Cosplayers dressed as Spawn, Loki and Spider-Man mixed with comic book artists signing autographs and thousands of fans browsing longboxes at Faction Brewing in Alameda on Sunday, as the fourth annual Cape & Cowl Con transformed the waterfront brewery into a one-day comics marketplace. The event featured 150 vendors, authors and artists spread across the venue, drawing attendees from as far as Citrus Heights and Phoenix, Arizona.
The convention was hosted by Cape & Cowl Comics of Oakland, a Downtown Oakland shop whose reputation extends well beyond the East Bay. As reported by The Mercury News, the fourth annual gathering brought together vendors, authors and artists for a single day of programming at the Alameda venue. Ahead of the event, the Oakland Public Library projected the single-day convention could draw as many as 7,500 attendees to the waterfront brewery, according to library event listings.
An Award-Winning Shop Behind the Con
Cape & Cowl Comics has built serious industry credibility since owner Eitan Manhoff opened the store in November 2015 at 1601 Clay Street, inside a historic building near the 12th Street BART station, according to LocalWiki. In July 2023, the shop won the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award at San Diego Comic-Con, an honor widely regarded as the comic book industry's most prestigious international retailing prize, as noted by SKTCHD.
Manhoff's connection to comics runs deeper than retail. He inherited his passion for the medium from his father, Rabbi Harry Manhoff, who wove comics into synagogue educational programs and university lectures, per J. The Jewish News of Northern California. The shop's civic-minded streak showed up in 2018 as well, when Cape & Cowl commissioned an official Marvel Comics variant cover for Black Panther #1 depicting the superhero standing before Oakland's Port shipping cranes, a project Hoodline covered at the time.
Cosplay, Artists and a One-of-a-Kind Beer
The Mercury News photo coverage captured the day's scene in detail: a cosplayer adjusting their Spider-Man mask, Sacramento's Ronic R. dressed as Glep from Smiling Friends styled as Loki, and Citrus Heights attendee Keith Gales in a Spawn costume meeting comic book artist Don Aguillo. Phoenix-based artist Ryan Cody was seen coloring a drawing on the convention floor, while comic book artist Terry Dodson autographed a book for a fan. Actress and writer Hannah Rose May also greeted fans at the event.
Faction Brewing, the host venue, leaned into the occasion by crafting a limited-edition beer, the Cape & Cowl Vol. 2 Helles Lager, made specifically for festivalgoers, according to San Francisco on the Bay. Event co-curators Manhoff and Miles Ritchie also produced a dedicated 28-page anthology comic, Cape & Cowl Issue #1, featuring original work from local writers and artists, according to a Facebook announcement from the organizers.
Where a Naval Hangar Meets the Comics World
Faction Brewing itself carries its own layer of local history. The brewery opened in 2013 along Monarch Street in Alameda Point's Spirits Alley, operating out of a 20-barrel brewhouse inside a converted World War II-era naval hangar at the former Naval Air Station Alameda, according to Alameda Magazine. That adaptive reuse of decommissioned military infrastructure gave the convention a backdrop unlike a typical convention center floor.
The 2026 con also drew heavyweight industry backing well beyond the East Bay. Vault Comics served as presenting sponsor, with panel sponsorships from IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Mad Cave Studios and Oni Press, according to Comics Bodega. Manga creator Junko Mizuno attended as a featured guest, signing copies of her graphic novel Pure Trance at publisher Last Gasp's booth, per an announcement from Last Gasp.
The mix of grassroots local participation and national publisher support reflects how far the convention has grown since its founding. What began as an extension of a single Downtown Oakland comic shop has become a East Bay draw pulling fans, artists and sponsors from across the country to a repurposed naval hangar on Alameda's waterfront.
