MegaCon Honors the Pulse Anniversary with “Love is Love” Events

In honor of the upcoming first anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting, MegaCon is planning a weekend of exclusive Love is Love events. The special appearances, cocktail mixer, art show, and auction will all benefit Equality Florida.

Love is Love is a comic book created in response to the Pulse shooting. The comic, organized by writer Marc Andreyko, featured short works by comic writers and artists in response the tragedy that took 49 lives last June.

Patty Jenkins, the director of Wonder Woman, wrote the forward. The creators who donated their work are pretty much a “who’s who” of comics and entertainment: Gail Simone, Matt Millar, Jim Lee, G. Willow Wilson, Brian Michael Bendis, Marguerite Bennett, Matt Bomer… even J.K. Rowling and Jim Lee took part. It went on to raise over $165,000 for the victims of the Pulse tragedy (besides those killed, 53 were hurt).

The event at MegaCon began when Andreyko approached con organizers and asked to auction off some art to benefit Equality Florida. It makes sense: the first anniversary of the shooting is a few weeks away on June 12th, putting it front and center in Orlando’s thoughts. Organizers agreed to the show, and from there it grew into a series of events. Here’s what’s planned so far:

• May 25-28: Art donated by Love is Love creators will be on display in the OCCC South Concourse Lobby. There will also be some custom pieces made just for this show by George Perez, Jock, Rafael Albuquerque, and others.
• May 26, 7:30-10:30 p.m.: A meet and greet filled with comic celebrities (it’s George Perez’s only MegaCon experience). Each ticket comes with snacks, drinks, exclusive art, and a copy of Love is Love which you can get signed by the more than 25 creators in attendance. Everyone gets a head sketch by a creator they choose when they buy their tickets. (If you want Scott Snyder he’s already sold out, but there are six more artists to pick from.) What’s unusual about this mixer is that it’s tax deductible- everyone gets a tax receipt from Equality Florida in their swag bag that covers the ticket price.
• May 27, 7:30 p.m.: An art auction featuring pieces by George Perez, Jock, Gail Simone, Cat Staggs, Rafael Albuquerque, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, and more comic greats. This auction is free to attend, but if you want to bid you need to register ahead of time.

To read more about the events planned, check out the Love is Love section of the MegaCon site. If you can’t make it, watch The Geekiary for coverage of the Love is Love events!

Are you going to MegaCon? Will you be stopping by the art show? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Author: Khai

Khai is a writer, anthropologist, and games enthusiast. She is co-editor (alongside Alex DeCampi) of and contributor to “True War Stories”, a comic anthology published by Z2 Comics. When she’s not writing or creating games, Khai likes to run more tabletop RPGs than one person should reasonably juggle.

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