by DEZ MENDEZ//Editorial Assistant

Hub City Comic Con brings together local nerds from around the community who enjoy comics and cosplay.

The event was held Sept.15- Sept.17, at the Lubbock Civic Center.  The annual event is for all ages to come and meet celebrity guests, shop their favorite fandoms, witness a cosplay contest and to see artists from around the region.

There were more than 100 vendors attending this year’s Hub City Comic Con, which seems large yet is a decrease from last year’s event. This event seemed very unorganized. I heard multiple cosplayers asking where the contest was being held and not getting the answer to the question.

I have attended Lubbock-Con, a competing convention, and that event was a much more pleasant event for the attendees. Hub City seemed like a small flea market, with many of the vendors selling toys that were old. This was called “collectibles,” but to me it seemed more like junk. There were a few vendors who had legitimate Comic Con items, such as comics, figurines, posters and drawings.  The most enjoyable vendors seemed to be the local creators who tried to make up for what the event lacked.  These are, ironically, the vendors that are also commonly found at Lubbock-Con.

Some guest celebrities included, Alyson Keperman Sullivan, who portrayed the Yellow Wild Force Ranger, Eric Vale, Linda Young from “Dragonball Z”, Monica Rial, Christina Kelly and Kerrigan Mahan, who played Goldar in the original “Power Ranger” series.  These special guests also did panels and talked to fans.

If gaming is what you are into, there was a Mario Kart Deluxe 8 tournament on the Nintendo Switch, or you could go check out the PS4 games. There were also card and board games going on. Stormcrow Games spent the entire event demoing tabletop games you could try before purchasing.

But, for the most part, it was a shopping ordeal that felt like Black Friday madness. It was crowded.

While walking around, I did get to see some really cool cosplays. They put a lot of time and effort into their costumes. I met Glenda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch, ran into a couple of Storm Troopers, and got stopped by a goblin. I even got to meet Jessica Rabbit.

The best part was running into Groot and Kylo Rex (it was a T-Rex, cosplaying as Kylo Ren.)

When I finally found out where the cosplay contest was, I checked it out to see how it was going. Man, these cosplayers were awesome! That was by far the best part of the Con, next to getting to meet Kerrigan Mahan.

The cosplayers walked across the stage as they were announced, and the judges watched carefully. When they were done, the judges picked a first, second and third-place winner, along with the judge’s favorite for each judge.

At the end of the day, I would rate HubCity Comic Con a 4 out of 10. If you get a chance to visit a Comic Con, I suggest Lubbock-Con in February for a much greater all-around experience.

4/10