Brass City Comic Con 6

Naugatuck Valley Community College once again hosted Waterbury's own comic book convention, the sixth annual Brass City Comic Con, on Sunday July 26. As always, it was a great event for families and anyone wanting to meet real live comics professionals. No lines, and plenty of accomplished artists and authors happy to discuss their work.

A few of the great cosplayers at the Brass City Comic Con.

I don't know what the Joker's up to, but it can't be good.

Black Panther

Really creative cosplay, especially the unicorn's hooves.

The Bat-Predator was a little too real for a few kids.

Paul Kupperberg, whose career has included being a writer and an editor at DC, and (more recently) writer of Life with Archie: The Married Life and Executive Editor of Charlton Neo Comics.

Frank McLaughlin, a Connecticut artist whose career started with Connecticut-based Charlton Comics in 1962. He also worked for  Marvel and DC comics for decades.

Dave Meikis, originally from Waterbury, working on a sketch. Meikis has worked for Marvel and DC comics.

R2D2 was hanging out at the Brass City Comic Con for the first few hours.

Artists keep busy at conventions, which is great for the audience--people love watching art being made.

Alex Giannini, Connecticut-based author of Sarah Faire and the House at the End of the World. Once you start looking for comics outside the world of Marvel and DC, there's a tremendous amount of variety and quality.

Alex Simmons, writer and creator of Blackjack--another example of the good stuff you can find if you look beyond Marvel and DC.

New Haven-based artist Tom Ryan.

Of course, what would a comic convention be without the comic books? Vendors had a range of comics available, from recent issues to classics from long ago.

If you're looking for something to read on a budget, the 25¢ bins are the best. I found a couple issues of John Byrne's She-Hulk for my niece and a batch of comics from the '90s that I had missed when they were new.

Sensei Troy Bond of Naugatuck and his students presented a few martial arts techniques. Here, his son is demonstrating the self-defense Bond teaches for children.

Young cosplayers after the martial arts demonstration.

Superman, cleverly disguised as a Waterbury Board of Education Commissioner on his day off.

D.J. Arneson, who wrote the original Lobo character for Dell Comics in 1965.

Arneson's wife, Bea, shared a great story with me about a couple of minor regrets she has: one is that she threw away all their comic books during a move decades ago; the other involves Marilyn Monroe and Waterbury. Back when Bea Arneson was working as a senior services professional, one of her Waterbury clients offered to give her two dresses that had belonged to Marilyn Monroe when she was married to Arthur Miller and living in Roxbury during the late 1950s. The full details of the story aren't clear to me--I think the gist is that Monroe used  a Waterbury seamstress when she was living in Roxbury, and gave the dresses to the seamstress when she no longer wanted them. Decades later, when the dresses were offered to Arneson, she turned them down because they wouldn't fit her--a decision she now regrets, but at least she has a good story to tell!

Artist Michael Lavoie, working on one of his intricately detailed sketches.

A view of the crowds--busy, but not so busy that you're stuck waiting in line for hours.

Professor William H. Foster (right), author and educator, is one of the event's organizers.

The logo for this year's convention includes Ant-Man, whose movie just came out, and Giant-Man, aka Dr. Bill Foster. Get it? Giant-Man Dr. Bill Foster... event organizer Prof. William Foster....

The always-popular Art Fight, hosted by Connecticut-based Free Lunch Studios. Contestants have one minute to sketch the same concept, such as a Steampunk Minion, or a Bigfoot Hello Kitty.

Anyone can sign up for an Art Fight, including a few brave kids.

The Brass City Comic Con is an annual event. Proceeds are donated to Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury.

For updates next year, follow Brass City Comic Con on Facebook, or visit Legends of Superheros in Middlebury.

Photos from previous years are on this blog as follows:

Brass City Comic Con 2011
Brass City Comic Con 2012
Brass City Comic Con 2013