The summer edition of Steel City Con was held on August 11-13, 2023, once again at the Monroeville Convention Center in Monroeville, PA. The show has continuously grown over the years, bringing in larger and larger crowds and bigtime guests.

Celebrity guests that attended the show included Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), Tom Ellis (Lucifer), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny), Gina Gershon (Bound), Martha Plimpton (The Goonies), Billy Dee Williams and Warwick Davis (Star Wars franchise), William Shatner (Star Trek), Shawn Michaels (pro wrestler), Method Man (rapper), Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years), Jason Lee (Mallrats), Tom Welling, Laura Vandervoort, and John Glover (Smallville), Caleb McLaughlin and Cara Buono (Stranger Things), Grant Show, Daphne Zuniga, and Josie Bissett (Melrose Place), Patricia Velásquez (The Mummy), Freddie Stroma (Peacemaker), David Faustino (Married with Children), Zachary Gordon (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), John Dimaggio (Futurama), Linda Larkin and Jonathan Freeman (Aladdin), Cassady McClincy and Michael James Shaw (The Walking Dead), Garret Dillahunt (Raising Hope), and Scott Ian (Anthrax).

Several of the guests participated in panels throughout the weekend, including reunions for the casts of Aladdin, The Walking Dead, Melrose Place, Smallville, Married with Children, and Harry Potter. Billy Dee Williams, Danica McKellar, William Shatner, Jason Lee, Andy Serkis, Marisa Tomei, Martha Plimpton, and Tom Ellis also did Q&As.

Because of the SAG-AFTRA strike the actors could not talk about future projects or specifically name movies and TV shows that they worked on in the past. During the panels, they talked about their personal lives, journeys as actors, and shared filming experiences without naming specific movies or shows. While they did do pro photo ops and table selfies they did not allow the press to photograph them posing for news coverage. Some allowed photos while they were talking to attendees. 

There was also an artist quick sketch for charity on Saturday night and a costume contest was held on Sunday.

Steel City Con has a large vendor space which is dominated by toys, vintage collectibles, and comics. There were tons of modern DC and Marvel action figures, Star Wars figures from the original line to the newer Black Series, G.I. Joes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Strawberry Shortcake, and many other toy lines. Vendors had board games from the 1950s and ‘60s, some sold Barbies from different decades, Matchbox cars, TV and movie trading cards, baseball and football cards, Funko Pops, VHS tapes, video games, and many other types of vintage toys.

Comic dealers were spread throughout the convention center, selling some Golden and Silver Age books Bronze to Modern Age keys, long boxes full of books, $1 back issues, trade paperbacks, and graphic novels.

There were also multiple vendors selling their own creations such as Pokémon cards recreated as blankets, magnet displays from popular movies and TV shows, leather items, jewelry, pins, bookmarks made from VHS box sides, prints and posters, crocheted items, and more. Some vendors even sold fudge, moonshine, and hot sauce.

As mentioned above, Steel City Con has been growing with every show, and while it’s good to see the show prospering, it has become very crowded on Saturdays. The vendor area has wide aisles which keeps that area relatively comfortable, but the side of the building where the celebrity guests are located gets very crowded and often confusing to follow where each line is heading. The hotel across the parking lot hosts most of the headliner guests, which also becomes quite packed and congested.

There has also been some frustration felt by attendees over the VIP passes. It does not appear that Steel City puts a limit on the number of VIP tickets sold, which means that general admission ticketholders are typically waiting much longer than expected to meet guests. Even general admission attendees who pre-purchased autographs for headliners are forced to wait through long lines of VIPs, even those VIPs who hadn’t pre-purchased an autograph, before they can meet the guest they already paid to meet. It also means that general admission attendees who didn’t prepurchase an autograph ticket have a slim chance at meeting headliners.

Aside from these few issues, Steel City Con remains a great show that balances meeting a big list of celebrity guests and shopping with an impressive number of vendors offering both licensed material and homemade creations.

The next installment of Steel City Con will be held on December 8-10 at the Monroeville Convention Center.

To see more photos from Steel City Con, check out our In the Limelight section.