Monster Mania 24 Recap

By: Heather Seebach

I have been going to horror cons for many years now and Monster Mania 24 has got to be the biggest I have attended yet. Celebrating 10 years in 2013, Monster Mania has consistently been bringing us East Coast horror fans the best in vendors, celebrities, and general con fun. I suspect this 10th anniversary show was so big thanks to the TEN Walking Dead cast members in attendance. Plus, movie screenings, a costume contest, photo op's, a charity auction, and celebrity Q&A's made this one bigger and better than ever.

It is both a positive and a negative that I have never seen the halls of the Cherry Hill Crowne Plaza so packed! On the one hand, I am thrilled for Dave Hagan & co; on the other hand, the immobility and constant stench of human traffic was not so fun. Thanks to comic cons, I am accustomed to the BO, but my god, why is New Jersey so flatulent?!

Also a positive and negative - I purchased more stuff than ever before! All my favorite vendor staples were there - Fright-Rags, Curious Goods, Cruikshank Creations, London 1888, Freaky Deekys, LIXonline, etc. - but I found a lot of new stuff, as well. If you're unfamiliar with the dealer room, expect to find t-shirts, posters, DVDs, toys, crafts, artwork, masks, stickers, buttons, collectibles, plushies, clothing, ornaments, and everything else you can imagine. This con, The Walking Dead fans in particular were treated to everything from original artwork to Daryl Dixon Hello Kitties.

Live make-up demonstrations

Here are some of the awesome items I scored:

My wallet is hurting today but it was so worth it. So aside from great vendors, the con offered a plethora of great celebrities to meet including Star Wars legends Peter Mayhew and Billie Dee Williams; Danielle Harris; Tyler Labine; Bill Moseley; Kane Hodder; Tyler Mane; Jordan Ladd; Katharine Isabelle; Martin Kove; and The Misfits. And the aforementioned ten Walking Dead stars, which included Denai Gurira (Michonne), Laurie Holden (Andrea), Michael Rooker (Merle), Scott Wilson (Hershel), IronE Singleton (T-Dog), Chandler Riggs (Carl), and more. Incredible!

Scott Wilson (Hershel)

Laurie Holden (Andrea)


Vincent Ward (Oscar)

Michael Rooker (Merle)

I think there was more cosplay than ever, as well. There were some GREAT costumes, horror-themed and otherwise. The costume contest was seriously impressive.

Fully-functional R2-D2:

My absolute favorite costume of the con - Maurice from Little Monsters!

The contestants got down to Thriller...

And Jason and Freddy were not amused....

Even the charity auction for Save the Yorkies was a blast, and they raised over $3,000 for the doggies!

Auctioneer Rob Dimension

Uh oh...

Freddy's got the Yorkie!

The con was a GREAT time and I cannot wait until the next one in August (with the MD version to follow in September!). Even if you're not a huge horror fan, these things are always a good time. If you are a horror fan, you MUST go. Check out http://monstermania.net for information.