GUESTS
For booking contact spa-con@hotsprings.org
SPECIAL GUESTS
Lori Petty
Saturday, September 19
Noon - Q&A with Lori Petty, Room 207
1:00 - Free Photo Ops with Lori Petty, Room 201
2:00 - VIP Meet and Greet, Room 209 (VIP pass holders only)
COSPLAY
The 501st Legion
"The 501st Legion is an international fan-based organization dedicated to the construction and wearing of screen-accurate replicas of Imperial Stormtrooper armor, Sith Lords, Clone Troopers, bounty hunters, and other villains from the Star Wars universe. The 501st Legion, called by its nickname Vader's Fist, is made up entirely of volunteers. The Diamond Garrison, is the Arkansas chapter of the 501st Legion." Appearing in the Expo Hall all weekend.
Akakioga Cosplay
Akakioga Cosplay has made an impact in the Overwatch community for her Orisa cosplay which is appearing in the new book, “Blizzard Cosplay: Tips, Tricks, and Hints”. Akakioga is also an advocate for people of color in cosplay and uses her social media platforms to advocate inclusivity in the nerd community.
Bumblebee
Extreme Costumes’ creation, Designation B-127, better known as Bumblebee is an Autobot and one of Optimus Prime’s lieutenants. Before arriving on Earth, Bumblebee was a part of the, lost in space, Ark. After suffering some damages while crash landing here, Bumblebee was later bought by Sam Witwicky’s father as Sam’s first “car”. Now, Bumblebee is a household name and an icon of what a “good” robot looks like.
HulkBuster
Extreme Costumes’ creation, Hulkbuster, was made with the help of Bruce Banner to control and restrain The Hulk. Tony Stark’s 44th suit design seen first in Iron Man Vol. 1 #304, it held true rated with a life press capacity of 170 tons to endure hand-to-hand combat with The Incredible Hulk.
Reinhardt
Extreme Costumes’ creation, Reinhardt is known as a hero of Overwatch and decorated German soldier that helped put an end to the Omnic Crisis, Reinhardt has come out of retirement to attend 2019 Spa-Con. Known for his upstanding moral compass, Reinhardt is highly regarded for his work leading Overwatch to stand against danger across Europe.
Thomas DePetrillo
Thomas DePetrillo began Extreme Costumes 22 years ago and joined the Cosplay Community in 2009. Since then he has won awards at New York Comic Con and New York Anime Expo, and has gained clients such as: Chevy, Caribbean Cruise, Disney, Sky Network, Duck Tape, and Hasbro. Extreme Costumes has also been featured in Guinness Book of World Records for “World’s Largest Mobile Cosplay”.
Legendary Rose
Based out of Kansas City, Legendary Rose is a gamer, a geek, and a semi-professional cosplayer. She’s been making her own cosplays for five years and has an incredibly diverse range of costumes. Rose has not only has won several awards for her cosplays, but has also has ran over 25 convention panels and been featured in international magazines.
Spock Vegas
Spock Vegas has been cosplaying for over thirty years, beginning with Elvis impersonation contests. More recently he won Las Vegas’ best look-a-like contest at The Venetian, was mentioned in BBC online articles, and even Skyped Leonard Nimoy while in London.
Utahime
Utahime is an actress, model, and dancer that discovered her passion for cosplay in 2014. She has been featured in Cosplay Alliance Magazine, The L.A. Times, Popsugar, Supernews Live, Voyage LA Magazine, and Cosplay Culture. Utahime has also just started a YouTube channel that explores K-Pop music, fashion, and culture.
Gregory Harris
Returning cosplay artist for Spa-Con, Harris previously performed as Dr. Strange. His act included holographic projector featuring sparks, shields, portal spins, and astral projection.
Arkansas Iron Man
Lennon Parker, better known as The Arkansas Iron Man has been cosplaying different variations of Iron Man for the past five years including: Invisible Iron Man, Zombie Iron Man, and Old Man Stark. Parker has been an Iron Man collector since he was eight years old and is soon to be recognized for the largest private Iron Man collection in the world. Additionally he has received global recognition for his work with virtual reality technology in higher education.
