The second annual St. Pete Comic Con on January 7-8, 2023, at the Coliseum will be bigger and better than ever with more celebrity guests and cosplay activities as well as additional auditorium space for contests and panels. Last year’s event drew 3,500 attendees and earned positive fan reviews for the event that celebrates comics, anime, sci-fi, and cosplay.
“We’re excited for fans to reunite for a second year in St. Petersburg,” said convention organizer Dewey Caruthers, noting “the fandom response at last year’s event was wonderfully overwhelming!”
St. Pete Comic Con 2023 features three big-time anime voice actors, three nationally-known comic artists, and four high-profile guest cosplayers. In addition, panels will be held across the street at The Sunshine Center, which includes an auditorium for larger attended topics. “We listened to fans last year and expanded to include better rooms for larger and smaller panels,” he said.
And the convention features five contests with $1,500 in cash prizes. Like last year, there are two cosplay contests (Craftsmanship on Saturday and Runway on Sunday). And new competitions include a lip sync contest, and a Tiktok film festival.
Anime voice actors include:
-Jacob Hopkins voices Gumball from the Amazing World of Gumball, and Fushi from to Your Eternity.
-Valeria Rodirguez voices Sucrose from Genshin Impact, and Parona from To Your Eternity.
-Chris Hackney who voices Illumi from Hunter x Hunter, and Dimitri from Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
Comic artists include (with two more artist announcements coming soon):
-Mike Grell is a legendary comic artist widely known for Green Arrow The Longbow Hunters as well as for Green Lantern, Iron Man, and Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes.
-Christopher Jones is best known for his work on Young Justice, Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and Doctor Who.
Guest Cosplayers include (with one more announcement coming soon):
-@Star_cos22, from Orlando, is known for intense makeup and cosplaying obscure characters, and in less than two years they has become wildly successful on TikTok.
-@DarkLady.Cosplay, from Tampa, is a prolific World of Warcraft cosplayer, having brought more than 25 characters from the popular game to life.
-@AmazonCosplayer, from Fort Lauderdale, is Florida’s tallest heroine cosplayer who stands at 6-feet 3-inches portraying characters like Wonder Woman and Red Sonja.
-@SailorScoutsJax, from Jacksonville, is a popular cosplay group that spreads the Sailor Moon vibe throughout comic and anime conventions in Florida.
St. Pete Comic Con is sponsored by Florida Comic Cons, Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine, I Love the Burg, That’s So Tampa, and Creative Loafing. The organizers of St. Pete Comic Con also operate Anime St. Pete and Holiday Cosplay Tampa Bay.
For more information about last year’s event, please see Florida Cosplay Digital Magazine special edition on St. Pete Comic Con 2022 https://magazine.floridacomiccons.com/florida-cosplay-digital-magazine-st-pete-comic-con-2022/cover/