Planet Comicon Kansas City wraps after big weekend of pop culture fandom fun

Planet Comicon Kansas City wrapped its 2025 pop culture convention yesterday, the 26th year for the event. The celebration of fandom filled the halls of the Kansas City Convention Center at Bartle Hall each day, estimated to have 70,000 attendees or more. Each year the Midwest comes together to celebrate the best of genre movies, TV, books, games, toys, and comics. The show ran Friday, March 21, through Sunday, March 23, featuring a host of celebrities, artists and writers, and vendors. It is one of the Midwest’s biggest and best celebrations of community, a venue all about embracing inclusivity–there’s something for everyone. Check out several photos below, which should give you a feel for the attendance, and just a few of the guests and fans.

First, some comic book guests. Here is Jimmy Palmiotti signing for a fan:

And here is artist Adam Hughes:

Our own borg writer Elizabeth C. Bunce was on hand signing books:

The event always features lots of cosplayers. One of the star celebrities was Matthew Lillard, which meant many cosplayers opted for characters from his films. That included Scream, this fantastic lighted head piece from Five Nights at Freddy’s:

… and many takes on Scooby Doo:

Anyone at the David Tennant panel or signings raved about his enthusiasm. Doctor Who cosplay from all eras was present, including this Weeping Angel (just don’t blink):

The fan at left flew from North Carolina to meet Raiders of the Lost Ark actor John Rhys-Davies (he chose wisely):

And The Lord of the Rings cast members Rhys-Davies, David Wenham, and Gollum and Smeagol actor Andy Serkis (who closed Saturday night with a sign-off in character as Gollum) had their fans, including many Hobbits like this one:

All of science fiction fandom was well-represented:

A great Pikachu/Deadpool mash-up, Pikapool:

You could find fantasy, like Avatar: The Last Airbender:

Superheroes, like Red Guardian, returning to theaters this summer in the new Marvel movie Thunderbolts:

And horror, like Michael Myers from Halloween:

Christopher Lloyd was in the house, too, and you could get a photo with a tricked out Back to the Future-style DeLorean time machine:

Of course William at Elite Comics had the big comic book sales display again this year, with some great rare comics for sale, including an awesome Amazing Fantasy #15:

And people and aisles… and aisles… of comics, books, art, posters, clothes, video arcade games, swag, and more:

Planet Comicon Kansas City is scheduled for its next event March 27-29, 2026, also at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City, across from the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, which serves as a great background for cosplayers (especially with clouds like this weekend):