Fantasy fans flocked to the Montreal street legion on Sunday for Kingston ComiCon.
The event featured items from Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, as well as a number of independent artists — all to raise donations for a good cause.
“The escapism, is what it is,” says Dave Martin, a comic book vendor.
“It’s all about the escapism.”
Superheroes, anime characters, and even a couple of stormtroopers were on hand as nearly nearly 50 vendors offered up items like toys, jewelry, games and, of course, comic books.
“Hollywood keeps on regurgitating the same story over and over again,” Martin says.
“Comics have so much more to offer.”
Independent artists also got the chance to showcase adaptations of popular characters and original work.
“I’ve actually developed a style that I call manila drip, and this is why you see that painter look,” says Arnold Trinidad, a comic artist.
The event has been hosted in the community twice a year for almost 10 years by organizer Pop Culture Canada hoping to help those in need.
“We run ComiCons all over Ontario and we actually run these as fundraisers for local food banks,” says David Wyldstar, the event’s organizer from Pop Culture Canada.
“We are in Kingston collecting for Partners in Mission.”
The goal is to fill four bins with non-perishable food items.
And what is a ComiCon without people getting into cosplay and dressing up as their favourite characters.
“We have a lot more cosplayers,” Wyldstar says.
“We’ve got a lot more Star Wars this year and a lot more anime.”
The event gave people a chance to support like-minded small business owners and share their creativity.
“I like meeting other cosplayers because it’s like a very small town in Kingston, so you don’t really see a lot of people who have the same interests as you,” says Zero Baldwin, a cosplayer from Kingston.