Dates Location Attendance Official guests Notes
July 22–23, 1972[5] Pick-Congress Hotel, Chicago[5] 2,000 None Known as Nostalgia '72[5]
August 3–5, 1973[1] Pick-Congress Hotel[1] None Known as Nostalgia '73, 2nd Annual Chicago Comic and Nostalgia Convention
Summer 1974 Chicago Known as Nostalgia '74, 3rd Annual Chicago Comic and Nostalgia Convention
Summer 1975 Chicago 1,000 Known as Nostalgia '75, 4th Annual Chicago Comic and Nostalgia Convention
August 6–8, 1976 Playboy Towers Hotel, Chicago 2,100[9] Stan Lee, Jenette Kahn, Harvey Kurtzman, Mike Grell, and Tim Conrad
August 5–7, 1977[28] Pick-Congress Hotel, Chicago 3,000[9] Stan Lee, Jenette Kahn,[29] Chester Gould, and Howard Chaykin[30]
July 14–16, 1978 Pick-Congress Hotel 2,500[9] Guest of honor: Chester Gould;[29] other guests include Al Milgrom, Chris Claremont, Rudy Nebres, and Dale Messick Will Eisner was invited to be an "Extra Special Guest," but couldn't attend due to illness.[29]
July 20–22, 1979 Pick-Congress Hotel 2,000[31] Mike W. Barr and John Byrne
July 18–20, 1980 Pick-Congress Hotel Guest of honor: Roy Thomas; other guests: Frank Brunner, Dave Manak, Frank Miller, Josef Rubinstein, Roger Stern, Laurie Sutton, Chris Claremont, Jack C. Harris, Paul Kupperberg, Paul Levitz, Al Milgrom, Steve Mitchell, Joe Staton, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman Officially the fifth annual show
July 17–19, 1981 Pick-Congress Hotel Guest of honor: Will Eisner. New guests for 1981: Terry Beatty, Jim Engel, Chuck Fiala, Denis Kitchen, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Dean Mullaney. Returning guests: John Byrne, Howard Chaykin, Chris Claremont, Max Allan Collins, Mike Grell, Mike Friedrich, Roger Slifer, Paul Kupperberg, Marshall Rogers, Jim Shooter, Joe Staton, Roger Stern, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, and Cat Yronwode[32] Eisner unable to attend due to an accident.[9]
July 16–18, 1982 Americana-Congress Hotel Will Eisner
July 22–24, 1983 Americana-Congress Hotel The last Chicago Comicon to take place in Chicago (and the last at the Congress hotel)
July 6–8, 1984[33] Ramada O’Hare, Rosemont c. 12,000[33] Jack Kirby, Julius Schwartz[34] Program cover featuring Superman drawn by Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.[34]
July 5–7, 1985 Ramada O’Hare Guest of honor: Sergio Aragonés 10th anniversary Chicago Comicon
July 4–6, 1986 Ramada O'Hare 5,000[35] Stan Lee (guest of honor), George Pérez (special guest), Doug Wildey
July 3–5, 1987 Ramada O'Hare c. 4,500[36]
July 1–3, 1988 Ramada O'Hare c. 5,000 Max Allan Collins and Dick Locher (special guests);[14] other guests: Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Dave Stevens, and Chris Claremont[37]
June 30–July 2, 1989 Ramada O'Hare c. 5,000 Jim Aparo,[38] Stan Lee, Harvey Pekar, Jay Lynch, Skip Williamson, and S. Clay Wilson[15]
July 6–8, 1990 Ramada O'Hare 5,000+[18] Featured guests: Van Williams, Gerard Christopher, Harvey Kurtzman, and Erik Larsen. Other guests: Mark Gruenwald, Jim Starlin, Tom DeFalco, Len Strazewski, John Ostrander, Kim Yale, Chuck Fiala, P. Craig Russell, Charlie Athanas, Dick Locher, Max Allan Collins, Rick Obadiah, and Tony Caputo.[18]
June 28–30, 1991 Ramada O'Hare Jim Steranko, Kevin Eastman, and Chris Claremont[39]
July 4–6, 1992 Ramada O'Hare Image Comics crew: Rob Liefeld, Mark Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, and Whilce Portacio; Martin Nodell[40]
July 2–4, 1993 Rosemont Convention Center 20,000–30,000[2] Guest of honor: Neil Gaiman
July 3–5, 1994 Rosemont Convention Center 20,000+[41] Guest of honor: Harlan Ellison. Special guest: James O'Barr
