New Orleans’ annual Fan Expo is what comic book conventions have morphed into in 2026.
In the ’70s, comic conventions in church basements and VFW halls focused on comic book writers and artists with collectors selling comics out of long, white boxes on cafeteria tables. In a back room, they nodded to science fiction, showing reels of “Star Trek” bloopers and old “Flash Gordon” serials.
Now, the balance has shifted. Comics are still part of the story, but fantasy and science fiction-based pop culture drives Fan Expo, which starts Friday and runs through the weekend at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
That shift has made Fan Expo big enough to expand off-campus.
The 25th anniversary of director Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” franchise is one of Fan Expo’s spotlights this year with actors Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd — Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin — on hand for panel discussions, photos and autographs. Other related events are popping up, and Wood will join with Los Angeles’ Zach Cowie to DJ a night of vinyl on Saturday at Republic NOLA. Miel Brewery will host an evening inspired by Middle Earth on Thursday night, as well.
Sean Astin, left, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood reunite at Fan Expo in 2023.
Tipitina’s will host an anime after party on Saturday with a cosplay contest and performances by Sweet Supernova, Purikura Panic and The Suzaku 7.
Astin, whose presence is evidence of the changing status of conventions like this, will talk about two beloved properties — “The Lord of the Rings” films and “The Goonies.”
Conventions were famously mocked in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch when William Shatner told a roomful of minutiae-obsessed Trekkies to get a life, but now they’re such a part of an actor’s life that Astin, president of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, will be in New Orleans and a number of other cities this winter to celebrate the “Lord of the Rings” anniversary.
Astin told a convention in Salt Lake City that “The Goonies” resonated because “it’s got heart.” “The whole idea is we want to save our homes. At its core, it’s about a group of friends who are like family and care about each other and their home. ‘Lord of the Rings’ is about preserving The Shire. It’s the same story.”
He’ll be joined on “The Goonies” panel by actors Corey Feldman, Joe Pantoliano, Kerri Green and Robert Davi.
Another of this year’s big names is John Cena, the longtime wrestler who also stars in “The Peacemaker” on HBO Max. “The Peacemaker” is one of the early tentpole titles in the rebooted DC Universe, and he recently wrestled his retirement match for the WWE. When he appeared this summer at a Fan Expo in Chicago, he reflected on the common element between those two projects — the fans, who haven’t always been kind to him in arenas.
“Y’all want to be here,” he said. “At the end of the day, we all share moments, and y’all want to share those moments with me.”
Sisters from New Orleans Hareu, Hime and Lee Dollis pose during the first day of FAN EXPO New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024.
Fan Expo is casting a wide net, this year bringing part of the cast from the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movies and Christina Ricci from “Wednesday,” “The Addams Family” and “Yellowjackets.” Members of the “Harry Potter” movies cast will be there, as will Helen Hunt from “Twister,” Hayden Christensen from the “Star Wars” prequel films and Cedric Yarbrough and Thomas Lennon from the comedy show “Reno 911!”
Comic books don’t occupy the real estate they once did, but in addition to Cena, actor Mike Colter from Marvel’s “Luke Cage” television series will be at Fan Expo. There will also be panels with comic book writers and artists, including a panel with artist Stephen Platt and writer Terry Kavanaugh about their reboot of Marvel’s “Moon Knight” comic, pumping enough life into a forgettable character that Marvel based its 2022 “Moon Knight” series on Disney+ on their run.
The common thread is nostalgia as fans look back on pop culture that got them through meaningful times in their lives. Independent comic artist Peter Bagge told the comedic stories of grunge era-punks in love in Seattle in his acclaimed comic “Hate,” and for years, he had fans at signings and conventions wishing he still did “Hate.”
Bagge, who will be at Fan Expo, said he resisted the idea of revisiting his main character Buddy Bradley because, “I know when people say, ‘I want to see “Hate,”’ they’re thinking of Buddy when he was young,” Bagge said. “Nobody’s interested in Buddy the middle-aged dad; they just want to see young punks in love doing crazy crap.”
Then the idea hit him to do new and old stories. They allowed him to tell the stories that some fans wanted but also the stories he cared about that showed the characters growing up. In 2024, he produced the miniseries “Hate Revisited,” and soon he’ll produce a one-off issue on Buddy’s younger brother Butch.
“Once I settled on the format, it practically wrote itself, both the new story ideas and the old ones,” Bagge said.
Know before you go
2026 Fan Expo
When: Friday-Sunday, Jan. 9-11
Where: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, 900 Convention Center Blvd., New Orleans
Info: fanexpohq.com/fanexponeworleans or (504) 582-3000
Tickets: $40 and up
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com ’
