What Is Going To A Small Comic Con Really Like?

TV & Film

Jan 11

Comic Cons or Conventions are much more than just times to finally meet your favorite actor or actress or pick up merch from your favorite independent artists or vendors. While those things are fun, there’s so much more to do that sometimes gets overlooked when traveling to a Con.

Smaller Comic Cons, such as Galaxy Con in Columbus, Ohio, have events throughout the day that appeal to everyone. Obviously, the vendor hall and artist alley is one of the best things to check out (especially the independent artists!), and you can spend hours just slowly making your way through all the booths. And one of the main attractions is always seeing which celebrities are going to be there for photo ops and autographs.

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But along with celebrities, you can also get photo opportunities and autographs for comic book artists, professional cosplayers, and at Galaxy Con, pro wrestlers. It’s always worth it to check out these smaller booths, too, because you never know if you might find a new comic artist that you love or see some next level cosplays.

At Galaxy Con, they also have big displays for geeky and nerdy organizations throughout Ohio. In 2024, the biggest one was the display for the 501st Legion of Central Ohio. There were multiple photo opportunities with life size droids, creatures, a land speeder, and even Han Solo frozen in carbonite, all on display in an area built to look like you’re walking onto set on Tatooine.

Of course, the Legion’s many members were walking around in their costumes, making the experience all the more authentic and neat. And, on Saturday and Sunday, they had this cool event where you could donate money to a guide dog organization, 4 Paws for Ability, and then you had 30 minutes to evade being captured by the bounty hunters around the vendor hall.

They also had a Delorean from Back to the Future that you could take pictures with. And a Jurassic Park display complete with dinosaurs and the Jeep. They also had a massive Ghostbuster’s display with all the ghost hunting vehicles and equipment. No ghosts were getting past that!

Many Comic Cons also have a lot of pro wrestlers and wrestling events that happen because it overlaps well with the fanbases. If you want to catch these, it’s best to stay a little later because they tend to be later in the day/evening. In 2024, Galaxy Con also had a station set up in the same room where you could get tattoos and piercings, which isn’t something you see at every Comic Con and gave it a unique experience if you were thinking about a geeky tattoo or new piercing. Definitely something to check out.

Even though this isn’t a gaming convention, like Origins that is held in Columbus every summer, there were still a lot of games featured. The main ones featured were, of course, TTRPGs like Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder.

But there were also rooms where you could play other board games to relax or learn. They also had professional Dungeons and Dragons players from Go Buff Yourself! D&D podcast who put on a live show for audiences to enjoy. It featured many laughs and even audience participation. Live shows of D&D are definitely a must to check out if you can, even if you don’t know the rules real well, because it’s really fun to watch people play and tell a story.

One of the other fun parts of a Comic Con are the panels. Many of them are bigger for some of the bigger name celebrities. There were panels at Galaxy Con this year that featured Weird Al Yankovic, the Ted Lasso cast, the original Aladdin voice actors, and the Hazbin Hotel voice actors, just to name a few. But, some of the best panels to attend can also be the smaller ones.

Many of these feature smaller content creators, artists, and comic book writers. Galaxy Con had smaller panels ranging from talks with Marvel and Star Wars comic artists, learning to become a Dungeon/Game Master to talking about movies and TV adaptations, building a story bible, and learning how to make Middle-earth themed food.

Some of the events are also workshops that you can attend. Some can cost money up front and have limited availability due to making something and using materials. Two of these at Galaxy Con were workshops for making your own leather dice tray and making your own leather drawstring bag. There were also workshops and events for painting minis and crafting a metal crown.

And finally, one of the most fun things about Comic Cons are seeing all the creative costumes and cosplays that people make. Galaxy Con has special cosplay events where there are contests for the design and contests for a talent you do while in cosplay, just to name a couple. There are also after hours parties and over 18 events that last well into the night.

As you can see, there are many more things to do at Comic Cons, and especially Galaxy Con, than you would think. So be sure to check out some of the more unique and off the beaten path events that help make the Con all the more fun. Smaller Cons can be just as fun as the bigger ones, and have even more unique and fun things to do.

Galaxy Con Columbus will be held December 5-7 in 2025 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

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