The 2026 Kalamazoo Comic-Con opened Friday at the Kalamazoo Expo Center, drawing crowds eager to celebrate comics, anime, sci-fi and all things geeky. The three-day convention runs through Sunday and features vendors, live shows and panels with celebrity guests.
Mark Hodges, the event director, noted that the convention has grown to appeal to both longtime fans and newcomers, with families often attending together.
"We also get families that like this is just sort of a fun thing they get to do together," Hodges said. "They can all agree on it. They do their costume thing, but they'll do different generations of it. The kids will do anime and the parents will do Star Wars or a superhero or something like that. And it's neat. It's a really, really neat thing to see that, you know...That people are wanting to do that. That's good fun."
Attendees can expect a wide array of exhibitors, from comic book vendors to cosplay suppliers. Live performances and panels with celebrity guests from popular franchises round out the offerings.
Tickets are available at the door, with all-day passes ranging from $35 to $40. Kids aged 5 to 12 pay $8, and children under 5 get in for free.
Kalamazoo Comic-Con continues to be a beloved annual tradition that brings the local community together around shared passions for comics, movies, TV shows and other forms of pop culture.