Nerds of all kinds anxiously gathered at the Salt Place Convention Center on Thursday for the second annual Salt Lake Comic Con; some waited three or more hours to get inside.
At this year’s event, UVU was well represented. The School of the Arts had a vendor booth with promotional items and information to give out to attendees. Three current illustration students and one recent grad had tables in Artist’s Alley to show and sell their work.
Thomas Mann, Stewart Craig and Adam Munoa are all seniors this year. Mann and Munoa plan to do concept art with their education; Craig plans on doing cover art for books.
Justin Mayhew graduated in April from the illustration program. His art was recently published in Primeval Thule, a book by Sasquatch Game Studio.
One popular tradition at comic cons around the nation is cosplay, short for costume play, meaning that people dress up as characters. Some favorites of the day included: the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, Princess Amadala and Anakin from Star Wars and an injured Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon.
There were a variety of celebrities in attendance on the first day of the Con. The most popular ones included Cary Elwes, who played as Wesley in The Princess Bride and as Pierre Despereaux in Psych, Colin Baker, the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, and Paul McGann, the eighth incarnati0n of the Doctor.
The event was so popular that the Salt Lake Comic Con team was not prepared for the turnout. The line was wrapped around the building for hours. Some people missed panels, photo ops and events they planned on attending.
“We are sorry…We threw a party and invited so many interesting people that many more people showed up than we expected,” said Bryan Brandenburg, chief marketing officer and co-founder, said on the official website. The page was put up to help make amends for the troubles people had.
Brandenburg assured fans that new methods would be implemented for Friday’s group to better expedite registration. Any complaints about Thursday’s registration can be taken care of at http://saltlakecomiccon.com/thursday-registration-update/.
Salt Lake Comic Con will continue through September 6.
