On Saturday, April 11, 2015, the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, in Huntington, West Virginia was filled with hundreds of people from all over the tri-state area, including comic book enthusiasts and characters. Â These individuals came out to gather and network with each other at the 4th Annual Tri-State Comic-Con (also known as Tri-Con).
Tri-Con has grown to become West Virginia’s largest show centered around comics. Â This one-day show is known for bringing in comic book creators, authors, artists and other comic related people from all over the country. Â Along with these individuals, the show’s focus remains on highlighting local independent creators as well.
In its fourth year, Tri-Con guests included Cory Smith (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – IDW), Darryl Banks (DC Comics), Â Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Gotham by Midnight), Â Paul Allor (Guardians of the Galaxy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Kyle Strahm (Spread) and many more. Â Another feature of this year’s show was the exclusive variant covers to comic book titles published by IDW, Image and Broken Icon Comics which featured convention guests. Â The exclusive cover for ’68 by Image featured the convention co-founders, Eric Watkins and James Maddox, as zombies. Two of these exclusives are shown below:
Attending this event was a special treat seeing the community come together as people participated in cosplay portraying their favorite characters while fans lined up requesting photo ops and autographs. With Tri-Con being a local event it made it seem more realistic compared to the bigger events that are now global. The Nerd Stash had was given the opportunity to sit down for a few moments and speak with Eric Watkins, co-founder of the Tri-State Comic-Con, to get a little history and learn more about the show.  Listen to how Tri-Con got started and things that Eric Watkins and James Maddox did to bring it to the tri-state area. For more information please visit www.tristatecon.net. You can follow them on Twitter @triconwv or their Facebook.
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