About the MNCBA
The year was 1987. Comic book conventions in the Twin Cities were in a state of fluctuation, becoming less frequent and less predictable. After attending a modest comic book show at Calhoun Square, a group of comic-loving friends began meeting regularly at an Annie’s Parlour in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. There, around a table in the diner, a fateful decision was made: the friends would host a comic book convention of their own. After all, how hard could it be? And so, the Minnesota Comic Book Association was born!
With a driving mission to support the Twin Cities comic community by keeping the show as affordable as possible – pricing only to cover expenses and investing any profit back into the show – the friends enthusiastically got to work. An all-volunteer team of people, united by their passion for the art and craft of comics, was mobilized to make their dream into a reality.
The fledgling MCBA partnered with the Maplewood Community Center, put the word out to local comic book dealers, and spread news of their new convention across comic bookstores in the Twin Cities. MicroCon, the “One-Day Wonder,” was a success, beginning the tradition of community-oriented conventions and events that the new MNCBA continues to this day. By 1990, a larger venue was needed. The MCBA began hosting FallCon, an annual two-day spectacular, at the historic Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington, MN.
As the MCBA’s reputation for hosting meaningful, memorable, and comic book fan-focused events spread, its creator guest list and attendance swelled. Throughout this growth period, one voice emerged clearly as a leader: Dominic Postiglione, AKA Nick Post, part-owner of The Source Comics & Games. Nick Post was a larger-than-life, legend of a man who was well-known, well-respected, and well-loved within the comic book industry: from creators, to retailers, to distributors, to publishers, and fans. It seemed like everyone knew Nick!
Nick Post’s tenure as head of the MCBA, beginning in the late 1990s, started with changing the name of the organization to the Midwest Comic Book Association and officially incorporating. Nick breathed new life into many of the core activities of the MCBA: supporting smaller comic book conventions in the Upper Midwest, collecting food shelf donations at the convention admissions table, supporting local up-and-coming creators through table space donations, and hosting art auctions at MCBA shows to benefit charity.
Nick’s most visible contribution to the MCBA was to move the twice-per-year convention to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, where it eventually became a Twin Cities staple.
The MCBA’s SpringCon and FallCon shows thrived throughout the 2000s while never losing their commitment to affordability, focus on comics, and community support. Sadly, Nick passed away suddenly on August 8th, 2014 – leaving the MCBA at a crossroads.
In the wake of Nick’s passing, three longtime volunteers assumed leadership of the MCBA and did their best to continue the traditions that Nick had established so successfully. In 2019, the name of the organization was changed to the Midwest Comic Book Fans, or MCBF, and was rebranded with a new logo and website shortly before COVID-19 struck.
Like many businesses the MCBF temporarily shuttered operations, and placed its conventions on hiatus, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the MCBF resumed hosting comic book conventions, though at a much scaled-down size from its previous events and no longer at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The financial toll of COVID-19 and de-emphasis on profits, however, had diminished the MCBF’s resources too greatly. On March 10, 2023, the MCBF announced it was hosting its final convention, and the organization dissolved.
Following the announcement of the end of the MCBF, several volunteers that had long been a part of the original organization gathered together. They made a resolution and a plan to keep the dream alive: as a registered non-profit, the newly recreated Minnesota Comic Book Association, or MNCBA, returns the organization to its historic, community-oriented form.
The new MNCBA honors the legacy of Nick Post with its use of the SpringCon and FallCon event names, continuing to be staffed and operated by an all-volunteer team, and by remaining committed to fan-based, comics-focused, community-supportive, and family-friendly events. More than thirty years after that first show at the Maplewood Community Center, the new MNCBA is still working tirelessly to deliver the best comic book convention experience possible for everyone: our guests, vendors, volunteers, and attendees.
The new MNCBA’s first SpringCon held on April 29th, 2023, at the Bloomington Armory, was a tremendous success. The show featured the return of fan-favorite panels and hourly prize drawings, brought in over 600 attendees, collected 300 pounds of food donated to the ISD191 Food Pantry, and generated a great, collaborative, and positive atmosphere.
We are planning for a long and prosperous future, and we hope you will be a part of it! From all of us at the new MNCBA: “There is something for everyone, and everyone is welcome!”
