Over 1000 People Attend Q Con 2023 Queer Comic Book Convention in West Hollywood

Over 1000 queer comic fans attended the second annual Q Con this past Saturday at West Hollywood Plummer Park hosted in part by Prism Comics, the nonprofit championing LGBTQ+ visibility, diversity and inclusion in comics, graphic novels and popular media. The WeHo Pride event had something for everyone in the LGTBQ+ community, from LGBTQ+ books, comics, artists and meet and greets, including authors and cosplay personalities like Dragpool and Chrissy Lynn Carpenter.

The convention also had many special guests at the Prism Comic table, including Tim Sheridan (DC Pride Through The Years; Superman: Man of Tomorrow) Rex Ogle (Free Lunch, Northranger; Four Eyes), Lee Dawn (We Are Frogs), and animated voice actress, Valerie Rose Lohman.

New edition this year was the Q CON PANELS. There were four panels throughout the day including What Does Healthy Queer Representation in Comics Look Like?, Spotlight on Sina Grace and Josh Trujillo, Pride Story Hour and Geek Crossfire.

“I was thrilled with the turnout for Q Con – over 1000 people,” Ted Abenheim, President of Prism Comics and the producer of Q told WEHO TIMES. “As a gay geek who’s been around for a while, seeing the room filled throughout the day with large crowds sharing the love of comics and queer geek culture made me very happy. We had more trans and genderqueer creators at the Con this year, more independent comics creators and more creators from the major comics publishers, and more cosplayers. The creativity, the writing and art in the queer comics community is truly amazing. And we had another great turnout for the costume contest including Namor, Nightcrawler, Poison Ivy, the crew from Forbidden Planet, and the young kids dressed as characters from Rugrats.”

The Cosplay costume contest is always a crowd pleaser was hosted by Julian Jetson and Amber Martin. Twenty contestants showcased their best costume including Rugrats, male & female Spiderman, Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. The three judges had the tuff challenge to awarded QCon highest awards! The 3rd Place award went to all-painted-in-blue Alain Diaz as Nightcrawler from X-Men, 2nd Place was to couple Mark & Greg in costumes from from Forbidden Planet and 1st place was bestowed to Krystyn Slack was dressed as Ventorra from Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania.

“With rising hate and discrimination against queer people, it’s more important than ever for LGBTQ voices to be heard and for queer pride to be seen – especially in a medium as popular as comics and graphic novels,” Abenheim added. “And Prism Comics is pleased to play a part in that in the West Hollywood and Southern California communities. We thank the City of West Hollywood Art Division who supported us with a grant to make Q Con happen; the Los Angeles Film School who was our Community Sponsor with volunteers for video production and social networking; and our wonderful smiling check-in and greeting team from Disney VoluntEARS. We couldn’t have done it without them or our generous volunteers. Our second year of Q Con showed the power of queer comics and popular media to bring a community together, and we look forward to an even bigger celebration of comics pride at Q Con 2024.”

Q Con was free to the public and family friendly, providing pre-teens through adults with the opportunity to find a wide variety of comics and graphic novels affirming LGBTQ+ representation at one exciting, colorful event.

Prism Comics is celebrating its 20th Anniversary as a nonprofit championing LGBTQ+ visibility, diversity and inclusion in comic books, graphic novels and popular media. Founded in 2003, Prism Comics has become “LGBTQ+ Comics Central” at San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon Anaheim, Los Angeles Comic Con, other conventions and online providing a safe, welcoming community for LGBTQ+ and LGBTQ+ friendly comics creators, readers, librarians, educators and families. Prism has helped foster many comics creators who have become major voices in comics and graphic novels.

This years event included these wonderful talented LGBTQ+ people: Aleasha Acevedo (Husk); Tara Madison Avery (We’re Still Here, Stacked Deck Press); David Booher (Rain; Killer Queens); CAPS – Cartoon Art Professional Society; ClexaCon; Dave Davenport (Feral and the Ghost Fighter); Lee Dawn (We Are Frogs); Michael Derry (Troy; Derry Products); A.C. Esguerra (Eighty Days); Richard Fairgray (Four-Color Heroes); Fanbase Press; Jack Foster (Gun); Sina Grace (Rockstar and Softboy; Iceman); Hi-De-Ho Comics; Tini Howard (Excalibur; Catwoman); Jeff Krell (Jayson; Arena Stage); Steve MacIsaac (Shirtlifter; Unpacking); Knave Murdock (TransCat); Cort Lane (The Monster And Me book series); Los Angeles Film School; Ed Luce (Wuvable Oaf); Mei (Qi-Shift); Mark A.J. Nazal (Diwata Komiks); Gladys Ochoa (Ribbons of Thought); Rex Ogle (Northranger; Four Eyes); M.K. Palmer (Meraki); Kristen Parraz (Comadres y Comics Podcast); Mike Pingel (Channel Surfing: Betty White); Prism Comics; Qweerty Gamers; Brad Rader (Bob’s Burgers, Batman: The Animated Series); Rainbow Arc of Fire; David Reddish (The Passion of Sergius & Bacchus); Sonya Saturday (The Greatest Thing You’ve Ever Seen in Your Life); Tim Sheridan (DC Pride Through The Years); Christie Shinn (HoraTora Studios); Josh Trujillo (Hulkling & Wiccan; Blue Beetle); Maximus Spragovsky (W.O.O.F. Galaxy); Stacked Deck Press; William O. Tyler (Theater of Terror); Shannon Watters (Lumberjanes: Hollow); Fernando Velez (Kraven Comics; Class6); Yaoi Revolution; Cosplayers: Chrissy Lynn Carpenter; Dragpool; rye_n_cosplay and dkarthall (DR.Costumes); Kelsey Fernandez; Jacqueline Goehner (Underground Cosmetics); Julian Jetson; Cathy Kutz; MegaChromatic; PumaDoesCosplay; Rachael Sanderson (Lucky Grim Creative); Joe Pryde Zuniga and Bryan Gomez;

Q Con is supported by a grant from the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division as part of the City’s WeHo Pride Arts Festival.