GalaxyCon and the Pros of Cons During a Strike

Cosplayers at this year's GalaxyCon Richmond. The touring fan gathering makes its first ever stop in Austin Sept. 1-3. (Courtesy of GalaxyCon)

Fans love conventions, and when GalaxyCon founder Michael Broder realized that Austin lacked a major comic con of its own, he decided to make the city the next stop on its traveling schedule.

The guest list for the inaugural GalaxyCon Austin (Sept. 1-3) reads like the "comics and more" lineup of modern conventions, with professional wrestlers, including Ric Flair and Kevin Nash; professional cosplayers and fan groups like Star Wars superfans the 501st Star Garrison; voice actors such as Dana Snyder (Aqua Teen Hunger Force), Abby Trott (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba), and Jodi Benson (The Little Mermaid); and, of course, comic creators, including David Marquez (Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man) and Cully Hamner (Blue Beetle). With touring conventions like this, there's always the accusation that they merely airdrop the same names into different cities, with no real local variations. However, Broder countered that their booking reflects that every fandom, no matter how niche, has a presence in every city. He noted, "I had a lot of people say, 'Oh, you're going to Austin, there'll be a lot of cowboy hats.' It's 2023. We're not running a con in 1987." So while there are some local exclusives, such as the first-ever con appearance by James Van Der Beek, "there are fans of Marvel in every city, there are fans of anime in every city, there are fans of Star Trek in every city.

Established in 2019 by the team behind Florida's long-running Supercon, GalaxyCon almost came to Austin in 2020. Broder was attracted to Austin for two reasons: First, he has family here, and second, he'd heard that the long-running and now-defunct Wizard World was pulling out of the Austin market after their 2019 event. Broder approached Austin Convention Center management about bringing GalaxyCon here the following year. "And then the pandemic hit," Broder said, so rather than completely fold, the team jumped online. "For two years, we became the largest provider of celebrity meet and greets in the world – just virtually." They finally returned to in-person events last year and now Austin is part of their first wave of expansion markets, with more to be added next year.

This first year in Austin comes at an unusual moment in fandom, thanks to the ongoing strike by actors union the SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. The upside for events like GalaxyCon, Broder said, "is that it's made it [so] that a lot of people have a lot of free time." However, he added, "there are challenges of how we can do marketing and promotion." Under the strike rules, actors cannot do any work related to a struck project, and that includes promotion. For example, Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio, stars of Marvel's Daredevil: Born Again, were booked for GalaxyCon Austin before production suspended in June. However, they will not be able to discuss the show directly. Equally, while Van Der Beek will appear alongside Dawson's Creek co-stars Kerr Smith and John Wesley Shipp, it cannot be presented as a Dawson's Creek reunion. "I can't have Star Trek guys talking about Star Trek," Broder said, "But they can talk about plenty of other things." And that's the pleasure of having guests like William Shatner unleashed to discuss life beyond one role on one show. "One of the great joys of my life is sitting and talking with Bill about a great number of other things."

GalaxyCon Austin 2023, Sept. 1-3. Austin Convention Center, 500 E. Cesar Chavez. galaxycon.com