The first Supercon was organized by founder Mike Broder in late 2006 at the Ramada Hollywood Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida, called Florida Supercon.[5][6] He was looking to bring a large scale convention to south Florida.[7] Another event, Anime Supercon, took place in Fort Lauderdale five months later.[8] Estimated attendances at each event averaged around 2,000 people.[5][6][8] As success grew, other conventions were added throughout the Fort Lauderdale and Miami metro areas.
An attempt was made in November 2008 to hold a longstanding Supercon outside of Florida, in Atlanta, Georgia, but it was not as prosperous as the Florida events.[9] Another try didn't take place until July 2017 with Raleigh Supercon in Raleigh, North Carolina, replacing the promotional Wizard World Raleigh Comic Con which eventually moved to nearby Winston-Salem after the 2015 event.[10] Raleigh Supercon 2017 drew in an estimated 30,000 people for the weekend.[3][11][12] Super Conventions later acquired the former Derby City Comic Con in Louisville, Kentucky, which was re-branded as Louisville Supercon.[13] The inaugural event took place in November 2018.[14][15]
Two other recent conventions, Animate! Florida (formerly known as Animate! Miami) and Paradise City Comic Con (formerly known as Magic City Comic Con[16]), were discontinued in 2018 so Super Conventions could concentrate on their three Supercon events.[3][4] Both of those had taken place in Miami.
Sale of Florida Supercon and convention name changes[edit]
On March 11, 2019, it was announced that Broder sold Florida Supercon and the "Supercon" trademark to ReedPop of Norwalk, Connecticut.[2] The company owns a number of conventions around the world, including New York Comic Con and MCM London Comic Con.[2] Management for the events in Raleigh and Louisville would remain the same under Broder, but are renamed as GalaxyCon.[17][18] Two other events have also been added.[18] Florida Supercon, now managed by ReedPop, will continue to have its annual event in early July.[1]
The 2020 convention was rescheduled and then canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19]
