When the snow becomes rain, we know spring is in the air and convention season is about to start. Every spring, we are faced with the incoming damage to our wallets with Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2). We visited C2E2 as attendees, press and vendors (helping out Jaime Coker Creations and Unknown Comics) in years past. However, 2026 was different, the convention gods had different plans for all of us. Not only was C2E2 on March 27-29, but two other big conventions were scheduled: WonderCon and Planet Comicon Kansas City. Nora and I had a decision to make this year. Do we stay home or do we do something different this year? Well, the decision was made and for the first time ever, Noggin Comics was going to Planet Comicon Kansas City.

The drive to Kansas City is similar to Chicago, a little over 6 hours from Minnesota. Let’s just say the drive to Chicago is a little more enjoyable than driving through the emptiness of Iowa. Although, shout out to Des Moines for having a great selection of food with Zombie Burger and Drink Lab and Fong’s Pizza. We were impatient and excited to experience a new convention, so we left a night earlier than expected and spent a night in Des Moines. Sometimes you just need to leave home for a few days.

When we arrived in Kansas City on Thursday, we drove right to the convention center to help out our friends with Jaime Coker Creations. Here we noticed something that stuck out instantly, the layout! Most shows will throw crafters in with the vendors, placing them among comic book and toy vendors or sometimes they are mixed in with creators. Planet Comicon had a specific area for those selling crafts. (I will be honest, I did not visit the section until late Sunday). It was easy to navigate the con floor upon first arrival, we knew where everything was at before we left the floor on Thursday evening. Another thing that Planet Comicon had that was different from other shows that we have attended was THC & CBD vendors. (The reason why I ended up in the craft section on late Sunday). Despite the differences, we both noticed that Planet Comicon lacks the grandiose entrance of C2E2, it did not feel like we were attending a show that attracts over 70,000 attendees.

Friday

Friday morning arrived and Day 1 of Planet Comicon would be among us. When a few friends found out that we were visiting Planet Comicon, requests were made like getting a copy of Strange Academy #1 signed by Skottie Young and meeting Don Rosa for a Scrooge McDuck loving friend. These were our goals for Friday along with catching the spotlight panel on David Howard Thornton (Seriously James Gunn, look his way for the next Joker). All three of these experiences were great. While waiting in line for Skottie Young, his crew comes around to chat with you beyond asking what you are buying. This sets the tone for meeting the creator because he will make you feel like a long lost friend, over a fan. If you are fan of Skottie, I recommend taking time to meet him at a convention.

Don Rosa is a legend and sadly someone that I truly undervalue while reading comics. I am not a Scrooge McDuck or Disney comic reader. After meeting Don Rosa, that won’t change but my respect for the artistry and passion did change. Don is 74 years old and his love for the character is on full display. It did not matter if you have been reading his stuff since the 80s or discovering his work for the first time, he will sit down with you and make it worth your time. I would have never guessed that meeting Don Rosa would have been the highlight of our Friday.

Friday set a trend for the weekend too, we would be interacting with a new publisher on the market, Ignition Press throughout the whole show. I believe this was the first show they had a booth at and they had an amazing presence with the creators they brought. Taking up a good section, they had the likes of Cullen Bunn, Andes Park, Leah Williams, Jeremy Haun, Phil Hester, Aaron Campbell, B. Clay Moore and Joelle Jones at their booth. We would visit this booth every day to meet the creators and support this publisher. So far their best comic is Arcadia by The Miranda Brothers but Leah Williams’ Voyeur is a close second. I recommend picking up some comics from them at your local comic shop.

We had a great time on Friday but overall we were missing that “wow” factor of C2E2. Planet Comicon was not introducing anything special, nothing that would make us say this is a special show that we need to make time for every year. We thought to ourselves that surely Saturday would be the true experience.

Saturday

Exhaustion was in full effect for us on Saturday, being our first convention of the year and sitting on our butts all winter, our bodies were not ready for a big convention. This was when we started to realize that maybe we were wrong about Planet Comicon, maybe there is something special about this show. Even through our exhaustion and a crowded con floor, we found ourselves talking to more creators and enjoying conversations more than spending money.

The first thing we did on Saturday was find the food trucks. Feeling the exhaustion of Friday, food was needed. Now this is something that Planet Comicon beats C2E2 on and that is food options. In Chicago, you have the option of Hot Dogs or Deep Dish (I am so craving a deep dish pizza right now), Kansas City offers BBQ and all types of it. From there it was all about the creators again on Saturday and our first stop was an indie creator that caught my eye while walking the floor on Friday. His banner featured the grim reaper smoking a joint with the title of Grim Reefer underneath and he had my attention. We decided to swing by his table to see that this Grim Reefer was all about. Grim Reefer is written by Thacher Cleveland and so far only had one issue out with a couple attempts to have issue 2 backed on Kickstarter. Thacher was awesome and we spent a good 20 minutes having a discussion about the book and beyond. Really hope that we can get the rest of this series backed because I have a feeling it will be a interesting story after reading issue 1.

