Grand Junction Comic-Con has come and gone over the weekend. Starting in 2015, the fourth annual Grand Junction Comic-Con was hosted by the Mesa County Libraries. It was held at Two Rivers Convention Center for the second year on Saturday Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It was also the first year Comic-Con had the entire building.
Admission was free for anyone who presented a library card as well as children ten and under. Otherwise the admission fee was a five-dollar donation at the door.
This year the Grand Junction Comic-Con had more than 7,000 attendees from all over. This was far more than any previous year.
Andy, a library assistant said planning for this year’s Comic-Con has taken place “pretty much since last year’s Comic-Con”.
Comic-Con offers a wide variety of events including panels, fandom meetups and special guests and tries to incorporate something for everyone that attends. It also offers a way for people to dress up in costumes and cosplay.
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An extra incentive to cosplay comes from the costume contest it hosts. Kids, teens and adults costumes contests were held at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. respectively.
“I love seeing all the other people in costumes and all the really elaborate and interesting costumes,” Lindsay Gnesios, a mechanical engineering student at Colorado Mesa University student said. Gnesios dressed up as “a character named Phoebe from the Pokémon games.”
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As far as elaborate and interesting costumes go, Sarah, a high school drama teacher made her own. “I dressed up as Queen Amidala from Star Wars today” Sarah said, “[to make it took] so many hours I lost count, but I think it was probably about six to eight months of total work.”
In the panel room, panels included subjects such as a beginner’s guide to Dungeons and Dragons, LGBTQ Representation in Pop Culture and Censorship in Comics.
On the main stage, special guests spoke about storytelling, their journeys and how to discover your inner geek.
Special guests included Mike Baron, Kirby Krackle, Kevin J. Anderson and more. Baron is the creator of “Nexus” and “Badger”, two of the longest running independent superhero comics and has also written for “The Punisher” “Flash,” “Deadman” and “Star Wars.” Krackle is an internationally touring nerd-rock artist known as the go-to band for heartfelt songs dedicated to the best in comic book, video games and geek-culture. Anderson has published more than 140 books with 56 of those having been bestsellers.
Fandom meetups were located next to the cosplay stage where the costume contests were held. They included fandoms revolving around Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, Horror, Rooster Teeth and Supernatural.
Comic-Con even had a play room dedicated to children 12 and under.
In the main room with the cosplay stage, they had many booths set up where people could buy souvenirs such as T-shirts, hats, pictures, books and of course, comic books.
As Comic-Con came to an end, the parade that was planned was canceled due to the weather. However, the after party was still held at the Avalon Theatre. Ending on a spectacular note, at closing, it was announced the date for next years Comic-Con was going to be Oct. 12, 2019.