Topic summary
Comic book festival
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Comic book convention.
The 1970s and explosive growth
Nostalgia '72, held July 22–23, 1972, at the Pick-Congress Hotel, was the first Chicago-area comics and collectibles convention. Produced by Nancy Warner, the show had about 2,000 attendees. That show evolved into the Chicago Comicon (now known as Fan Expo Chicago), and has been known to attract as many as 70,000 attendees annually. The Angoulême International Comics Festival debuted in Angoulême, France, in January 1974. 10,000 attendees made it the most successful inaugural comic book festival to that date. 1974 also had the first OrlandoCon, organized by regional chairman of the National Cartoonists SocietyJim Ivey; guests included C. C. Beck, Roy Crane, Hal Foster, Ron Goulart, and Les Turner. OrlandoCon ran annually for 20+ years until 1994.