In honor of National Comic Book Day on September 25 we want to share “Impressions from a Comic Con Fan” from Jose of Springfield, Mass. about his attendance at Hartford Comic Con held last weekend at the XL Center. One of our ticket winners Jose is a huge fan or “frequent flyer” of multiple comic book conventions in many states over many years. Comic Con is the name given to comic conventions which promote the art of comics and related activities. Jose and Mikey share their thoughts with us:
This event was really good, I would consider it a mid size “con” compared to others that we have attended. We met celebrities from movies and TV shows my personal favorite was Kelly Hue from the X-Men 2 movie. My nephew Mikey was more interested in the Power Ranger (Sutherland).
We try to greet most of the celebrities but we find that some are more approachable than others like BJ Britt from “Marvels: Agents of Shield” who spent at least 5 minutes speaking with us. We then went to the comic book artist ally to meet the artist that have worked on some of our favorite comics and characters. I bring a poster and ask the artists to sign, I find that all the artist are more than happy to autograph your item.
We then went browsing through the multitude of vendors. I go to the comics to try and update my comic book collection with reasonably priced back issues, but mostly just seeing what catches our eye and looking to find the next “must have” item. The celebrity panels are a good way to see your favorite celebrity or artist as they talk and answer questions from the audience about their character or what’s next in their career.
The Cosplayers are the highlight of the day. The Cosplayers are very happy to take pictures and talk about their costume and how they made them. Then at the end of the day and for some, the best part of the day, is the costume contest, where you get to see amazing costumes from amateurs and professional that you had not seen during the day. Finally after the last award has been given out for the best costume we spend the drive home talking about the best celebrity or the best costume who enjoyed what and why, especially about the great time we had.
To learn more about Comic Conventions or “Cons” visit the website of Comic-Con International: San Diego which is a nonprofit educational corporation dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular artforms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture.
