Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, DJ Kirkbride, entertainment, Eric Esquivel, matt hawkins, Nathan Sage, Phat Con, rob liefeld

Phat Con Expands In Its Return To SoCal, Proves Popular

By Michele Brittany, West Coast Bleeding Cool Correspondent

While the rest of the country was rocked with winter storms, Southern California's Orange County witnessed the return of Phat Collectibles' annual Phat Con this past Saturday, January 24th. Doors to The Outlets at Orange Dave & Buster's opened at 11:30 AM, however given this was one of the first cons of the new season and it was a free event, a lengthy line had congregated along one side of the building and stretched into the general mall area prior to the start time.

Writer and artist Rob Liefeld was guest of honor and had a busy day signing his comics. He is well known for his work on such series as Youngblood, Hawk and Dove and New Mutants. Others writers were featured and included: Matt Hawkins (head of Top Cow as well as creator/writer of Think Tank), D.J. Kirkbride (Neverending, Amelia Cole, The Bigger Bang) Dan Mendoza (Zombie Tramp), Jacob Semahn (Goners), Nathan Sage (The Shepherd), and Eric M. Esquivel (Mega Man, Loki: Ragnarok and Roll).

If art was more your thing, then there were several talented artists set up and doing sketches throughout the day. The artist pool included Tony Brescini, Danny Silva, Mike Vasquez, Ron Joseph, Todd Nauck, Nicole Sloan, and Tobias Gebhardt, just to name a few. There were also clothing vendors for any geek's interest, be it t-shirts to skirts to corsets. And the ever popular, and pretty darn good-looking group, Agents of Cosplay were mulling around the con and having a bit of fun with the attendees. The agents even hosted a cosplay contest.

All afternoon, attendees crowded around their favorite writers, artists and vendors. Many families showed up and mood was jovial and laid back. Fortunately Phat Con expanded into a second area of the restaurant this year otherwise it would have just been too crowded to be enjoyable. Based on the fact that attendance was brisk all day, I think you may just see another room added to their next con event!

Here are some more photos of the fun:

Michele Brittany is an independent popular culture scholar and semi-professional photographer and editor of James Bond and Popular Culture: Essays on the Influence of the Fictional Superspy (McFarland & Company). She regularly posts reviews and analysis on the spy/espionage genre on her blog, Spyfi & Superspies and can be followed at Twitter @mcbrittany2014.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!