Ray's List: AC Comic-Con

Ray’s List of Reason’s He Organized The First Annual Greater AC Comic Con or… True Comic Book Stories

Columbus Day Weekend, Oct. 9 and 10 at The Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Township, our own Patch writer Raymond Tyler and his brother Mark became heroes to many by organizing The Greater AC Comic Con (our area’s first comic book convention.) We thought that was pretty “freakin” crazy. Seriously, we asked Ray to undergo professional evaluation after it was over. So now that Tyler has gotten a little rest and we’ve gotten paperwork that verifies he wasn’t crazy to do all that work; we asked him “why?”

I Want People To fall In love With The Comic Con Next Door- I love Wizard World and The New York City Comic Con, however I wanted to produce a convention that was close to home. I also wanted to produce a con that was affordable and attractive to families. The Greater AC Comic con is a free event. The Greater AC Con is on the local bus route. And the Greater AC Comic Con has plenty of free parking. In respects to travel and money you won’t have to choose which kid to bring this year and which to bring next year. In fact we invited The Covenant House and other youth organizations to come out and enjoy the event as well.

I Want Artists and Writers and Fans To Fall In Love With The Con Next Door-The second biggest influence for starting my own convention is because the artist tables at the bigger cons were so expensive. In fact I started in September of 2010 making plans to just visit The San Diego Comic Con. I did the math and it would have been cheaper to build a time machine and go back to 1986 and buy tickets for 2011 then. Seriously, renting table space at some conventions would require a bank loan. So I decided to actually take a page from The Baltimore Comic Con and make sure that my artists, writers and fans had fun and not make them a open a new line of credit. We sold 15 table spaces at fair and affordable rates.

Vendors who would like a table for the 2012 Greater Atlantic City Comic Con can reserve a table or two at a very super insanely affordable rate until the last week of December 2011.

I Fell In Love With Comics and Science Fiction Cons-More than 20 years ago my Aunt Hazel took me and my cousin to The Creation Comic Convention in Philadelphia. I got to meet my favorite artist John Byrne. I bought several books that I had spent years looking for. I sat in on a Q&A session with Mr. Byrne. And when I ran out of money, there was still tons of free stuff that was given out. I spent the rest of the con relaxing in the TV room watching classic sci-fi shows on a movie screen.

I’ll never forget my first con and that’s what I wanted to do for the kids here. I wanted to create a fun event that would allow them to meet people like Bob Petrecca of Galloway who has more than 20 years experience in working for Marvel and DC Comics. We had a performance by illusionist Rudy Real. In our TV area we showed the rare Star Trek The Animated Series, School House Rock, The Land of The Lost (TV series) and we premiered a great new Star Trek fan created action series. I am most proud that our guest of honor was South Jersey native David Vonner who now works as a toy designer for Marvel Comics’ Hasbro line of toys. Vonner brought 3 major toys to the con to give away valued at over $300 (not including what they were worth with his autograph.) The inaugural Greater AC Comic Con was a great event for people to meet the people who have worked on some of their favorite characters from Bart Simpson to Batman.  It was also a great place to connect with other fans. It was an opportunity for sci-fi fans of all ages to fall in love with comic book conventions.

I Am Still In Love With Conventions-I have so much fun just enjoying my love for comic books and science fiction that I have been the biggest spokes person for the bigger conventions. This year was our first convention ever, so we were small and there was a lot that we didn’t have (that we will in the future.) I hope that our convention really convinced some people who think that comic cons are large geek fests for 40-year-olds living in their mom’s basement to explore the real world of comic cons. I attend the New York comic con every year and it is amazing. The big stuff like Hasbro re-creating the bridge of The Star Wars Death Star complete with Darth Vader and a storm trooper was breath taking. However, I also was just as excited to run into Paul Kupperberg, a comic book writer that has made me laugh since I was in high school. Later I got a black and white copy of the story board from the very first comic book Wolverine appeared in autographed by the artist Herb Trimpe.

I want people who even mildly enjoy comics, sci-fi and fantasy to save a few bucks and check out the big boy conventions. I also want people to come and help The Greater Atlantic City Comic Con Grow.

The Second Annual Greater Atlantic City Comic Con is scheduled for Sunday and Monday October 7^th and 8^th at The Shore Mall. For more information (including vending tables) please visit the website www.GreaterAtlanticCityComicCon.com or contact Ray at Raymondctyler@gmail.com.