Fan Expo SF, billed as Northern California’s largest pop culture convention, took place over Thanksgiving weekend at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. That’s within shouting distance of The Steampunk Explorer World Headquarters, so we spent Saturday afternoon exploring the event with camera in hand.
Many folks attend these conventions to see and hear from celebrities. This year’s special guests included Andy Serkis, Bruce Campbell, Giancarlo Esposito, Kate Mulgrew, and Felicia Day.
However, we were more interested in meeting cosplayers and independent creators, all the better if they work in steampunk or related categories.
The convention was light on steampunk cosplay, but one nice thing about our genre is that it can draw from the full spectrum of fan interests — just think of all the steampunk outfits inspired by Star Wars or comic book characters.
We encountered lots of Star Wars cosplay at this event, including independent cosplayers and those affiliated with Lucasfilm-sanctioned groups like the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion. Members of several droid-building groups were also there, as well as Andrew Maley with his wisecracking remote-controlled Dalek.
Reimagining Mickey Mouse
Fan conventions also provide an opportunity to learn about interesting creative projects that might otherwise fly under the radar. One of these was The Funtastic Worlds of Steamboat Willie, a forthcoming comic book adventure from I See Sound Comics.
Steamboat Willie was the 1928 Walt Disney film that introduced Mickey Mouse. It entered the public domain this year, meaning that independent producers are free to use the character as long as they stick to the original depiction and don’t include elements from later versions.
The comics will take Mickey on a series of time travel adventures. Lawrence Iriarte, who leads the effort, told me that this early version of Mickey was darker than later ones, making the character better suited for the stories he wants to tell. He soon plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign for the project.
Fan Expo SF is produced by Informa Connect, the company behind MegaCon in Orlando and Fan Expos in many other cities. Informa has already announced dates for next year’s event: Nov. 28-30, 2025, also at Moscone Center.
In the meantime, you can see highlights from the 2024 convention in the gallery below.
