Planet Comicon Kansas City wrapped its 2026 pop culture convention yesterday, the 27th 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 more than 70,000 attendees. Each year the Midwest comes together to celebrate the best of genre movies, TV, books, games, toys, and comics. The show ran Friday, March 27, through Sunday, March 29, 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 Chris Claremont signing for fans (you’d never guess from his American accent he’s originally from the UK):
Here is artist Joe Staton and his wife Hillary:
From the other side of the world, Stanley “Artgerm” Lau made his first appearance at Planet Comicon, coming in from Singapore:
That’s Dan Jurgens:
… and animated Al Milgrom:
Our own borg writer Elizabeth C. Bunce was on hand signing books:
That’s Planet Comicon’s sci-fi row, Kevin J. Anderson, Kevin Dilmore, and Dayton Ward:
Artist Ant Lucia had hundreds of his DC, Big “G” Cereal, Star Wars, and other Bombshell prints for sale:
Artist Phil Hester and writer-artist Ande Parks:
That’s author Nick Forristal…
And that’s artist Bryan Fyffe…
… and The Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood scoring one of Fyffe’s original art prints…
The event always features lots of cosplayers. That included Five Nights at Freddy’s:
Hazbin Hotel…
Spider-verse superheroines Spider-Gwen and Spider-Venom:
Here’s a few cosplayers representing from the borg Hall of Fame, Spideyverse’s Doc Ock (with the Mad Hatter)…
… and Inspector Gadget…
The fourth Doctor from Doctor Who…
Good pirate cosplay is always cool:
Frank from Donnie Darko wasn’t here this year, but in his place was White Rabbit from Devil May Cry, designed by the grillmaster at Kansas City’s best barbecue joint, Slap’s BBQ, along with your humble editor representing for The Orville:
From One Piece, that’s Crocodile…
Padme cosplay from the Star Wars prequels…
That’s Jenna Tomlin as Medusa Jedi, and the best C-3PO we’ve ever seen at any Comic-Con–stuffed into that small suit of armor just like Anthony Daniels was, complete with a voice changer that made him sound like Daniels:
And that’s your humble editor and Elizabeth C. Bunce with our shout-out to Star Trek: Lower Decks:
Our pick for the show’s best cosplayers this year goes to these two girls cosplaying The Shining, who kept those scary grim stares for the entire show.
Brava!
And fans enjoyed all the 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 April 2-4, 2027, also at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City, across from the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Follow the Planet Comicon Kansas City website here for more information, updates, and 2027 guests.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
