Students express their individuality at Comic Con
January 25, 2019
Students came together to celebrate superheroes, sci-fi and fantasy on Jan. 16 in the high school library at the second ever West Essex Comic Con. The turnout greatly surpassed the expected amount of attendance, and over 100 students got their faces painted, shot arrows at a target and created their own superheroes to earn tickets, which were traded in for prizes at the end of the event.
Comic Con activities included Harry Potter bookmark making, face painting, carnival games with comic book spin offs and a photo booth. Students enjoyed making crafts and playing games, and especially looked forward to the prizes that were raffled off at the end of the event.
“I like the archery game,” senior Jake Proven said. “I think it’s really cool that kids can come here and play and read comic books for fun.”
“My favorite part is being able to experience comic book culture,” freshman Ethan Zinn said. “I love comic books like Marvel and hope to make my own comic books someday.”
Librarian Rosemary Rich and library assistant Vickie Mirsik worked in conjunction with the Fairfield Public Library to create this event. Many of the students who attended Comic Con also attend similar programs at the library such as craft-making and movie viewing. Although only 60 students signed up to attend Comic Con, more than 100 attended the event. The West Essex library staff, including librarian Rosemary Rich, said that they were impressed with the turnout and were excited to finally bring back Comic Con after the last time it occurred in 2015.
“I think there’s a lot of kids that have different fandoms,” Ms. Rich said, “Some kids like superheroes, some like fantasy and some like anime. Comic Con is really a collection of many different things that kids actually like so we try to hit every interest group.”
Because of the success of the event, the library staff has decided to continue hosting comic-themed events every two months from now until May. Administrators from surrounding schools came to observe Comic Con in order to bring it back to their own schools and spread the love of comics into the community.
“Some of these kids are not into sports and other things so it offers another area of interest to the students,” said Ms. Rich. “You’re free to be who you are because anything you want to be is OK at Comic Con.”
