Y'town Comic Con comes of age

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct Jim Steranko's iconic run on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

By Justin Dennis

jdennis@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Touring the Covelli Centre on Saturday with Youngstown Comic Con showrunner Greg Bartholomew, city events coordinator Terrill Vidale told him, “I can’t believe the diversity here.”

“Thirty years ago, a ‘Comic Con’ was 500 white guys between the ages of 15 and 50,” Bartholomew told Vidale. “Look at this. You’ve got family events. … You can bring a family of five here for 75 bucks.”

He estimated more than 3,500 people visited the 10th Annual Youngstown Comic Con on Saturday at the Covelli, which has a one-day capacity of 5,900.

Bartholomew, who also operates All-American Cards and Comics in Boardman and downtown Warren, said planning the convention used to take two months;now it’s a full-time, year-round job.

He said it could become the largest comic convention in Ohio, but it’s already in the largest venue the Mahoning Valley has to offer. Since growing out of Warren’s Packard Music Hall three years ago, attendance has hit about 4,000 then 5,000 in the last two years. This year, he’s shooting for 6,000 across the show’s two days.

“If we can’t come back in this area in the way of manufacturing and things like that, you gotta’ go with entertainment,” Bartholomew said. “Look at the smiles on these kids’ faces — even adults.”

The convention continues today, with nearly 90 comics and collectibles vendors, featured artists and special guests.

THE LEGENDS

Jim Steranko told The Vindicator that comics taught him to read, when he was just 1½ years old. He said he’d point to the dialogue balloons from issues out of his uncle’s “bag-fulls” of comics and his mother would read them aloud — “true story,” he said.

On Saturday, he shared candid stories of his life and career with all who visited his Comic Con booth.

The 80-year-old comic writer and artist grew up to work alongside the likes of Marvel’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and eventually took over Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. featuring agent Nick Fury.

Steranko credited the evolved sophistication of film “CGI” with bringing the comic book page to life, leading to a new golden age for iconic, decades-old heroes.

“I think that these people are growing up with a deeper penetration of comic lore, comic characters, comic philosophy in their blood than ever before,” Steranko said. “God only knows the films have made comic fans out of people who wouldn’t ever read comic books.”

Steranko also gave Indiana Jones his trademark fedora and whip. Filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg contracted Steranko to conceptualize the gruff relic hunter from a 30-page outline the duo wrote while vacationing in Hawaii, he said.

“George said, ‘We don’t know what this guy looks like,’” he said. “He wanted him to wear a hat like [Humphrey] Bogart wore in ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.’ He wanted him to wear a jacket like George wears — the World War II bomber jacket.

“I gave Indy his khakis, I gave him the whip. … I gave him my attitude,” he laughed.

When Lucas and Spielberg took six of Steranko’s paintings to Paramount Pictures executives, it sold – “just like that,” he said.

He said Lucas’ assistant didn’t realize how much Harrison Ford fit Steranko’s concept until the first footage came back from the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” set in Spain, two years later.

Steranko said he’s looking forward to meeting more fans today at Youngstown Comic Con.

“The people here are really culturally savvy. They can talk my language on film, comic books, TV, electronic games, cartoons, et cetera – and I like that very much,” he said.

THE ARTISTS

Streaming live on Twitch.tv from the convention floor Saturday was Youngstown comic writer and artist Vesenia Lindsey, who was promoting her serial comic “Celestial Pulse,” which launched in November 2016 and is now on its seventh issue.

“It’s about a girl. She’s trying to figure out her life, her powers — just who she is, because she doesn’t remember,” she said. “It has a lot of mystery and action in it, so it’s jam-packed.”

Lindsey said the comic’s art style is heavily inspired by Japanese animations like “Inuyasha,” with which she became enamored when it appeared on Cartoon Network in the 2000s.

“I started drawing when I was like, 5, and my grandmother – she pushed me to draw real things like people, houses, anything that I see, and people watch,” she said.

Lindsey’s husband, Justin, said Vesenia’s fans were waiting when Comic Con’s doors opened Saturday. They ran straight to her booth to pick up the issues they’re missing.

“[Conventions are] a huge support because I usually do my stuff online, so I have to search for people and market,” Vesenia said. “Coming to stuff like this and having other people from the community support me just because I’m an artist from Youngstown makes it more amazing, because I’m reaching out to more than just online.

“People in my area – they know me, they can contact me.”

THE COMICS

Tony Capo, who runs Robot Zero Comics in Geneva, said conventions are a part of his business model — and the Youngstown crowd definitely comes to buy.

“That’s why I come back every year,” he said. “It’s a great crowd. [Bartholomew] does an excellent job of bringing people in. He has great guests, and the people here are great too.

“Just talking with everyone — they’re excited to be here. They love pop culture and comics.”

Bartholomew said he thinks he’s able to draw comics vendors from more than seven states because they know the convention’s about comics — “they know I run a comic book show and not a pop culture show.”

All-American itself has a “deep” inventory, he said. He estimated his comic wall is worth about $250,000. But on a regular day, he’s only seeing customers from a 20-mile radius. Many comics vendors have rare, collectible issues that can’t be found anywhere else — and they may be just the thing a showgoer is looking for.

“If you want to come in and drop $1,000, $10,000 on a comic book, there will be vendors here with that type of material,” he said. “I had a gentleman come to me with an Amazing Fantasy No. 15 – the first appearance of Spider-Man – to the show here last year and I gave him $20,000 in cash.

“And made everybody else mad at me.”