This past weekend I had the good privilege of volunteering for the Buffalo Comic Con. I basically begged Emil, the owner of Queen City Bookstore, to let me help out at the Valiant Booth; and lucky enough for me, he agreed to my badgering. Even though I was selling some fantastic comics the whole weekend, I did get to participate the con from the inside; and I’d like to share those experiences below.
This was the first year that the convention was held outside of it’s normal location at the Marriott, and instead was at the Buffalo Convention Center. A much more accommodating venue, and it really set the tone for how the rest of the two days were going to go. All the vendors and artists had a lot of room to spread out on the main floor, while cosplayers, Magic, and video gamers all were located downstairs in meeting rooms. There were also a ton of panels that ran throughout the day with topics that ranged from live nerd rock provided by Ookla the Mok, to Star Wars lightsaber demonstrations, and even to lessons on scripting your own comics provided by Visions.
Everything was well organized and having a lot of fun. You could tell that Buffalo had really been waiting for an event like this, because they came to the convention center in droves. One of the big reasons for the large crowd, outside of the comics and collectibles, was the legendary Jim Steranko was there to host panels and sign artwork. Steranko is best known for his work as a comic artist on projects like Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., along with his work with Hollywood films like Indiana Jones. Throughout the weekend, there was a line that wrapped around his table for a chance to meet him and get artwork signed.
As I previously mentioned, the con featured a lot of cosplayers and the fans really got to show off their love of the geeky genre as some of their favorite characters. My favorite was the woman playing Angela from Spawn/Guardians of the Galaxy; as she was extremely authentic and her weapons were fantastic. Check out the gallery below to see more!
Overall, it was a fantastic weekend and I had a blast. I was lucky enough to spread my love of Valiant Comics to the people of Buffalo and there was a ton of fans who knew the products and were pumped to see one of their favorite publishers at the con. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the table and shared stories with us and took home of amazing comics and collectibles. Personally, I’d like to thank Emil for a great show and I will definitely be there next year to meet more fans, make new friends, and have a lot of geekly fun!