June 30–July 2, 1995[42] Rosemont Convention Center 20,000[43] Guest of honor: Peter David. Special guests: Sal Buscema, Roy Thomas, John Romita Sr., Chris Claremont, Jim Shooter, and Julius Schwartz
June 21–23, 1996 Rosemont Convention Center 25,000[44] Guest of honor: Will Eisner; other guests: Harlan Ellison, Larry Marder, Heidi MacDonald, Mike Richardson, Kurt Busiek, Sergio Aragonés, Evan Dorkin, Paul Levitz, Julius Schwartz, Mercy Van Vlack, and George Pérez[45]
July 4–6, 1997 Rosemont Convention Center 5,000
July 17–19, 1998 Rosemont Convention Center 25,000 Guest of honor: Todd McFarlane. Special guests: David Prowse and Kenny Baker
July 9–11, 1999 Rosemont Convention Center
August 4–6, 2000 Rosemont Convention Center
August 17–19, 2001 Rosemont Convention Center 40,000+[46] Guest of honor: Alex Ross. Special guests: Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Gene Simmons, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Kimmie Kappenberg from Survivor, James Marsters, and Juliet Landau[23][46]
July 5–7, 2002 Rosemont Convention Center Guest of honor: Marc Silvestri. Special guest: Stan Lee
August 8–10, 2003 Rosemont Convention Center TK Mark Bagley, Laura Bailey, Eric Basaldua, Scott Beatty, Tony Bedard, Brian Michael Bendis, Lee Bermejo, Josh Blaylock, Talent Caldwell, John Cassaday, Jim Cheung, Scott Ciencin, Amanda Conner, Tony Daniel, Nelson Decastro, Andrea Di Vito, Paul Dini, Chuck Dixon, Dale Eaglesham, Steve Epting, Lou Ferrigno, Jackson Guice, Gene Ha, Greg Horn, Paul Jenkins, Phil Jiminez, Geoff Johns, Jeff Johnson, Barbara Kesel, Adam Kubert, Greg Land, Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Joseph Michael Linsner, Jeph Loeb, Jim Mahfood, Steve McNiven, Angel Medina, Mark Millar, Karl Moline, Steve Niles, Phil Noto, Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Pelletier, Brandon Peterson, Eric Powell, Joe Quesada, Humberto Ramos, Robert Rodi, Alex Ross, R.A. Salvatore, Bart Sears, Marc Silvestri, Kevin Smith, Matthew Dow Smith, Peter Steigerwald, Philip Tan, Michael Turner, Jim Valentino, Brian K. Vaughn, Mark Waid, Judd Winick, and Skottie Young
August 13–15, 2004 Rosemont Convention Center Guest of honor: Joss Whedon. Special guests: Kelly Hu and Amber Benson. Other guests: Brian Michael Bendis, Josh Blaylock, J. Scott Campbell, John Cassaday, Jim Cheung, Marie Croall, Tony Daniel, Lou Ferrigno, Gene Ha, Greg Horn, Geoff Johns, Dan Jolley, Jim Lee, Jeph Loeb, Sean McKeever, Angel Medina, Mark Millar, Mike Norton, Joe Quesada, Alex Ross, Alex Saviuk, Marc Silvestri, Kevin Smith, Michael Turner, Brian K. Vaughn, and Skottie Young
August 5–7, 2005 Rosemont Convention Center
August 3–6, 2006 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont 58,000[24] Guest of honor: Jeph Loeb Show expands to four days
August 9–12, 2007 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
June 26–29, 2008 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center c. 68,000 Guest of Honor: Warren Ellis. Special Guests: Todd McFarlane, Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Ross, Steve Sansweet World premiere of the new Batman animated movie Batman: Gotham Night
August 6–9, 2009 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center 70,000[2] Guest of honor: Mark Millar. Special guest: Jeremy Dale
August 19–22, 2010 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center William Shatner, Linda Hamilton, James Marsters, Linda Blair, Nicholas Brendon, Clare Kramer, Claudia Christian, Richard Roundtree, Julia Jones, Joe Madureira, Michael Golden, Arthur Suydam, Brian Pulido, and David W. Mack Original date of August 12–15 moved so as to not compete with Star Wars Celebration V, taking place in Orlando, Florida;[47] special appearance by Rod Blagojevich.
