Cape & Cowl Con Drew Thousands to Faction Brewing
The pop culture convention's fourth year filled the WWII-era Navy hangar turned brewery on Aug. 30, with cosplay, comics and a beer brewed just for the day.
By The Alameda Pulse
Cape & Cowl Con filled Faction Brewing's converted Navy hangar at Alameda Point with comic book fans on Sunday, Aug. 30, and the Oakland Public Library projected the one-day pop culture convention could draw as many as 7,500 people.
- Where: Faction Brewing, Monarch Street, in Alameda Point's Spirits Alley
- When: Sunday, Aug. 30, the show's fourth year
- Who's behind it: Cape & Cowl Comics of Oakland, curated by Eitan Manhoff and Miles Ritchie
- Size: 150 vendors, authors and artists, with a crowd the Oakland Public Library projected at up to 7,500
- Local touch: Faction Brewing made a limited-edition beer, the Cape & Cowl Vol. 2 Helles Lager, just for the day
What is Cape & Cowl Con?
It's a one-day comics and pop culture show put on by Cape & Cowl Comics, an Oakland comic shop, now in its fourth year. Organizers Eitan Manhoff and Miles Ritchie do more than book tables. This year they put together a dedicated 28-page anthology comic for the show, the kind of thing that turns a vendor fair into an actual publishing event. Guests included manga creator Junko Mizuno, comic artists Don Aguillo, Ryan Cody and Terry Dodson, and actress and writer Hannah Rose May. Cosplayers walked the hangar floor as Spider-Man, Spawn and Loki.
How many people showed up?
Nobody has released an exact head count. The Oakland Public Library, which listed the event, projected it could pull in as many as 7,500 people over the day, and reporting on the ground described a crowd in the thousands packing the hangar. Either way, that's a lot of foot traffic for a Sunday at Alameda Point.
Why does it matter that this is at Faction Brewing?
The building itself is part of the draw. Faction Brewing has run its taproom since 2013 out of a 20-barrel brewhouse inside a converted World War II-era naval hangar at the old Naval Air Station Alameda, one of several old Navy buildings on the island that have found second lives as breweries, distilleries and event space. That lease has had its own ups and downs, including a back-rent dispute with the city earlier this year. Hosting an all-day con with 150 tables is a heavier lift than a normal weekend, and Faction leaned into it by brewing a beer just for the occasion instead of just renting out the floor.
What this means for Alameda
A free-flowing, thousands-strong event at Alameda Point is good evidence that the old Navy base can still pull a regional crowd without a stadium or a ballot measure. If Cape & Cowl Con keeps growing every year, it's worth watching whether next year's show gets big enough to need more than one hangar. No date has been announced yet for a fifth Cape & Cowl Con, so keep an eye on Hoodline's coverage and the rest of the Pulse's community news for next year's announcement.
