Houston Comicpalooza

Forget the flowers, cards, and typical gift cards: this past Mother’s Day weekend my daughter and I attended Houston’s Comicpalooza – Texas' largest entertainment and pop culture festival. Cosplayers, comic book fans and pop culture took over the George R. Brown Convention Center for the three-day Comicpalooza convention. Celebrating it’s 10th anniversary, the event featured a film festival, gaming competitions, a cosplay contest, a live art auction, a NASA exhibit showing off the latest in technological innovation and much more. In addition, the exhibit hall was packed with vendors selling the latest in comic books and other pop culture and gaming fare.

Celebrity guests were also in attendance from our favorite movies, television series, comics, or literature answering questions and sharing their stories. They engaged audiences in Q&A sessions, signed autographs, and took photographs with fans. Chuck Norris, Anthony Mackie, Jon Bernthal, Mike Colter, Finn Jones, Felicia Day, Pom Klementieff, and so many more celebrity guests attended this year's show.

This was our first year attending Comicpalooza and we had a blast. We attended this year's show wearing one of our favorite old-school cartoon characters - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I cosplayed as April O’Neil. It was held in a huge venue with so much to look at and to do. I liked that it wasn’t so congested like other cons we’ve been to. They also had beer gardens, a Lego area, bounce houses to entertain the kids, and a massive floor space filled with artists, comic books and toys galore. Everyone was so friendly and the cosplay talents were amazing. I bumped into one of our Suicide Squad members that cosplayed as Killer Croc from the movie; he attended the show as Sabertooth from X-Men and his cosplay was legit (check out his picture below).

I am so glad I got to experience Comicpalooza with my daughter on Mother’s Day weekend. What better way to celebrate the weekend than with Batmen, Spidermen, Deadpools and Stars Wars characters and more. What more can a mom ask for? We definitely had a great time. This is April O’Neil recapping our experience at Houston Comicpalooza. See you next year! - xo Mel

Photo Credit: Armalite Quintos