Peregrine Lake – A Weekly Webcomic Written by Trae Dorn and Drawn by Ethan Flanagan

No Brand Con did what a lot of people thought would never happen this last weekend – we came back from the dead. Like in 2023 we were truly dead, buried, in the ground, and all of us thought the con wasn’t coming back.

But a year ago some of us decided to do something truly insane. We decided to resurrect it. We decided to bring it home. We decided we weren’t fucking done.

And we took a hard look at what we were doing. We had to scale back the con a bit to bring it back. We had to tighten our belts in ways we haven’t had to do since the early years of the con.

And while we certainly didn’t do everything perfectly (and we’re already compiling ways we can improve stuff for next year), overall it was a success. The con not only brought in significantly more people than we expected, but for the first time in a very long time we’re in a solid financial position again in ways we never were in the Wisconsin Dells.

…and I feel like I don’t need to comment on Stevens Point.

But what you need to understand is this doesn’t happen. When cons go under, they stay dead. They never come back. They get buried, maybe something new comes from the same people… but they die. What we did is just honestly unheard of.

Well except for the time I wrote a storyline about this exact thing happening in UnCONventional. So, uh, I managed to write an autobiographical story before it happened.

It really is such a strange thing though. This weekend was the most fun I’ve had at a con in the last fifteen years, and I’m so proud to have just been a part of it. Everyone who made it happen should be proud, and I’m happy to call you all my friends.

And with the right friends, sometimes you can do the impossible.

I might talk about the history of the con about here over the next week or two if I have the time. Talk about some of the stuff that happened behind the scenes that a lot of people have never been public about. Nothing awful, there’s no deep scandal – just a lot of good people doing their best. It might be interesting though.

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