bill", and Wyatt Oleff, "Stanley"; John Cassaday, Stephen Amell, Summer Glau, and Val Kilmer; and Smallville: Tom Welling, "Clark Kent / Superman" and Michael Rosenbaum, "Lex Luthor"	60,000 attendees
May 17–19, 2019	Suburban Collection Showplace	Alanna Masterson, Barry Williams, Benjamin Byron Davis, Brandon Routh, Brian Baumgartner, Charlie Hunnam, David Tennant, D.B. Woodside, Doug Jones, Elizabeth Berkley, Ethan Peck, Felicia Day, Freema Agyeman, George Takei, Henry Ian Cusick, Henry Thomas, Henry Winkler, Irene Bedard, Jack O'Halloran, John Cleese, Jonathan Frakes, Joonas Suotamo, Judith Hoag, Justin Briner, Kristian Nairn, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Leslie David Baker, Linda Larkin, Lori Petty, Lou Ferrigno, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Monica Rial, Neve Campbell, Nick Castle, Pauly Shore, Pom Klementieff, Roger Clark, Ryan Hurst, Sarah Douglas, Shawn Michaels, Theo Rossi, Tom Ellis, and Tom Payne	70,000 attendees; 30th anniversary[28]
May 15–17, 2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[10]
October 15–17, 2021	Suburban Collection Showplace	Jodi Benson, Ming-Na Wen, Braun Strowman, David Yost, Nolan North	attendance number currently N.A.; Return following 2020 cancellation due to COVID-19 pandemic
May 13–15, 2022	Suburban Collection Showplace	William Shatner, Alicia Silverstone
October 14-16, 2022	Suburban Collection Showplace
May 19-21, 2023	Suburban Collection Showplace	Steve Cardenas, Tara Strong, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Michael Rooker, Christopher Lloyd, Sean Gunn, Edward Furlong
November 10-12, 2023	Suburban Collection Showplace	Billy Dee Williams, Renae Jacobs, Veronica Taylor, Marty Grabstein, Richard Steven Horvitz
May 17-19, 2024	Suburban Collection Showplace	William Shatner, Gates McFadden, Amy Jo Johnson, Dante Basco, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, Helen Hunt, Katee Sackhoff, Karen Allen, Greg Baldwin, Steve Downes, Jen Taylor, Cristina Vee, Grey DeLisle, Heather Graham, Thomas F. Wilson, Ron Simmons, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Tom Kenny, Jennifer Morrison, Lex Luger, Ethan Page Cancelled: Ron Perlman, Sofia Boutella, Hayden Panettiere
November 8-10, 2024	Suburban Collection Showplace	Robert Englund, Matthew Lewis, Andy Serkis,Karan Ashley, Ronee Blakely, Barry Bostwick, Tomer Capone, , Cam Clarke, John Cleese, Townsend Coleman, Brian Drummond, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Tait Fletcher, Karen Fukuhara, Barry Gordon, Manny Jancinto, Allesandro Juliani, Wayne Knight, Logic, Joel McHale, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Rob Paulsen, Ron Perlman, Priscilla Pressly, John Rhys-Davies, Alan Ruck, Brad Swaile, George Takei, Amanda Wyss, Dave Coulier, John Cusack Cancelled: Vincent D'Onofrio, Ray Park, Kiefer Sutherland, Shannon Chan-Kent

References

1. Shea, Bill. "Thanks to zombie fighters and superheroes, Motor City Comic Con shatters attendance record," Crain's Detroit Business (19 May 2015).
2. Gopwani, Jewel. "Superheroes Come Alive at Novi, Mich., Comic-Book Expo," Knight Ridder Tribune Business News (19 May 2003), p. 1.
3. "Need a Comic Book? Collector has 500,000," Columbus Dispatch (Nov. 30, 1997), p. 5C.
4. Powers, Nancy Chipman. "Batman Would Feel At Home: Collectors To Head For Motor City Comic Con Show," Detroit Free Press (13 May 2007), p. CJ.5.
5. Cooke, Jon B. "Rich Buckler Breaks Out! The Artist on Deathlok, T'Challa, and Other Marvel Tales," Comic Book Artist Collection, Volume 3 (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2005).
6. Watson, Ursula. "Comic book conventions a hit with young, older collectors," Detroit News (Aug. 6, 2003), p. J6.
7. Culbertson, Amy. "Event Spotlight: Motor City Comics Con Stars Highlight 3-Day Meeting," Detroit Free Press (16 May 2003), p. E.12.
8. Henrickson, Eric. "A feast for geeks," Detroit News (Oct. 28, 2010).
9. Pate, Brian. "Motor City Comic Con Cancels Fall 2010 Show," Convention Scene (Nov. 17, 2010).
10. Ainsworth, Amber. "2020 Motor City Comic Con to be rescheduled due to coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak: Event was scheduled for May 15-17," Click On Detroit (March 30, 2020).
11. "Comics Call: And thousands of fans answer at Motor City convention," The Grand Rapids Press (25 Mar 1996): b3.
12. Ottaviani, Jim. "News Watch: Motor City Convention, March 21–23," The Comics Journal #195 (Apr. 1997), p. 25.
13. "Detroit Gears Up for Motor City Con," Comic Book Marketplace, vol. 2, #58 (Apr. 1998), pp. 74-75.
14. "Motor City Comic Con Rocks Detroit May 15–17," Comics Buyer's Guide (April 17, 1998), pp. 56, 62.
15. "Thank Your Teacher," Detroit Free Press (07 May 2001), p. C.8.
16. Litch, Paul. "Motor City Con 2002," Archived 2010-12-25 at the Wayback Machine CGC Vol. 1, issue #2. (June 2002).
17. "This Weekend's Top 10," Detroit News (May 18, 2002).
18. Breithaupt, Christy L. "Pow! Comic Con drops into Novi," Detroit News (May 14, 2004), p. E1.
19. Graham, Adam. "Holy comic con, Batman!: Convention celebrates pop culture with comic books, movie and TV stars and more," Detroit News (May 20, 2006), p. 04D.
20. Lendzion, Mary. "Comic Relief: X-Trava Con Show to Head to Livonia Next Sunday," Detroit Free Press (10 Sep 2006), p. 4.
21. "Critic's choice", Detroit News (13 October 2006), p. F.10.
22. Frankenhoff, Brent. "Motor City Comic Con 2007: A quick travelogue,"^{[permanent dead link‍]} CBGXtra.com (May 18, 2007).
23. Whitall, Susan. "'Wolfman Mac' show will be back in May," Detroit News (19 Apr 2008), p. D.3.
24. Henrickson, Eric. "Comic fans to get royal visit," Detroit News (May 14, 2009).
25. Henrickson, Eric. "Takei carries on 'Star Trek' legacy," Detroit News (May 12, 2011).
26. Hammerstein, B J. "Artists, wrestlers and stars of yore," Detroit Free Press (17 May 2012), p. Z.24.
27. Henrickson, Eric. "'Uhuru' beaming in for Comic Con," Detroit News (May 17, 2012).
28. "Motor City Comic Con celebrates 30th anniversary" Click On Detroit (May 19, 2019).

External links

• Official website

42.488937°N 83.505061°W / 42.488937; -83.505061