Con & On: Ahoy Comics Satirizes the Comic-Con Experience

Comic-Con International: San Diego has been a pop culture force for decades at this point, and there’s no shortage of memorable stories involving fans, creators, celebrities and all the unusual characters that make each Comic-Con so memorable. It’s only fitting that those stories inspire a new satire series dubbed Con & On.

IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of Con & On #1, which is written by Paul Cornell (Doctor Who), drawn by Marika Cresta (Doctor Aphra), colored by Paul Little and lettered by Rob Steen. The series is published by Ahoy Comics. Get a closer look in the slideshow gallery below, but beware of some NSFW language ahead!

Con & On revolves around a fictionalized version of SDCC called the Vista Al Mar Comics Festival. The series stars a pair of wide-eyed fans and aspiring creators named Eddie and Deja, as well as a trio of cranky British creators and an ensemble cast of comics editors, C-List actors and fans. This five-issue series traces all of their parallel stories over the years, from the early ’90s to the present.

Here’s Ahoy Comics’ official description for the series:

Popular writer Paul Cornell (Doctor Who, Wild Cards) and artist Marika Cresta (Captain Carter, Doctor Aphra) follow an ensemble cast of media pros and fans down through the decades of America’s most colossal comic book convention! Meet Eddie and Deja—aspiring comics talents whose ambitions threaten to tear their friendship apart; Anthony, Don & Finn—brilliant, boozy, bombastic British creators; and all of the crusty editors, forgotten TV stars, and enthusiastic fans who make the convention experience memorable, year after year.

Con & On #1 is priced at $3.99 and will hit stores on Wednesday, July 12, just ahead of the start of SDCC 2023.

For more on what to expect from this year’s Comic-Con, check out Funko’s massive Funkoville booth setup and see which major studios won’t be attending SDCC this time.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.