Saber Legion
Spa-Con IV welcomes the Arkansas Chapter of the Saber Legion for a live fighting demo on opening night. Make time in your Spa-Con schedule to see Saber Legion members Jason Hayden, Ruben Gay and Nero Lynxx on Friday, September 20th - 6:30PM in Horner Hall. The live action demonstration precedes the opening ceremony and Cybertronic Spree concert. The Saber Legion is a worldwide saber club, with a focus on saber combat and sparring. Their mission statement is “United Through Sabers.”
Mandalorian Mercs
Mandalorian Mercs is a worldwide Star Wars costuming organization and also a registered 501(c)(4) non-profit. Mandalorian Mercs members are encouraged to add creativity to their costuming based around the Star Wars movies, comic-books, books, television, and computer games but not limit themselves to sole accuracy. Mandalorian Mercs was even recognized by LucasFilm LTD in 2011 as the “Elite Mandalorian Costuming Organization".
Bruce Holt
Bruce Holt is a cosplayer and foam master with more than 40 years of experience. He and his company Crazy Costumes have even been mentioned by Cosplay Culture. Holt began competing in costume building in the 1980’s but now teaches others how to build and create amazing costumes. Meet Bruce Hold in the Expo Hall all weekend.
ARTISTS
Pat Moriarity
Cartoon illustrator, Pat Moriarity, began showing his work in Minneapolis in the mid 1980’s. His comics can be seen in kids’ magazines such as: Nickelodeon, National Geographic Kids, and Highlights. After working as a contributor to Real Stuff and Duplex Planet Illustrated, Moriarity began his own comic series Big Mouth and worked as an art director at Fantagraphics Books and the Comics Journal. Moriarity now designs record covers for multiple labels, is an assistant art director for Mineshaft Magazine, and has a new book out, “Pat Moriarity’s Deep Artwork”, that comes with 3D glasses.
Sam de la Rosa
Since 1982 Sam de la Rosa did finished art/inks for Marvel, DC, Image, Disney, and Dark Horse. Credits include Spider-Man, Venom, Carnage, Black Panther, The Avengers, Star Wars, X-Men and more. He worked on Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Star Trek, Firestorms and others for DC Comics. In 1989 at Dark Horse Comics he worked on the first Predator comic book. Sam’s work on Venom Lethal Protector #1-6 is the source material for the Venom Movie.
Walden Wong
Walden Wong is a well-respected comic book artist/inker and has a wide range of experience in the industry. He has worked for practically every publisher out there, including DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, and VIZ media. You can see his name on a variety of titles every year.
Chad Maupin
For over 25 years, Chad Maupin has worked as a graphic designer and illustrator. Maupin is an art Automatron at Bio Bot Design, the creator and owner of CattyWampus Co-Op, and a developer of apparel designs such as FayetteChill and Houndstooth Clothing Company.
Gustav Carlson
Born and raised on a goat farm on top a mountain, Gustav Carlson spent his days naming an increasing number of goats Gruff. Partially in fear of bridge trolls that run rampant in the hills, but mostly because it adequately described most the goats he knew. Since then the trolls have gone extinct, and the goats Gruff are in his past. To fill that constant void, he now draws comics.Eventually he plans to retire to Goat Island, a very real place. He currently creates the comic Tourist Unknown.
Kody Sandwich
Little Rock sketchbook enthusiast, Kody Sandwich, is the creator/ illustrator of She Hunts Monsters Y’all. Sandwich has also worked with Radio DJ, Bobby Bones and designed merchandise for MC Chris.
Nikki Dawes
Nikki is an award-winning graphic artist and illustrator from Arkansas. She’s worked with Critical Role, Amnesty International, and Arkansas Life magazine. Primarily working digitally, Nikki enjoys using bright colors and fantasy characters in her original works.
Stacy Bates
Artist and Fort Smith art teacher, Stacy Bates, specializes in black-and-white, pen and ink illustrations and has experience in murals and printmaking. Currently, Bates is working on a series of animal rights illustrations.
Timothy Lim
Author and illustrator of Thump: The First Bundred Days is a parody book about a bunny campaigning across the United States. Lim also works with Ninjaink, LLC with art featured in print, posters and t-shirts on an international level including: “Ghostbusters”, “Back to the Future”, and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”.
