Comic Con Levels Up

This is an article I wrote for The Projector, which is running this week.  With Comic Con and Halloween just around the corner, I thought I’d repost here, unedited, in case anyone in the blog world wanted to know what was happening this spooky weekend!

Comic Con Levels Up

The widely anticipated annual event brings back old favourites and new twists

 

Comic book fans, gamers, and collectors are gearing up for Comic Con, and this year there’s exciting new changes taking place.

Central Canada Comic Con is one of the last conventions run locally, this year being organized mostly by women.

“There’s been a shift in the comic and gamer culture,” said Holly Kindzierski, executive director of C4, Central Canada Comic Con, “women were viewed fairly negatively but now it’s becoming much more accepted.”

The changes in management coincide with a change in Comic Con’s mascot, the C4 Girl.

“She’s always been blonde so this is our first brunette one” said Kindzierski. “It’s part of us trying to show that the convention itself is changing.”

Comic con this year will include fundraising opportunities for the SMD foundation (Society for Manitobans with Disabilities) as well as provide free entrance for helpers of disabled attendees.

Kindzierski said they’ve also taken back control of after parties, adding a concert series, where six bands will perform in the evenings and a main event, Geekery and Glam, Saturday night at Fame Nightclub. Two celebrity guests will attend as well as artists doing live drawings throughout the evening, to be auctioned off the next day.

“We are trying to encourage people to come to our specified events because they are going to be awesome, and people have a lot of fun,” Kindzierski said.

Contributions from local groups are on the rise as well. The Winnipeg gaming community All Your Base Online is hosting BaseLAN for the first time at Comic Con, taking over the entire first floor for online gaming.

“We didn’t have a huge electronic gaming presence before, it was mostly just table top gaming,” Kindzierski said. “We still have Warhammer set up, but along side it now we will have a lot of people (PC and console) gaming as well.”

River City Jedi, a local light saber combat group, will be returning this year with three demonstrations.

“Friday we are doing a class presentation, so we’ll be bringing people up from the crowd and having them participate,” said Dave Alberto, a leading member of River City Jedi. “Saturday is our big demo day, we have some martial arts demos and our choreography piece that will be presented, and on Sunday we are closing the Con with three hours of sparring.”

Avid Comic Con goers like Niko Marszal, 30, are busy getting costumes prepared for the event, which takes place Oct. 31, 2014 to Nov. 2, 2014 at the RBC Convention Centre.

“I’m happy to find out what’s new when I arrive at the Con. That’s part of the excitement, almost like opening up a gift on Christmas Day,” Marszal said.