Planet Comicon 2012 will not be held April 14-15 of next year as originally announced. The new dates for the show have not been announced yet. Promoter Chris Jackson is scrambling to determine the best weekend for Kansas City’s largest comics and pop culture convention after Chicago’s huge C2E2 convention rescheduled its event on the original Planet Comicon dates.
“WonderCon announced on September 1, 2011 that they have selected March 16-18 as the dates for their 2012 show,” Jackson said. “C2E2 in Chicago, which was originally scheduled for March 16-18, has now moved their show to April 14-15, stepping directly on the announced dates for Planet Comicon.”
Jackson says that he will definitely reschedule the show, with the new dates to be announced by September 10th. “It is quite difficult to obtain dates and many factors have to be taken in to consideration,” he said. “We did a lot of research when selecting the original dates to make sure there was no major conflicts and, at this late date, options for dates are very limited. We will do the best we can and hopefully the fans, exhibitors and guests will support the new dates when selected.”
The dominoes began falling when WonderCon — a major San Francisco convention — shifted to Anaheim on March 16-18. “It’s traditionally held in San Francisco at the Moscone Center, but that venue is undergoing major renovations and dates were not available,” Mark Evanier wrote on his NewsFromME blog. “So things don’t get crowded [in Anaheim], Wizard World will postpone its April 2012 show and ReedPop’s C2E2, which had been planning a March show in Chicago, will have it some other time.”
The shuffle of so many major events has left some Kansas City creators in a bind. As the news of C2E2’s conflicting date broke, writer/artist Kevin Mellon tweeted, “You’re [bleeping] kidding me. C2E2 is now the weekend of Planet comicon here in KC. Thanks.” That brought a Twitter response from Iowa’s Phil Hester of “!!!! That is a nonstarter.” Hester has been a fixture at Kansas City conventions for more than 20 years.
Planet Comicon has been at the center of the Kansas City comics scene since the 1990s, growing larger each year. Guests already announced for the 2012 show include Stan Sakai (creator of Usagi Yojimbo), Dan Parent (artist for Archie Comics), and Skottie Young (artist of Marvel Comic’s acclaimed Wizard of Oz adaptations). It is not yet known if the date shuffle will affect these scheduled appearances.