ComicCon-ing: Bayou Con 2016 Preview

Nola Nerd Couple will be at Bayou Con 2016 this weekend in Sulphur, Louisiana. Bayou Con might be a small con but it promises to be a good one.

The featured media guest that we are most excited to meet is Taylor Gray.  Mr. Gray voices Ezra Bridger in Star Wars Rebels.  If you are a Star Wars fan, you need to watch Rebels.  It is consistently good and it is part of the new canon. It covers the time right before a New Hope. Mr. Gray’s character is a Force-sensitive human who joins a crew that is part of the rebellion.  Taylor’s voice work is outstanding in that he gets the annoying teenager who literally has the weight of the universe on his soldiers right. It’s hard to play a character like this without sounding whiney (think prequels), and he brings the right amount of cockiness mixed with doubt to the role. We actually met Mr. Gray at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim in 2015, and he was extremely nice.  I think he asked if it was our first time in California – and it was mine – and then recommended a few places to us. We look forward to meeting him again.

There is a broad range of media guests to meet at Bayou Con.  Bobby Clark has appeared on Star Trek, The Original Series. Scott L. Schwartz made a sizable impression in his role in Ocean’s Eleven. Robert Axelrod is one of the hardest voice over actors in the business.

What is great about a small con like Bayou Con is that you get to meet many up and coming artists. Many of the artists are independent artists creating artist-owned works. Reading through the bios, many of these artists have found a way to make a living through their art (take that everyone who said to have a backup plan!) OR they are doing their backup plan as a way to achieve doing what they love as a reality.  I know we will end up buying quite a bit and hopefully get to talk to a few about their works.

There will plenty of local authors there as well.  Alexander Brown has written horror and steampunk stories. Blake Petit is a local writer to our area and hosts that long-running comics podcast All New Showcase.  If you are a comics fan, you need to listen to this podcast. He also contributes to our local comic book shop’s website, BSI Comics.

Bayou Con will have a Cosplay contest and panels.  Panels aren’t listed on the website yet, but we will post the ones we plan on attending on Twitter when we are at the con. There will also be gaming at the con. Bayou Con will also screen The Rocky Horror Picture Show for attendees on Friday…participating is required!

Bayou Con will be June 24-26 at the West Cal Events Center in Sulphur, Louisiana.  See you there!