August 11–14, 2011 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center Jim Cheung, Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso, Gregg Hurwitz, Ariel Olivetti, Electra Avellan, Elise Avellan, Morena Baccarin, Betsy Baker, Julia Benson, Amy Bruni, David Della Rocco, Hal Delrich, Ted DiBiase, Brandon DiCamillo, Kelly Donovan, Lou Ferrigno, Dan Fogler, Gil Gerard, Noah Hathaway, Alaina Huffman, Maria Kanellis, Patricia Kara, Ken Anderson, Clare Kramer, Mercedes McNab, Barbara Nedeljáková, Gena Lee Nolin, Miguel Nunez, Kai Owen, Chandler Riggs, Ellen Sandweiss, Daniel Stewart, Theresa Tilly, Lisa Marie Varon, Val Venis, Virgil, Torrie Wilson, Eric Adams, Dave Atkins, Brian Azzarello, Franco Aureliani, Art Baltazar, Jolly Blackburn, Ian Boothby, Tom Brazelton, Brimstone, Jeffrey Brown, Ivan Brunetti, Steve Bryant, Jim Calafiore, Matt Campbell, David Campiti, Lilli Carré, C. Martin Croker, Geof Darrow, Daxiong, Mike Deodato, Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, Alan Evans, Ben Fisher, Nathan Fox, Kevin Freeman, Gary Friedrich, Paul Friedrich, Patrick Gleason, Michael Golden, Mike Grell, Pia Guerra, Michael Harvey, Tom Hodges, Greg Horn, Paul Jenkins, Nat Jones, Don Kramer, Mike Lynch, David W. Mack, Nina Matsumoto, Glenn McCoy, Mike McKone, John Jackson Miller, Jeff Miracola, B. Clay Moore, Stuart Moore, Paul Mounts, Mark A. Nelson, Rafael Nieves, Angus Oblong, Ariel Olivetti, Eric Olsen, Phil Ortiz, Dan Parent, Jim Pavelec, Justin Pierce, Andrew Pepoy, John Porcellino, Nate Powell, Humberto Ramos, Bill Reinhold, Eduardo Risso, Tim Seeley, Bill Sienkiewicz, Mike Stoklasa, William Stout, Arthur Suydam, Ben Templesmith, Mark Texeira, Koi Turnbull, Ethan Van Sciver, Matt Wagner, Chris Walker, Steve Wallace, Freddie Williams II, David Willis, Renée Witterstaetter, and David Wong[citation needed] [citation needed]
August 9–12, 2012 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center William Shatner, Jeri Ryan, Stan Lee, Jon Bernthal, Maryse Ouellet, CM Punk, Carlos Pacheco, George Pérez, Greg Capullo, Nina Dobrev, Kate Mulgrew, Bruce Campbell, Tom Felton, and Amy Acker
August 8–11, 2013 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center Special guests: Stan Lee, Morena Baccarin, James Marsters, Juliet Landau, Manu Bennett, Norman Reedus, Michael Rooker, Andrew McCarthy, Jason David Frank, Alan Davis, Esad Ribic, Pasqual Ferry, Harvey Tolibao, Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Kenneth Rocafort, Ramon F. Bachs, Francis Portela, Greg Land, Ethan Van Sciver, and Michael Golden