Fan Expo Dallas 2019 happened on May 3rd – 5th at the Kay Bailey Hutchison convention center once again. The center is a the perfect spot for this event to flourish. Year after year, Dallas Fan Expo gets a little bigger and this location is handling the growth flawlessly. What makes the venue even better for the show is that it allows exhibitors to use their space allocated in very creative ways! Some of the bigger exhibitors, such as Funimation, had the space to make an incredible interactive booth for fan goers. The only thing that I wish exhibitor hall do is to widen some of the lanes. Some lanes were nice and wide but, there were some that was extremely narrow. This is the second time I have attended
Simply put, Fan Expo Dallas is starting to be one of my favorite shows to attend. That is saying something since we go to so many events throughout the Year! Fan Expo Dallas 2019 was not only incredibly fun, but it provided jam packed entertainment with a gigantic assortment of content for all types of fans. Its very well known that comic conventions are not about just comics anymore. Fan Expo Dallas perfectly balanced the comic crowd with the gigantic pop culture community when it came to content during their show. There were great comic book legends that boosted the event more. Legends like Humberto Ramos (Spider-Man), Jim Lee (Batman Hush), and the incredible rarely seen X-men artist, John Byrne warmly greeted their fans for hours throughout the day. Personally, I have not geeked out at an event for a long time. But when I had the chance to talk to John Byrne … I could not help myself!Â
When Fan Expo Dallas 2019 said that they had hundreds of hours of planned content, they were not joking. The event literally had panels for days. Something I noticed Fan Expo Dallas 2019 did a whole lot of was the amount of special events. There was a massive amount of paid events to choose from. The way it was separated was Celebrity packages, Voice Actor packages, comic packages, and after parties. The ranges were from free to as high as $1100 (The Michael J. Fox Package)! It makes sense to charge for special events to get something extra special like a photo, swag, etc. Whats a little disappointing however was that some panels charged admissions to it. To be fair, Fan Expo Dallas didn’t charge on most of their panels. I think charging a general admission on top of an admission to the show can be grey area.
The artist alley at Fan Expo Dallas 2019 was very robust. So many creative people in one area was overwhelming, but in a good way. One of my favorite things to do when I cover an event is to find a super indie comic at the show. At Fan Expo Dallas, I came accross Terry Parr from Shonuff Studio and picked his comic, Aerobicide. Its about a lady from the 80’s who uses Jazzercise to kill ninjas, you know, the norm! There was so much gold in the artist alley, I just did not have enough money to get everything I wanted. I will be ready for it next year however. Â
There was a ton of cosplay at Dallas Fan Expo 2019. Some incredibly meme driven, and some insanely detailed & intricate. A comic convention is not a comic convention when your fans do not dress up for the occasion. Fan Expo Dallas did not disappoint. One of the coolest things the show did for the cosplay crowd was the cosplay red carpet event. Anyone who was dressed appropriately (in cosplay) had the chance to walk a red carpet and get their photos taken in a paparazzi like row and enjoy the attention. The line was long and filled with incredibly talented cosplay indivisuals for this and it allow people to talk to one another.Â
Fan Expo Dallas 2019 is a great convention to check out and I would strongly recommend coming to the show. Of course it has its kinks, but what show doesn’t? Fan Expo Dallas has announced the date for their next convention which it will be March 27th – 29th. I hope I see you there!Â