Weird and offbeat continued with us walking over to Doug Wagner. Doug, himself is not weird at all or off beat, in fact he was nice and talkative, however Doug has a tendency of writing weird stories. Right now, his series Narco is pretty popular among speculators and the comic community. We have been reading his stuff since Vinyl and Plastic, in fact we picked up the continuation of Plastic, titled, Plastic: Death & Dolls. After Doug, we found ourselves back over at the Ignition Press booth talking with the editor and marketing folks while buying most of the titles we did not have. An invite to a party with Ignition Press was extended, after we purchased the con exclusives, at a chicken and pickleball place, which we had to skip due to exhaustion.

Our friend Jordan and Minnesota Comic Exchange admin pulled me away from Nora and told me to come with him to get a few books signed. He knew I had my copy of Avengers Annual #10 on me to have Al Milgrom and Chris Claremont to sign. He dragged my butt over to Milgrom and threw $10 at me and said “get that book signed.” Sadly Claremont was busy most of the show but its very cool to have the first appearance of Rogue signed by Al Milgrom. This was unexpected because yes I had the book with me but after seeing the line for Claremont, I thought I would get it signed another time I see Claremont but Jordan did remind me that we may not see Milgrom again.

Sunday

The final day of Planet Comicon and the vibes for Sunday was amazing. Unbeknownst to us, Sunday was free for kids and it seriously made us get emotional to see kids buying comic books. Yes, looking around on Sunday and kids were buying comic books and hunting Absolute Batman mostly. Outside of having two more creators to meet, Sunday was our “comic hunting” day. However, the day ended up with more artwork than expected.

The day started with a spotlight panel on Chris Claremont with the Hero Initiative. Claremont was his typical self that we were used to with our experience with The Uncanny Experience. Talking about how he would have handled Dark Phoenix in the X-Men films and being on X-Men longer than anyone else. It was a fun panel and do regret not waiting in line to have his signature on Avengers Annual #10. After the panel was over, we ran down to the show floor to meet G. Willow Wilson. Originally we planned on meeting her on Saturday, but she ran out of comics, so we picked a few Ms. Marvel and Poison Ivy issues to have her sign. And WOW! she was so sweet and certainly loves her fans.

After G. Willow Wilson, we focused on comic books and this was when the show got even more interesting. While checking out Mayhem Comics & Collectibles, we ran into someone that recognized us from The Uncanny Experience. Our comic hunting turned into hanging out at their booth talking about X-men and The Uncanny Experience. But before we left, I needed some original artwork. The goal for the weekend was to pick up some original artwork and once again Jordan came in for the save.

Jordan stopped by Jaime Coker’s booth while we were resting and he showed me some awesome art cards and was about to pick up a sketch cover from an artist named Adam Kleinert. Curiosity got the better of me and decided to join Jordan in picking up the Sketch cover and that cost me! While looking through Adam’s art cards, he had X-Men cards and They had to come home with me, that was until I noticed his original artwork box. Scrolling through this box, I picked up a Ghost-Rider that caught my attention but behind that was Savage Rogue and really did not care how much it was going to cost. I had to have it! By the end of the day, we had original art from Adam and some awesome prints from Jaime Coker.

Thoughts

So what did I think of Planet Comicon? I think if this show was by itself that weekend it would have been a massive success. Knowing that people were spread across the country going to different shows, it felt like both attendees and vendors were spread thin. Some vendors had to split their inventory between both shows to ensure they did not lose their space for next year. Luckily this will not be an issue next year with all three shows on different weekends. However, it was a pretty ridiculous decision to have multiple shows on one weekend. Remove that factor from it though, Planet Comicon did have plenty to do and the kids free on Sunday is a genius move. The con floor was easy to navigate, it was easy to know where you were at with designated areas. However, navigating to panels took a while to get used to it, it was not difficult just if you are distracted, its easy to miss the escalator that brought you up to the con floor.

Would I go again? Absolutely I would go again, its one of the most chill and relaxing conventions I have ever been to. That being said, If i had to choose between Planet Comicon and C2E2, it would be difficult to pick against C2E2. Planet Comicon is a great convention, especially for families and comic collectors. For a pop culture convention, it was refreshing to see a good option of comic vendors. But C2E2 is special, there is something about being in Chicago for a big convention. Walking through the entrance just feels special. I would say this if you want to experience what a convention can be, go to C2E2 but if you want to score comics and artwork go to Planet Comicon. After this trip, I realized that all conventions have pros and cons, but its who you experience it with that matters the most.