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Second Annual Salt Lake Comic Con Gets Underway

Tim Slover/KUER

Thousands of pop culture fans will converge on Salt Lake City this weekend for the second annual Salt Lake Comic Con.  The event kicked off Thursday.

It’s only the second year for the Salt Lake Comic Con and already the event has broken a couple of records.  Last year’s comic con was the largest convention in Utah’s history, with over 72,000 people attending.  It was also the biggest first year comic con ever in North America.  Jared Twietmeyer showed up to this year’s con dressed as Spider-man.  He’s thrilled that a comic fan convention of this size is now happening in Salt Lake.

“it’s close by to home so it’s super easy to get to.  But aside from that fact, I mean, Salt Lake just being a huge nerd community.  Like, everybody here is super into what’s going on and it just makes it even better.”

Twietmeyer is here to see his favorite comic book heroes from movies and TV, like the Green Ranger, portrayed on television by actor Jason David Frank.  But some die-hard fans complaining that comic cons are becoming more about movies and TV than real comic books. Greg Gage is the owner of Black Cat Comics in Salt Lake. He’s trying to keep comic books front and center at the convention.

“We’ve got a great booth—it’s right in the corner--right when you walk in you’ll see us—the main entrance.  And we’ve got all kinds of things here.  We’ve got all sorts of older Silver Age issues.  We’ve got one-dollar comic books, 25 cent comic books if that’s if that’s where you’re looking.  If you just want to spend a couple bucks, we’ve got that too.”

Comic book creators here this year include Stan Lee, who co-created many of Marvel Comics most popular characters, including Spider-man and artist Neal Adams, famous for his work on Batman. Chad Hardin is former Utah resident who’s currently drawing DC’s “Harley Quinn” comic.  He’s excited about what’s happening in Salt Lake.

“I mean, I used to live here, so I sort of feel, a little bit, like it’s a second home town, type feel, you know?  And, hey, it’s a big show—it’s an amazing show, so why wouldn’t you come?”

Salt Lake Comic Con runs September 4th through the 6th at the Salt Palace Convention Center.    

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