OrlandoCon

OrlandoCon, also known as O'Con, was a long-running comic book and comic strip fan convention which was held annually between 1974 and 1994 in Orlando, Florida. The first comics convention held in the Orlando area, OrlandoCon billed itself as the "Central Florida comic art convention and early TV/film festival."^[2][3] Captain Marvel-creator C. C. Beck was a regular guest of the show; as were many other Golden Age comics creators who lived in the Orlando area.

OrlandoCon
Status	Defunct
Genre	Comic books, TV, and movies
Venue	International Inn
Location(s)	Orlando, Florida
Country	United States
Inaugurated	1974
Most recent	1994
Organized by	Jim Ivey & Charlie Roberts[1]
Filing status	for-profit

The founders of OrlandoCon were regional chairman of the National Cartoonists Society Jim Ivey^[4][5] (1925–2022)^[6][7][8] and local enthusiasts Charlie Roberts, Rob Word,^[9] Richard Kravitz, and Neil Austin.^{[10][7][11][12]} Most OrlandoCons took place over a September weekend.

Events and activities

Each year's show featured a banquet for attending cartoonists and the presentation to the guest of honor of a gold brick called the Ignatz Award^[4] named in honor of George Herriman's Krazy Kat.^[13] Recipients of the Ignatz included Don Martin,^[14] Ralph Kent, Joe Kubert, Martin Nodell, Don Addis,^[15] Burne Hogarth, and Dik Browne.^[13] (The OrlandoCon Ignatz Award is not connected to the current award of the same name presented annually at the Bethesda, Maryland-based Small Press Expo.)^[13]

Each show featured a charity auction to benefit the Milt Gross Fund of the National Cartoonists Society.^[11] The OrlandoCon often featured screenings of early TV shows, as well as panels, seminars, and workshops with comics professionals. In addition, there was a floorspace for exhibitors, including comic book and comic strip dealers, and collectibles merchants. The show included an autograph area, as well as an Artists' Alley where comics artists signed autographs and sold or produced free sketches.

History

The first OrlandoCon was held in September 1974 at the Orlando Howard Johnson's Convention Center — guests included C. C. Beck, Roy Crane, Hal Foster,^[10] Ron Goulart, Mel Graff [fr], Les Turner, Ralph Dunagin, Bill Crooks, Harold McCauley, Scorchy Smith artist Edmond Good, and Disney artist Ralph Kent.

In 1976 OrlandoCon moved venues from the Howard Johnson Convention Center to the International Inn, where the convention stayed for most of the rest of its existence.

Even though he moved to Pennsylvania in 1974, Charlie Roberts stayed with the OrlandoCon as co-organizer with Jim Ivey until 1979,^[16] at which point small press publisher Bill Black became involved with the convention.

With the collapse of the comic book speculating market in 1993, the show petered out. One of the final OrlandoCons was produced by local retailer Mike Kott on September 10–11, 1994, at the Clarion Towers; guests include show founder Jim Ivey and Martin Nodell.^[17]

Locations and dates

Dates	Venue	Guest of honor/ Ignatz Award recipient	Official guests	Notes
September 22, 1974	Howard Johnson's Convention Center 304 W Colonial Drive		C. C. Beck, Roy Crane, Hal Foster, Ron Goulart, Mel Graff, Les Turner, Ralph Dunagin, Bill Crooks, Harold McCauley, "Scorchy Smith" artist Edmond Good, and Disney artist Ralph Kent	Convention booklet featured a cover sketch by Roy Crane; the back cover was illustrated by C.C. Beck.
August 16–17, 1975	Howard Johnson Convention Center	Burne Hogarth	Harvey Kurtzman, Roy Crane, Hal Foster, and Ralph Kent	Program booklet cover by Harvey Kurtzman
September 18–19,[18] 1976	International Inn		Jack Davis, Harvey Kurtzman,[1] and Floyd Gottfredson	Program cover by Jack Davis, with interior profiles of Floyd Gottfredson and Mel Graff
1977			Walter B. Gibson, Ralph Dunagin and Scorchy Smith's Edmond Good	Program booklet cover featured The Spirit, drawn by Will Eisner; the back cover was drawn by Bob Clampett; and interior art by, among others, Les Turner, C. C. Beck, Bill Black, Morris Weiss, and Zack Mosley.
1978			Will Eisner, Bob Clampett, Les Turner, Ralph Dunagin, C. C. Beck, Edmond Good, Bill Black, Morris Weiss, Ralph Kent, Bill Crooks, and Zack Mosley	Show's official title was "Central Florida Comic Art Convention, TV & Film Festival." Program cover by Will Eisner
1979		Robert Cummings and Kirby Grant	Will Eisner, C. C. Beck, and Jack Rosen
1980		Jock Mahoney ("media guest of honor")	Gil Kane and Autumn Russell
1981		Dik Browne[a]	C. C. Beck,[19] Fred Lasswell	Program book, with a cover by Dik Browne, celebrating "Florida's 70 Cartoonists"
1982	International Inn[20]	Bob McLeod[21]	C. C. Beck	The program booklet honored "Florida's 75 Great Cartoonists"[3]
1983		Don Wright	C. C. Beck, Harvey Kurtzman, Wayne Boring, Will Eisner, Joe Kubert, Ralph Kent, Morris Weiss, Dik Browne, and Dean Young	10th anniversary show; program cover included a list of Florida cartoonists and featured artwork by Harvey Kurtzman, Wayne Boring, C. C. Beck, Morris Weiss, Dik Browne, and Dean Young, among others.
September 22–23, 1984			Will Eisner
1985		Martin Nodell[22]
1986
September 25–27, 1987[23]	International Inn[23]
1988
September 23–24, 1989[24]	International Inn[24]	Bob Burden[25]		16th annual edition
1990			Gates McFadden	17th annual edition, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Martin Nodell's Green Lantern. Program booklet cover by Bill Black.
1991		Dick Ayers and Joe Kubert
1992		Jack Bender[26]
1993		Don Addis and Don Martin
September 10–11, 1994	Clarion Towers	Jim Ivey and Martin Nodell		Produced by local retailer Mike Kott

Legacy

The huge Orlando-based multi-genre convention MegaCon was inaugurated in 1993 and is the spiritual successor of OrlandoCon;^[27] it continues to this day.

Notes

1. Dik Browne was unable to attend the 1981 Orlando convention & banquet; Fred Lasswell accepted the Ignatz Award on his behalf.^{[citation needed]}