JoeFest 2026 – the A Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 2 of 3

Click here to read Part One/Thursday and Friday.

SATURDAY—–

JoeFest wouldn’t open to attendees until 9am (early bird) or 10am (general admission), and sometimes I have enough positive anxiety during a convention or festival that I wake up early. That meant there was time to check email, type notes on the previous day, and get breakfast. Doug Dellow, who I’d seen playing the G.I. Joe Deck-Building Game the night before, and I arrived at D’Agustino’s at the same time, fearing a long line. Indeed there was one, but I spotted some friends at a big table with open spots. They’d just ordered, so us crashing them was actually helping us and the hostess.

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JoeFest 2026 – the A Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 1 of 3

INTRO—–

This is my fourth year at JoeFest, the largest G.I. Joe convention. There is a variety of shows. Some are small, like a one-day swap meet. One particular show is small, Assembly Required, one and a half days, with a tiny attendance (300?), but the panels and guests and excitement of a much larger show. There’s a medium or medium-small show, the DFW G.I. Joe and Action Figure Show, two and a half days, with a larger attendance (2,000?), with the best guest list in G.I. Joe fandom (comics creators and now two years in a row with seven-plus former Hasbro folks). It has panels and a guest list disproportionately big for a show of its size. And there’s JoeFest, three days, the biggest of them all, with an attendance of perhaps 13,000 people (that’s a guess based on previous years) and a con floor that several ARs and DFWs could fit inside. [EDIT: Not just the biggest Joe con in the States, it’s the biggest in the world, I am reminded.] This 9-second video shows you 90% of JoeFest:

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Anatomy of a Larry Hama Signing

This has been in the works for a month, a year, or a decade, depending on how you count.

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A Real American Book! 2025 Year in Review

Welcome to my annual report of what I did all year. My 2025 book-writing year ran mid-February ’25 to mid January ’26. Only half of this is specific to my G.I. Joe history book. First up, the non-book things:

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Assembly Required 2025 – the A Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 3 of 3

[Part One] [Part Two]
In our last exciting episode, Tim moderated a panel, bought a few toys, took a bunch of photos, and solved all six Assault on Cobra Island puzzles! What’s inside the locked metal safe? Read on to find out and click on any photo to enlarge.

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Assembly Required 2025 – the A Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 2 of 3

In our last exciting episode [PART ONE], Tim surprisingly made it to Des Moines without incident! He saw friends, played games, ate food, and more! [Or skip to PART THREE!]

Click any photo to enlarge.

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Assembly Required 2025 – the A Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 1 of 3

Click any photo to enlarge.

INTRO—–
I’ll assume you’re familiar with Assembly Required from my 2022, 2023, and 2024 con reviews. If not, it’s run by Codename: Iowa, which is about six people, it’s a great convention, and it’s very small. Last year’s attendance was I believe 300. To use a boxing analogy, it’s greatly punching above its weight.

[Skip ahead to PART TWO or PART THREE]

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New York Comic Con 2025 – The A Real American Book! Report / Part 2 of 2: COLD SLITHER

In our last exciting episode, Tim sweated not getting into New York Comic Con 2025, talked with artist friends, and announced his ten-years-in-the-making comic book from BOOM! Studios, The Center Holds, written by Larry Hama and drawn by Mark Bright! Then he and writer/producer Nick Nadel got lunch with Janice Chiang off-site, and returned to the Javitz Center for the second half of the day!

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The New York Comic Con 2025 – The A Real American Book! Report / Part 1 of 2

*** BIG NEWS I’VE WAITING TEN YEARS TO ANNOUNCE! ***

I don’t want to bury the lede here, since my con reports are long. My comic book is being published by BOOM! and it’s written and drawn by Larry Hama and Mark Bright!

And yes, that is a big surprise for you, dear reader.

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Remembering Ron Friedman

A few introductory thoughts…

Ron Friedman has died. It’s sad, because he wrote some important teleplays and screenplays that mean a lot to a generation of kids. But that sadness is lessened because he was 93. I know lots of people who didn’t make it that far! Congrats on a long life, Ron.

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