Bill Williams
Bill William is a writer, inker, and letterer. Previously he has worked for DC Comics, IDW, and Ape Entertainment. Williams was also part of the creative team of Antarctic-Press’ Punchline. Williams is now a self publishing artist.
Matthew Weldon
Matthew Weldon was also a part of the Creative Team of Antarctic- Press’ Punchline. Weldon has worked for other companies such as: Image Comics, DC/Vertigo, Capcon/Udon, and Overground Comics. Additionally, Weldon has been nominated for two Harvey Awards and won an MTV award for best all ages comic in 2009.
The Art Sherpa
Cinnamon Cooney is a YouTube art teacher who founded her company, The Art Sherpa, in 2013. She had a strong desire to create a friendly place for beginning acrylic artists to receive instruction and realize their lifelong dreams to paint beautiful pictures. Her YouTube Channel has over 450,000 subscribers and her Art Sherpa personality engages her community on multiple social media channels as she hosts her fully guided, step by step painting tutorials. Her teaching style is humorous and empathetic as she teaches her worldwide audience on how to find their creative voice and use it to paint masterpieces.
Chris Allen
Chris Allen is an inker for Antarctic Press, a comic book publishing company out of San Antonio. He has worked on highly rated comics such as: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Prelude and Ant-Man and the Wasp Prelude but over all, he can be credited in over 72 comic book issues!
Byron Buslig
Byron Buslig graduated from U of A at Little Rock with a degree in Studio Art with an emphasis in Graphic Design and Illustration. He won designer of the year during Arkansas College Media Awards (ACMA) in 2015. Since then, Buslig has worked with clients such as: Sanshee, Nippon-Ichi, Sentai Films, and Arkansas Hospice Foundation.
MORE GUESTS!
The Arkansas CW Crew
The Arkansas CW is the home of well received shows such as Flash, Supergirl, Riverdale, Arrow, Black Lighting, Legends of Tomorrow, Supernatural, All American, The 100, and iZombie. And coming this fall Batgirl and Nancy Drew!
It is also the home of The Arkansas CW Crew! Which you can keep up with the crew on their website www.arcwcrew.com. The ARCWCREW.com keeps up with The Crew as they travel the area with their travel web series Do The Ozarks. Catch the CW Crew at Spa-Con IV and Keep up with latest CW Entertainment news and interviews, the Crew ghost hunting series and a lot more!
Nerd Informants
In 2016 Josh Grisham and Tim Church found their calling: to keep the world informed on all things nerdy. Since then, the Nerd Informants have been traveling to Cons around the country to break down: pop culture, comics, movies, video games, collectibles, and more. The Nerd Informants will be going live on Facebook every hour, on hour during Spa-Con.
Randy Duncan
Randy Duncan is a professor of Communication and director of the Center for Comics Studies at Henderson State University. He has given talks about comics in Paris, Athens, Passau, São Paulo, Prague, and, of course, Hot Springs. He is a co-author of The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture (2009; 2015) and co-editor of the Eisner-nominated Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods (2012). In 1992, Duncan co-founded the Comics Arts Conference. In 2010, he won the Inge Award for excellence in comics scholarship, and in 2012 Comic-Con International gave him an Inkpot Award for contributions to Comics Studies.
The Center for Comics Studies at Henderson State University presents an array of wonders and oddities selected from the popular culture special collections at HSU’s Huie Library, including the richly varied collection donated by writer, publisher, and renowned Swamp Thing artist Stephen R. Bissette. See artifacts from movies that were never made and movie that will never be forgotten! See fabulous artwork by a variety of comics creators, and rare artwork by fantasy writer Neil Gaiman! And much more when you visit Randy and his booth at Spa-Con IV!
George Wyatt Tise
G. W. Tise has taught Japanese at Arkansas Tech University for the last seven years and has worked and studied in Japan. While studying at Komazawa University in Tokyo Wyatt studied Japanese History and Japanese Culture. Wyatt Tise has taught classes on Japanese Culture and Japanese Pop-culture at Arkansas Tech.
Robot Savior Panel - How the idea of robots in manga and anime shaped Japan. Room 205, Sunday, September 22, 3:00PM
Pieces from the Manga show at Emergent Arts will be on display in Room 205 at 2PM on Sunday. This will be immediately followed by the Robot Savior presentation by George Wyatt Tise.