Chattanooga Comic Con is an event that consistently treats me very well and is close enough to home to make this an event I attend every year. Even after deciding to cut back on the number of events I go to there was never any doubt I’d come back here. Speaking of number of events I have something to share that I personally find important, but you’ll have to stick around to the end of the article to find out what that is.

Starting off with the guests we have yet another impressive list. You have several people from the Super Mario franchise such as the voices of Bowser, Peach, and Rosalina. They even the incredible composer of the DK Rap. Multiple actors from Dragon Ball Z featuring the voices of Freiza and Goten. Marvel Rivals Ironman and Jeff the Shark; plus Mass Effect’s Ashley and Edi. Comic book guests included incredible talent such as Sketch Ellis and Tyler Kirkham. Then you have guests more known for their on screen appearances such as Deborah Ann Woll and of course Ming Chen. Like previous years there was no issue meeting anyone as their was plenty of space for autograph lines and to walk around from place to place. My wallet wasn’t so happy about it but when I can easily walk around and meet people, I tend to spend more money on autographs.

Vendors is another thing I absolutely enjoyed this year. With plenty of space between each booth, I had no problem getting from place to place and comfortably looking at all of the available merch. I did recognize a few vendors from other local conventions but still managed to find a lot of new to me stuff. My wife actually bought so many books we many need a new bookshelf. We found some more Snorlax merch for our ever growing collection and I even got something to hopefully improve how my beard looks. The temptation to buy more than what I did was strong.

Next up I’ll talk about the panels because I’m really liking how this event is expanding on not only their panel list but other stuff to do around the convention. Like most conventions you had the various Q and A panels with the guests. Though here you also had other creative ideals including a cryptids discussion, improv workshops, a Markiplier watch party and an old time radio panel. Now this one requires a bit of explaining.

Here you had actors on mics performing a radio show using their acting talents as someone else was responsible for providing the various sound effects. They even had commercial breaks there they performed custom made advertisements for several vendors. I really loved the creativity in this idea. In this case we got to listen to the adventures of Superman and I was able to catch part one, though had to miss part two for something else. That happened to be watching the owner of Farleycon getting hit by an RKO by Ming Chen in a wrestling ring.

Like previous years, having Ming appear means a special event unlike any other. Saturday’s after convention event included drinks, dancing and a mechanical bull all at the Whiskey Cowgirl. Which for those wondering I did ride the bull. For $40 you got admission to the event that took place in the VIP section of the bar and included a T-shirt and appetizers. We ended up hanging out for three hours and I was too worn out to walk back. In the end I had to call an uber, but that’s an exciting story for another time.

So overall I have many reasons to keep coming back to this event. If there is something I want to do I never worry about if I’m able to do it. The crowds are well managed, the venue is spacious, there’s plenty to do and unique events unlike any other. After all in the myriad of conventions I’ve attended, this is the first I’ve ended up falling off a mechanical bull. Now returning to what I teased earlier. One of the reasons I attended less events this year was to time a very important personal milestone as this makes my 100th convention. With how much fun I have here and how well both the owners of this event and Farleycon have treated me I really couldn’t think of a better place to reach this milestone that means quite a bit to me. Here’s to many more events to come and many more years attending Chattanooga Comic Con.