DISCLAIMER: I received a press pass to attend this event. The opinions here are still mine.
Also, please consider reading this brief article about my various illnesses and such over the last several months. This article is very late, but things have been difficult. Originally, I had also planned to publish these pfotos to Instagram, again, in a more timely manner. Here we are though!
At the beginning of June, I attended 3 Rivers Comicon at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. I was surprised to see this event at the convention center, as I couldn't recall seeing it advertised in years past (I later heard that it was held at the Century III and Waterfront Malls in previous years). American comic book stuff is really not a huge thing on my radar, so it's not a surprise that I missed out on the earlier events. My friend Tyler wanted to check out this convention, so I decided to check it out as well.
Anyway, 3 Rivers Comicon is held by local chain New Dimension Comics, who I have always had positive experiences with. I recall them being one of the only positive sellers at the 2019 Tekko, when, unfortunately, there were otherwise a lot of really same-y, overpriced vendors! I didn't realize the store was connected with the event before the day of. Before the event, I didn't know what to expect from it in general. Pittsburgh has had a surprisingly tumultuous history with comics conventions that are not Tekko. This one being at the convention center put some heavy expectations on it: this would have been expensive to hold, and I wondered how big it would be.
I got to the convention a bit later than I hoped to on Saturday, June 4th. There had been some confusion over getting there, and I had stopped briefly at the community yard sale held in the Mexican War Streets neighborhood nearby. Tyler had already informed me that the event was only held in a small section of the first floor of the venue, so I was not expecting a Tekko-sized event. The event was just a large vending hall and the hallway between that room and the outside world.
The hallway was full of a few small seller tables and some pfoto ops with things like Star Trek-themed ship displays. I did not interact with this section much.
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| Chickens and Yarn makes adorable crochet creatures! |
Inside the room, I found a mixture of vendors and artists. It was a good combination of things: collectible comics, indie artists, action figures, plush toys, t-shirts, and famous names for Marvel and DC doing autographs. Even though I did not want to spend a lot of money due to some recently-hefty bills, I was not disappointed.
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| Victor and his table of goodies |
I hung out with my friend Victor for a while. I hadn't seen him for a few years, so we caught up and talked about the convention. He had a lot of neat books that I had only seen online. I ended up buying the anthology Mañana: Latinx Comics From The 25th Century, which contained a story he wrote. I also got his Hero Booster comic and Garlic Champions zine. Victor threw in another little zine for blog writers.
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| Spectrina poses at the Heroineburgh booth |
I also saw my friend Manny with his Heroineburgh booth. I used to play a lot of shows that Manny set up at the Garfield Artworks. I have very fond memories of that place. Manny started creating a superhero show a few years ago, and now they have comics too! Unfortunately, I haven't kept up, but I believe the character at 3 Rivers Comicon was Spectrina.
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| Topaz Strange had this colorful and fun booth |
I bought two magnets featuring Pac-Man characters Inky and Clyde from an artist called Topaz Strange. They had so many cool illustrations and paintings, but these really spoke to me. I've always loved the style of Namco's classic game. I can't really describe this too well, but it has almost a Kandinsky-esque quality to me. That probably sounds funny, but it's not meant to be. In addition to the magnets, I also snagged two Pokémon stickers.
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| Loran Skinkis with his quick but cool Space Ghost drawing |
Tyler got a plush of Max Rebo, and I also stumbled upon an artist creating an image of Space Ghost from the 1960s cartoon. Like Pac-Man, I've loved Space Ghost since I was little. The Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet comedies made the whole thing seem larger than life with all of the references between everything. The artist, Loran Skinkis, actually gave me the image, which I am really grateful for; I just thought it was cool!
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| Artist Andy West had the Yusuke figure and also a really nice booth as well! |
At a certain point, I considered buying an action figure of Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho. I really wasn't sure where I would put it, but the price was quite good. I decided to mentally table that and come back later.
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| Stacie Pinsoneault and 819 Comics had a beautifully colorful booth |
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| I really liked Colin Richards old-school RPG art that would look right at home at Goodman Games |
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| Edeline Dravern creates various original characters with mystical origins |
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| Game Fix does streaming and podcasts |
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| Gary Morgan's art reminded me of Brian Froud |
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| Hardiewear makes some fun shirts featuring Bigfoot |
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| Hero Tomorrow Comics had a very vibrant booth that reminded me of Mardi Gras |
Before leaving, we saw a parade of cosplayers. This was a lead-up to the cosplay competition. Unfortunately, my pfotos of this are terribly blurry. There were some nice costumes though! The setup was not particularly interesting, considering it went from the escalators, past the entrance, and then through the small hallway leading up to the vendor room. I'd love to see this given more prominence in the future!
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| Very happy to get these (and a flying Android 18, also from Vol. 2, that I accidentally left out of the pfoto) from You See Toys |
Since we had seen everything on Saturday, Tyler decided to stay home on Sunday. I went back. I checked in with Victor again, and I saw that the Yusuke figure had sold. I was not surprised that it had considering the price it was at! I also headed to a booth, You See Toys, to see if they had brought something today - they had! This lady had had some Dragon Ball World Collectible Figures on Saturday, but she sold out of some of them. She was pretty sure she had more, and it turns out she did! I was really happy to get the original Dragon Ball Yamcha amongst others! Thanks so much!
3 Rivers Comicon was a lot of fun! I didn't expect much going in, but I really enjoyed it. It was interesting just connecting with the various creators and finding some nice artwork. My only real complaint is that I think the organizers should have been more cautious with safety precautions around COVID. It wasn't that big of a convention, and the room is very big. It could definitely be much worse. I wasn't too worried about it, but I still would have preferred some vaccine or mask requirements. Initially, I was concerned with the convention being mostly a marketplace, but that did not turn out bad at all. There were actually a few events with reasonable celebrity appearances. I did not attend any, as these events did not interest me. But, even not going I had a good time, and I think it was partially because 3 Rivers Comicon was not an all-day, all-weekend event like Tekko or Garycon. I quite enjoyed the just sort of "come-and-go-as-you-please" thing about it. I didn't feel tethered to the convention center with this one, and for that, I really can't complain! I will definitely be sure to come back to 3 Rivers Comicon 2023, and I hope to make this a yearly thing, press pass or not.
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