UnCommonCon was a short-lived

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

and science fiction convention held in the Dallas, Texas, area on Thanksgiving weekend. James Echols was the show chairman and president of event sponsor Uncommon Solutions. This combination of media, comics, and literary guests with gaming, art, anime, and film was an ambitious attempt to create a large convention with regional and national appeal. UnCommonCon suffered financial collapse just before the 2001 event.

History

Dates and guests

The first UnCommonCon, UnCommonCon 2000, was held November 24–26, 2000, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel-DFW Airport located by Terminal C at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Guests included author Aaron Allston, author Tracy Hickman, author

P.N. Elrod Patricia Nead Elrod (b. 1954) is an American novelist specializing in urban fantasy. She has written in the mystery, romance, paranormal, and historical genres with at least one foray into comedic fantasy. Elrod is also an editor, having worked o ...

, actor Ted Raimi,

Melissa Benson Melissa is a female given name. The name comes from the Greek word μέλισσα (''mélissa''), "bee", which in turn comes from μέλι (''meli''), "honey". In Hittite, ''melit'' signifies "honey". ''Melissa'' also refers to the plant ''Me ...

, '' Babylon 5'' actor Jason Carter, "Hulk" actor Lou Ferrigno, actor

Victor Lundin Victor Lundin (December 8, 1929 – July 2, 2013) was an American character actor who is best remembered as appearing in the 1964 science fiction film '' Robinson Crusoe on Mars'' as the character Friday and for having later portrayed the first K ...

, artist

Bryan Talbot Bryan Talbot (born 24 February 1952) is a British comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' and its sequel '' Heart of Empire'', as well as the ''Grandville'' series of books. He collaborated ...

, and many more. Screenings included ''Babylon Park'' and ''Laughing Boy''. Organizers were reported to have expected attendance of around 4000 but only 1200 people actually attended. The second UnCommonCon, UnCommonCon 2001, was scheduled to be held November 23–25, 2001, at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Scheduled guests included author Aaron Allston, artist Sergio Aragones, author

Lee Martindale Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...

, and author

Michael Stackpole Michael Austin Stackpole (born November 27, 1957) is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his ''Star Wars'' and ''BattleTech'' books. He was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, but raised in Vermont. He has a BA in history from ...

. The first major auction by

Heritage Auctions Heritage Auctions is an American multi-national auction house based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1976, Heritage is an auctioneer of numismatic collections, comics, fine art, books, luxury accessories, real estate, and memorabilia from film, mu ...

was scheduled to be held in conjunction with the convention. There were several factors, including a sharp drop in domestic travel after

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, that led to cancellation of the event roughly two weeks before the second convention was to occur but organizers publicly blamed slow dealer tables sales and their failure to meet room block commitments resulting in a $60,000 invoice from the hotel.

Demise/aftermath

When UnCommonCon failed unexpectedly due to financial difficulties,

A-Kon A-Kon is an annual three-day anime convention held during June at the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas and Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas. First held in 1990 with just 380 people in attendance, A-Kon is North America's longest runn ...

sponsors Phoenix Entertainment stepped in with Itzacon. This event was hurriedly put together and "inherited" a number of guests from the UnCommonCon roster who had already completed travel plans for this Thanksgiving weekend. Con organizer Meri Hazlewood later claimed a paid attendance of "about 540 people (not counting dealers and staff)." Heritage Comic Auctions held its "million dollar" comics and movie poster auction, as scheduled, at the Wyndham Anatole. They provided free vendor space to vintage comics and art dealers to advertise the now-smaller event and encourage more people to attend the auction in person. 703 of the 845 lots sold at auction bringing in a total of $960,649.05

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uncommoncon Defunct multigenre conventions Defunct comics conventions Defunct science fiction conventions in the United States Conventions in Texas Recurring events established in 2000 2001 disestablishments in the United States