This weekend I’ll be exhibiting at ConnectiCon, but it’s not all I’ll be doing. On Saturday night, at the final event of the night in the Main Events hall, I’ll be hosting the Cosplay Death Match. It has become the signature live event of the convention, and to say that I am lucky and blessed to be part of it would be a massive understatement.
Many years ago, I was asked at the last minute to host the Cosplay Chess Match. I had so much fun and it went so well they asked me to do it again and again. One year, after experimenting with the crowd with voting on which leftover players got to fight one another, I suggested we turn that into the whole event instead of making folks sit through a chess match. We never looked back and now the Cosplay Death Match is the main event of the weekend.
I have the time of my life up there on that stage. Though I’ll be making comics for 25 years next May, there’s still a big part of me that’s a theater kid. I adore live performance and I miss doing it, so being able to get on stage once-a-year and indulge my inner theater kid is a blessing I don’t take for granted. That the crowd likes me is an even greater blessing.
As much as I would love to be on stage more often, I’m glad that I only get one opportunity a year, and that it’s at ConnectiCon. That I have only one shot to “get it right” every year ignites a fire in my heart that wouldn’t burn so brightly if it were being lit often. The pressure to deliver sets the butterflies in my chest aflutter, and the fear of “this being the year that I might screw it up” is powerful motivation to give it everything I’ve got. I get one chance in 2026, so I better do my very best.
So if you’re in the area, come see me this weekend at ConnectiCon and get in line early to nab a seat for the Cosplay Death Match! You will see me at my most energetic, my happiest, and hopefully not screwing up.