OrlandoCon

OrlandoCon
Status	Defunct
Genre	Comic books, TV, and movies
Venue	International Inn
Location(s)	Orlando, Florida
Country	United States
Inaugurated	1974
Most recent	1994
Organized by	Jim Ivey & Charlie Roberts
Filing status	for-profit

OrlandoCon, also known as O'Con, was a long-running comic book fan convention which was held annually between 1974 and 1994 in Orlando, Florida. The first comic book convention held in the Orlando area, OrlandoCon billed itself as a "Central Florida comic art convention and early TV/film festival." Captain Marvel-creator C. C. Beck was a regular guest of the show; as were many other Golden Age of Comic Books creators who lived in the Orlando area.

The founders of OrlandoCon were regional chairman of the National Cartoonists Society Jim Ivey, and local enthusiasts Charlie Roberts, Richard Kravitz, Rob Word, and Neil Austin. Most OrlandoCons took place over a September weekend.

Each year's show featured a banquet for attending cartoonists and the presentation to the guest of honor of a gold brick called the Ignatz Award named in honor of George Herriman's Krazy Kat. Recipients of the Ignatz included Don Martin,Joe Kubert, Martin Nodell, and Don Addis. (The OrlandoCon Ignatz Award is not connected to the current award of the same name presented annually at the Bethesda, Maryland-based Small Press Expo.)

Each show featured a charity auction to benefit the Milt Gross Fund of the National Cartoonists Society. The OrlandoCon often featured screenings of early TV shows, as well as panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals. In addition, there was a floorspace for exhibitors, including comic book dealers and collectibles merchants. The show included an autograph area, as well as an Artists' Alley where comics artists signed autographs and sold or produced free sketches.

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Wikipedia