Comicpalooza 2026 Brings Comics and Pop Culture to Houston
Written by Seth Adrian Romo
Comicpalooza kicked off its 18th year of being Houston’s biggest comic and pop culture convention this past Memorial Day weekend at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
With an impressive array of celebrities from The Matrix, Daredevil: Born Again, and even Steve from Blues Clues—the showroom floor was packed with fans getting celebrity photos, comics, or witnessing medieval fighters in full armor hammering at each other.
As seasoned attendees of the convention, the team at Pages and Panels is happy to report a number of changes that kept energy high—despite the rainy weekend.
The first change was all badge pick ups moved to Hall A. This minor change created a natural flow of traffic and wasn’t the only logistical change.
Whereas previous years kept comic book creators and literature clumped together closer to Hall D, this year creators were sprinkled throughout the convention center encouraging shoppers to meander through aisles and find new discoveries.
“I thought the layout was great,” said comic creator Rob Saucedo. “It felt like people were really exploring the whole convention—but not too crowded where I couldn’t have room to chat.
Comic Book Writer, Rob Saucedo.
Comicpalooza has more than enough to fill an entire weekend, but as we focus on comics, literature, and cosplay, we made sure to attend a few panels we know our readers would find interesting.
For all things cosplay, be sure to check out our Cosplay Coverage of Comicpalooza.
Comicpalooza has steadily grown its literature track and this year it included a unique panel focused on leveraging Houston as a background when it comes to writing fiction. Moderated by Whit McClendon with guest speakers Hank Schwaeble, Kate St. Clair, and Ammar Habib, panelists gave their inspirations for where to place a gothic horror story as well as what makes Houston inspiring.
Photographed left to right: Whit McClendon, Hank Schwaeble, Kate St. Clair, and Ammar Habib.
Throughout the insightful discussion on fiction, writing, and including Houston, audience members were given plenty to consider when it comes to writing about the 4th largest city in the United States.
“Houston is already an entity—you don’t have to make ac haracer for it, it introduces itself to you,” said St. Clair.
“What Houston does have, like Chicago, New York, but also LA,” said Schwaeble, “is that Houston has a grit you can really pull out.
In addition to learning from published authors, a number of comic book panels were hosted with heavy hitters from the comics industry.
We managed to make it to the Gail Simone panel where audience members got to ask questions like taking on Red Sonja and finally getting Rogue and Gambit together in X-Men.
But most importantly, audience members got to be reminded that while Gail is a comic book icon, a lot of it is through determination. It’s this determination she expressed is what others need to hold on to.
Acclaimed writer, Gail Simone. (And overall badass.)
“I was literally the wrong everything when I started writing comics. I was the wrong gender. I was from the wrong area of the world. I was had the wrong education. Everything was wrong. To those of you who aspire to do something creative or to do anything, really. Don’t get in your own way. There’ll be plenty of people there to do that for you,” said Simone. “Your viewpoint is important. There are people who are gonna want to see it or read it, or play it, or feel it, or whatever you’re doing. So just don’t think that you’re wrong for what it is you want to do.”
Comicpalooza is one of those conventions that seems to get better every year, and 2026 was no different. Here’s looking to 2027. Until then, stay tuned on all Comicapalooza related by following their social media (Instagram @houstoncomicpalooza).