This year was my 3rd Dragon Con, and I can sum up why I consider this one of my favorite cons of the year with 3 words that start with C. Comics, Cosplay, Cults.
For the past 30+ years every Labor Day weekend in Atlanta Dragon Con has taken place, and with it 60,000+ people attend one of the Southeast’s biggest fandom conventions. This year was no exception, with 72,000 people attending the show…and it felt like it (or maybe that just was the heat and humidity?).
As I said in my first paragraph 3 Cs are the reason I keep coming back so lets talk about them.
Comics – The artist alley there while not the largest of any cons I’ve attended, does bring it quite a few heavy hitters from all over the world. This year some of the non-US based creators that made the trek to Atlanta included Alan Quah, InHyuk Lee, Martin Simmonds, along with notable names from the US including David Mack, Bob Hall, Jason Aaron, Ryan Browne, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Dustin Nguyen, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Adam Kubert, P. Craig Russell, Don McGregor, Tini Howard, and so many more.
Artist alley at Dragon Con always gets a good chunk of my money and this year was no different as I picked up 2 pieces from the silent art auction (which along with all the other events raised over $210,000 for their official 2024 charity, Arthritis Foundation’s Georgia chapter). The 2 pieces of the art auction I got were Wolfman, and Nosferatu by Bob Hall. I also commissioned a few pieces from artists, Creature from the Black Lagoon by Martin Simmonds, Wolfman by Maria Wolf, Frankenstein by Dave Cook, and Catwoman/Julie Newmar sketch by Bobby Breed on a blank comic that I had Julie Newmar sign it in June.
Cosplay – As always the cosplay at Dragon Con blows away the cosplay at any other convention, from the massive amount of photo shoots on the back staircases at the Hilton, to the parade on Saturday morning down one of the main streets in Atlanta, to the tons of cosplayers who wander around the host hotels at all hours of the day and night. Dragon Con often sees cosplayers dress up in whatever meme worthy event has taken place recently, and with the Olympics having just ended that was one of the big ones. There were lots of Rayguns, as well as some Turkish shooters (I didn’t see a French Pole Vaulters though….). The other big cosplay groups I saw included Baldur’s Gate 3 and Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss, both of which had a few hundred people dressing up as various characters from those universes.
Cults – One of the things that seems to always begin at Dragon Con are cults (no, not in a David Koresh or Heaven’s Gate way). Some of the cults that have been born during Dragon Con weekend include the Marriott Carpet cult (the Atlanta Marriott had a carpet pattern that was so recognizable that when it was removed a lot of people mourned it. Now various vendors sell items with the pattern, and some vendors even sell cloth with the pattern. There are even those inflatable T-Rex costumes you see with the pattern on them), Cult of Jon (a FedEx standee of a FedEx delivery driver which got vandalized, and was removed. Now to honor him a shrine is started every year in which people leave offerings), to Trashy the Trash Can (a trash can that was removed). There are (or were) also Tony and his 36 eggs, a short lived “Cult of the potato”, (it went away, because people were worried someone would step on one and hurt themselves, or they would be hidden, not be found, and become rotten), Cult of Bob and Carl (the sci fi janitors). Cults are part of what makes this convention different and fun. This year’s convention saw at least 2 new cults begin. The Cult of the Cannon (a 6 foot tall cannon prop from a mobile video game, the prop was so big that it wouldn’t fit in the hotel room doorway, so it sat on the balcony overlooking the hotel lobby each night after the con), and the Cult of Missed Con-nections (kinda self explanatory, and it may lead to a speed dating event at Dragon Con 2025…).
All in all, Dragon Con 2024 was a great (and the most exhausting convention of the year for me) and I can’t wait to go back to Dragon Con when it returns over Labor Day weekend (August 28th to September 1st) in 2025.
Check out my full photo gallery below along with some quick video clips of some of the cosplay highlights from the weekend. (Click the pictures to be taken to the full photo gallery on Flickr).
Were you at Dragon Con 2024? If so, what were your highlights? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Twitter/X at @TheConCollectve, Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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