Story by Eamon Brennan, Saint Reporter
Photo courtesy of Grand Rapids Comic-Con

Whenever Comic Con time comes around, you can be sure to find plenty of self-described nerds and geeks waiting with anticipation for the doors of the local convention center to open up, oftentimes long before the “festivities” are set to take place.

With Grand Rapids Comic Con, which was situated at the DeVos Place on the weekend of October 16-18, there was certainly no exception to this rule. With more than 30,000 people in attendance, the majority of them in some sort of pop culture related costumes, The Con promised a great time to all who attended.

Plenty of celebrities attended to add some star power to the event, including Trina Nishimura from Attack on Titan, Marina Sirtis from Star Trek the Next Generation, and one of my personal comic book heroes, Ethan Van Sciver who fellow DC Comic Book readers will recognize from his amazing artwork in Flash: Rebirth and the early 2000’s run of Green Lantern.

My personal excitement about the event, and the celebrities who attended it, seemed to be echoed by my fellow con-goers. Their sentiments, like mine, were focused on their eagerness to meet people who were in the same fanbases, liked the same comic books, and the possibility of buying new merchandise that displays their appreciation for their respective fandoms.

And despite the Con’s proximity to Aquinas’s Fall Break, the average attendant could still make out a few familiar faces amongst the throngs of people, with some being excited more for the opportunity Grand Rapids Comic Con poses than anything else.

Of the people I saw and spoke with during the day, one of the most enthusiastic was Ryan Makinen, who looked forward to speaking with vendors at the new Game Room in order to promote and discuss a game he personally has designed. And whether their reasons for going were related to business or just wanting to express their unique variety of “geekness” if you will, Aquinas certainly did have a presence at the Con.

All of this is not to say that the Con did not have some negative points. It did- Such as the severe lack of places to get something to eat and the large areas of empty space that could have been put to better use.

However, Grand Rapids Comic Con was as it has historically been in its 3 years of existence: a great success.