Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment

Wyoming's First Comic Con, Cheyenne Comic Con, Is Kindness And Politeness Itself

Published Fri, 10 Jun 2016 11:00:45 -0500

Ashleigh Jay writes for Bleeding Cool,

Cheyenne hosted the very first comic con in the state of Wyoming, on May 13th through to the 15th. Cheyenne Comic Con was hosted by a comic shop in Cheyenne called The Loft and held in the Little America Hotel.

For its first year, Cheyenne Comic Con did an excellent job of capturing people's attention. There were a lot of attendees for a first year con and there were multiple vendors and creators. They also had something to entertain almost everyone. There was a kids' room, a room to watch anime movies, and many interesting vendors and creators.

Some of the guests included Scott Shaw, Bob Salley, Dan Conner, and even the Iron Brothers of Topeka. Shaw drew Captain Carrot along with the Flintstones, Annoying Orange, and others. He drew me a sketch of Archie. Several cosplayers had their own tables. Although there were not big publishers, there were several independent comic creators. Bob Salley worked on his own comic called Salvagers. Dan Conner was promoting his creation, My Gal, The Zombie. He currently has a kickstarter going in order to produce more Zombie Gal product. The kickstarter ends May 21st. The Iron Brothers of Topeka brought out some really cool Iron Man suits. As you can see, there was a lot of diversity in the guests.

Artist, Matt Haley also attended the con. He was impressed by the turn out. In fact, he had sold out of the books that he brought the first day. He and Scott Shaw are from Los Angeles. Both commented on the kindness and how polite the people of Cheyenne, Wyoming were to them.

Along with a first year con, there also comes hiccups along the way. The facility did not seem large enough to hold a con this size. The main room was very crowded Saturday morning. There were not programs showing the location of artists tables or panels. Also, not only was there limited parking spaces at the hotel, after we left for lunch, the hotel tried to charge $20 to park in their lot. They said that they decided to start charging for parking since so many people showed up for the event.

I talked to one of the founders of the con and owner of The Loft, Megan August, who told us that they were doing everything they possibly could to keep this con running smoothly. The printer did not honor the shipping schedule for the programs they ordered, but they were updating their facebook page with the schedule. They also stopped the hotel from charging for the otherwise free parking once they found out about it. I thought she showed great dedication to keeping everyone happy and she was very polite and positive when talking with me.

Overall, this convention was fun to attend. I think it had a lot of variety. There was a little bit of something for everyone. I am looking forward to seeing how this con progresses through the coming years.