Superheroes, Zombies and Villains Turn Out for Colorful ConnectiCon 2011

Columbus Boulevard in Hartford started looking a little surreal at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

It started with the Joker jumping out of a Taurus, a group of zombies filing into the Convention Center and Harley Quinn skipping down the street ahead of a scantily clad Poison Ivy. It could only mean one thing — ConnectiCon 2011.

The annual event attracts thousands of fans, connoisseurs, artists, enthusiasts and creators in the realms of anime, manga, horror, computer and video games, card games, internet culture, comics, science fiction, fantasy and so much more.

The three-day event is being held from July 8-10 this year at the Convention Center in Hartford. Events throughout the weekend include a masquerade, a dating game, and themed Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. There are also stations where skilled artists paint faces and anime art works are for sale.

Hundreds of tables are set up to accomodate small groups who compete in card games and miniature table games. Not all competitions are at a table, though. There is also a NERO tournament in which participants can gith each other with sword and shield. Another option is to compete in the multitude of console tournaments, such as Gears of War 2, Dance Dance Revolution and Halo 3.

Not in the mood to play? There are various film screenings throughout the day, such as MADOX-01, Moonlight Mile, Planetes and Riding Bean.

Tickets are $25 for Sunday.