Motor City Comic Con facts for kids

The Motor City Comic Con is a super fun fan convention held in Novi, Michigan, USA. It takes place at the Suburban Collection Showplace. This exciting event usually lasts for three days, from Friday to Sunday, and happens every May. Michael Goldman, a comic book seller, started the Motor City Comic Con in 1989.

What to Explore at Motor City Comic Con

While the convention mostly celebrates comic books, it also features tons of other cool pop culture stuff! You can find film actors, professional wrestling, science fiction and fantasy, TV shows, animation, anime, manga, toys, horror, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels.

At the convention, you can:

• Listen to interesting talks and workshops with comic book creators.
• Get sneak peeks of upcoming movies.
• Show your art portfolios to big comic book and video game companies.
• Join fun evening events like a costume contest!
• Play games and enjoy many other activities about comic books and pop culture.

Shopping and Meeting Creators

The Motor City Comic Con has a huge area for exhibitors. These include movie studios and TV networks. You can also find many comic book dealers and shops selling collectibles.

Just like most comic conventions, there's a special area for autographs. This is where comic artists can sign things for you. They might even draw free sketches! This area is called the Artists' Alley. Sometimes, writers and even models are there too.

History of the Comic Con

Michael Goldman, who owned Motor City Comics in Southfield, Michigan, started the first Motor City Comic Con. It happened at the Dearborn Civic Center in 1989. Before this, there were other cool events in the Detroit area. These included the Detroit Triple Fan Fair (from 1965 to 1978) and Gary Reed's King Kon (from 1984 to 1986).

Michael Goldman hired Gary Bishop in 1989 to help run the convention. Gary Bishop worked with Motor City Conventions until 2007. From 1992 to 1998, the Motor City Comic Con was where the Compuserve Comics and Animation Forum's Don Thompson Awards were given out. These awards were also known as the Thompsons.

From 1993 to 2004, the convention happened twice a year! There was a spring show and a fall show. The bigger three-day spring event was usually in Novi. The smaller two-day fall show was at the Dearborn Civic Center.

In 1998, the fall show had a blood drive for the American Red Cross. It also had a charity art auction to help the Muscular Dystrophy Association. By this time, the Motor City Comic Con had raised almost $35,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association! In 1999, Michael Goldman said that Motor City Comic Con was the third-largest comic convention in the United States.

By 2003, the most popular part of the Motor City Comic Con was seeing celebrities from movies and TV. This was even more popular than meeting the comic book creators! This was a trend happening at other comic conventions across the country too.

In the fall of 2005, the Novi Expo Center closed. So, the convention moved to a new place called the Rock Financial Showplace. This place was later renamed the Suburban Collection Showplace.

In 2010, Miriam Kruger joined the company as the event director. That year, Motor City Comic Con planned a fall show. However, a new show called Detroit Fanfare started on the same weekend. So, Motor City Comic Con changed its fall show date. Later, they decided to cancel the fall 2010 show completely.

Past Dates and Locations

The Motor City Comic Con has been held at different locations over the years. It started at the Dearborn Civic Center in 1989. Later, it moved to the Novi Expo Center and then to the Suburban Collection Showplace. Many famous comic artists and media guests have attended the convention. For example, in 2013, Stan Lee and William Shatner were among the guests. The attendance has grown a lot, reaching 60,000 people in 2018!