ABSTRACT
Comic Con is an international celebration of the popular arts attracting over 130,000 fans each year, and there are similar conventions worldwide, including Comiket in Japan, which began in 1975 and attracts nearly half a million fans, Supacon and Oz Comic Con in Australia, Fan Expo in Canada and many more. From the beginning of conventions, there have been certain common elements including panels of guest experts and other programming, merchandise rooms, art shows and artist exhibitions, and a costume contest traditionally referred to as a “masquerade”. Some conventions have also included dances and other social events, gaming rooms, or organized contests. In one of the earlier studies of fandom, Cheryl Harris provided a definition of fan conventions as “often hotel-weekend affairs involving parties, panels, guest speakers and appearances by celebrities”. Some of the most well-known conventions in terms of mainstream awareness are for Star Trek, which began as an American television show and later produced multiple cult films.
