5 Reasons To Attend Our 2024 Las Vegas VIP Event
, by Jake Abbate, 8 min reading time
Who’s ready to cut loose with us in Las Vegas next year??
Got any Spring Break plans? If not, how about visiting us in the Silver State and spending an entire weekend partying with some of your favorite Zenescope creators? For the first time in almost two years, we’ll be hosting a private convention on the West Coast. And in case you didn’t hear the news, tickets for our next VIP event are officially on sale, marking our triumphant return to the Las Vegas Strip on March 8th and 9th, 2024!!
You know what I love about working for Zenescope (besides the free comics and health benefits, of course)? It’s how every single one of our team members genuinely cares about YOU–the folks who read our comics each week and obsessively collect our rarest covers. There aren’t a lot of companies out there who go above and beyond to thank their fans. But for indie kids like us, it’s important to go that extra mile and foster a sense of community so that all of you know how much we appreciate your support, and that’s EXACTLY what our VIP events do on a twice-yearly basis.
Fun fact: I got to attend my first VIP event back in August, when Zenescope hosted its biggest con yet in our home city of Philadelphia. It was great to finally meet so many of you in person after months of back-and-forth email conversations. But more than anything else, I enjoyed seeing how much passion everyone has for the Grimm Universe and all of the colorful characters who inhabit it. Not too shabby for a bunch of underdogs!
If you can make the journey to Sin City next year, we’d love for you to accompany us to the Paris Hotel & Casino for a day full of fun, games, and all the Zeneswag you could possibly ask for. However, if you’re still on the fence about going, I feel like it’s my civic duty as Zenescope’s VIP coordinator to try and convince you. So here are a few reasons why the festivities are worth the price of a ticket:
An All-Star Lineup!
VIP events have always given fans the opportunity to meet Zenescope’s most popular cover artists, and our upcoming sojourn in Vegas is no different. Currently, the bill includes Eric Basaldua, Sun Khamunaki, Mike Krome, and Nei Ruffino, all of whom have been featured at one or more of our VIP-exclusive shindigs in the past. Just this year, Ebas and Mike were guests of honor at our March event in New Orleans. Sun, on the other hand, made her long-awaited VIP event debut in Philly this summer. So to say that we’re stoked for her to join us out West in 2024 would be a huge understatement. The same goes for Nei, who previously came to our Vegas event in 2021.
Additionally, Zenescope co-founders Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco will be there, as will editor-in-chief David Wohl and writer/editor Dave Franchini. We’ll be revealing even more special guests in the weeks ahead, so stay tuned to our social media channels (or the event's official Facebook page) for those announcements!
Discounted Hotel Rooms!
Need lodging? We can help with that! We’ve reserved a block of price-friendly rooms at the Paris’ Hotel’s all-new Versailles Tower (formerly known as the Jubilee Tower at Horseshoe Las Vegas). With our discount in place, the rooms boast an average cost of $172 per night (which, if you’re unfamiliar with Vegas hotel rates, is actually a pretty sweet deal). The tower will hold its grand re-opening in December, so you’ll be among the first to stay there following its extensive renovation process. To take advantage of this offer, click here.
Collectible Covers!
It wouldn’t be a Zenescope VIP event without some limited edition exclusives to sweeten the deal, so it only makes sense for us to bring a few Vegas-themed covers with us! Buying a Vegas Strip-level ticket or higher guarantees you four LE200 covers illustrated by each of our attending artists. But if you spring for the Le Paris or High Roller packages, you’ll be entitled to one (Ebas) or three (Ebas, Sun, and Mike) ultra-limited VIP Showcase Edition covers, respectively. The print runs for these books will be capped at the number of VIPs who purchase their corresponding ticket level(s). As a bonus, you can make these books one of a kind by personalizing them with your name, the date, or a small quote of your choice.
Coming to the event grants priority access to other collectible covers as well, including a number of older releases from our archives. And if graded comics are your jam, we’ll also have CGC grading on site courtesy of our pal Dave Sweet. Our VIP event exclusives tend to grade very well. At this year’s Philly convention, many of our guests snagged books with a 9.8 or higher. Someone even took home an Anthony Spay cover with a Perfect 10!
Games and Prizes!
Some of the prizes we gave away at this year's Philly VIP event (Photo by Scott Hala)
Sure, meeting your favorite creators is cool and all, but so is playing games with your fellow VIPs! As soon as the festivities kick off with the welcome reception on Friday night (location TBD), we’ll be handing out free raffle tickets to win one of 10 different prizes, all while schmoozing over drinks before the main event begins at 10am following morning. Throughout the next day, we’ll have plenty of other distractions for everyone to busy themselves with in between signings, like our infamous Writers Room Experience panel, which lets several VIPs craft their own Grimm Universe tale with our top editors presiding. There's no guarantee, but this story could eventually see publication. Just ask everyone who attended this year’s New Orleans VIP event and collaborated on our Cinderella: Princess of Death one-shot slated for release in January. Check out the cover below:
Artwork by Caio Cacau
We’re still ironing out the details, but at this time, other gaming possibilities include classic VIP event staples like Werewolf, some form of Zenescope Trivia, and Z-20, the latter of which features more giveaways ranging from small prizes like keychains and Rubik’s Cubes to much bigger rewards like art prints and collectors packs. Ralph also teased during last Thursday’s Fall Fest V-Con that we might be introducing a new panel that gives VIPs more chances to interact with the creators. But personally, since we’ll be in a casino, I’m thinking some Zenescope-themed Blackjack might be in order (we do have those new Light & Dark playing card decks, after all…)
Free Food!
For many of you, this is the best part of any VIP event--there’s a complimentary lunch buffet! No matter where we go, the catering team always comes through with lots of delicious options to choose from (speaking of which, I have to give a shoutout to whoever made the risotto in Philly this year, because it was amazing). You can also expect more free grub at Saturday night’s afterparty (again, location TBD), which will feature a top shelf open bar to help us close out the weekend in style. Obviously, this part of the event is reserved for VIPs who are 21 and older. Sorry kids!
We understand that some VIPs may have felt left out when we hosted both of our 2023 VIP Events on the East Coast. But with any luck, next year's trip to Vegas will make up for this, and I can tell you right now that I'm excited to meet a ton of new faces when we get there. And if you’re not a VIP, but you still want to to see what all the fuss is about, no problem–you can purchase a discounted (20% off) lifetime membership with your ticket here. Speaking of discounts, we’re currently offering Early Bird Pricing on all ticket packages until November 30th, so act fast before it’s too late!
If you have any questions about the event, feel free to email me at vip@zenescope.com. We hope to see you there!