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Screaming Tiki delivers ‘Batman’, Hot Wheels and more
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Katy DeHay is a talented artist from Texas whom was a part of the Screaming Tiki Comic and Pop Culture Convention in Niles, Ohio. Amongst drawing and creating her own comic book, she does face painting.
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Nathaniel Slivkoff (14 months) of Niles hangs out with R2D2 at the Screaming Tiki Comic and Pop Culture Convention. Hopefully Darth Sidius (in background) doesn't get Nathaniel to join the dark side!
By John Benson
Hot Wheels fans, ‘Star Wars’ fans, ‘Superman’ fans, gaming fans — they’ll all find something to interest them at the event.
NILES — Holy comic book conventions, Batman! Screaming TikiCon 2008 comes to the Eastwood Expo Center this weekend!
With 11 celebrity guests and more than 60,000 square feet of comic and pop culture fun, the convention is the brainchild of organizer and visionary Peter Smith, who conceived of it a year and a half ago.
Specifically, the idea is to create an inclusive event that, for example, caters to all generations of “Star Wars” fans — from those old enough to have seen the 1977 feature film in its original theatrical release to elementary-age kids entranced by the new cartoon series “The Clone Wars.”
“We wanted to make it different from other events so that there was something for everyone,” said Youngstown native and Austintown resident Peter Smith. “Something where the kids weren’t excluded and that it was a family affair that you could take your kids to, but at the same time, if you were a young adult or you weren’t married or didn’t have kids, you could enjoy yourself as well.”
He added, “One of the big things that people are missing is the popularity of video games, and what a following that has. And a lot of video game fans have nowhere to go and enjoy themselves, so this gives a total opportunity for video game fans to mingle and get together and have some tournaments for them, as well as RPG — role-playing gamers — coming together and playing Magic: The Gathering.”
Among the amazing highlights of Screaming Tiki are appearances by the original Batman television stars Adam West (Batman), Yvonne Craig (Batgirl) and Julie Newmar (Catwoman); “Superman The Movie” actors Margot Kidder (Lois Lane) and Sarah Douglas (Ursa); and “Star Wars” actors Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Jeremy Bullock (Boba Fett). Also present will be the original Batmobile, Batcopter and “Knight Rider” K.I.T.T. car.
A comic book illustrator who interned at Marvel Comics a decade ago and now owns his own illustration house, Screaming Tiki Studios, 1989 Ursuline High School graduate Smith said he’s really looking forward to seeing the Batcopter up close and experiencing the dealer’s room, which caters to a wide range of collectors searching for obscure or rare items.
The one attraction that has blown Smith’s mind is the 40th anniversary Hot Wheels exhibit.
“Oh, there’s a huge Hot Wheels collector’s market, and the fact that Mattel’s Hot Wheels division is coming out from California to set up a presentation, we’re honored and flattered at the same time,” Smith said. “That was a huge deal to us for them to come out.
“I’d say it’s a pretty big thing. Hot Wheels has a lot of collectors and to just give you an idea, they do road tours but a lot of the conventions they’ll set up at are in Chicago, New York and California. So it’s most conventions of that size and not so much a convention of our size.”
Naturally whenever anyone talks about a comic convention, the mecca industry event of Comic-Con comes into the discussion. Smith, who has been to the massive San Diego spectacle, feels a comparison to Screaming Tiki is apropos.
“I kind of approached this with a similar aspect,” Smith said. “We definitely have some great comic book artists coming in. Some of them are legends in the industry, [such as] Ron Frenz [‘The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones,’ ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Marvel Saga’]. We also have top illustrators coming in like Steve Stanley and Bryan J.L. Glass. These guys just do some incredible work, and it’s an honor to even have them appear at the show.
“Comic Con is obviously a lot of fun to go to, but obviously we’re not premiering any movies. We still did go on the premise of making it a good time for everybody. Another thing we try to do is create some activities that would happen afterwards, like midnight movies and some parties going on.”
Smith said an estimated attendance for the three-day event is in the 10,000 range, which provides plenty of momentum for the future. Smith envisions Screaming TikiCon as an annual destination event.
“So far on our Web site we’ve had over 1.5 million hits,” he said. “We have people coming in from all over, including Texas, Connecticut, Illinois and Wisconsin. That’s the kind of response we wanted, just to bring something big back into the area.”
Screaming TikiCon 2008 takes place Friday through Sunday. For more information, go to www.screamingtikicon.com.