Yaya Han
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Florida Supercon:
Where Comic Books Nerds Get Their Party On
Doubletree Miami Mart
Convention Center
Miami, FL
June 5-7, 2009
Review by Veronica Suarez
Photos and video by Leah S. Pritchett
To experience Florida Supercon, you must step outside the mundane 9-5 school/job routine and enter the animation madness fantasy world of comic book geeks, complete with seductress costumes and Super Mario characters: every fan boy’s dream.
This year, for three days straight, animation and comic book aficionados attended a fair-like event at the Doubletree Miami Mart Convention Center. In essence, the Supercon is a fantasy land that inhabits comics-come-to-life. Costume competitions, legendary comic book artists, Super Mario dance shows, and video game tournaments are just some of the things to experience at the Supercon.
But the Con isn’t just for the comic inclined. This year, legendary horror film actor, Bruce Campbell, joined the festival, while Twilight star Edi Gathegi had the prepubescent girls gushing and squirming at the sight of his bad boy vampire grin. There were also live concerts, television voice actors, and tons of workshops and information sessions on Japan.
See, the Supercon is a world like no other, so to explore it, you’ll need a guide. We’ve broken it down for you in our exclusive survival guide to Supercon, loaded with extra footage just for you.
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell: Actor, Director, Writer, Producer
Bruce Campbell was Supercon’s guest of honor, which meant there was a line of fans stretching from his autograph desk all the way to the entrance of the room. Campbell — who’s the star of horror cult film The Evil Dead and the television series Burn Notice — garnered a large crowd to hear him speak at his question-and-answer session.
During his Q&A, Campbell was witty and energetic, not to mention kinda hot — even if he is 50.
Edi Gathegi
Edi Gathegi: Twilight Star
Although Gathegi plays an evil vampire in the 2008 film Twilight (based on a series of books of the same name), in person he was reserved and conservative, a contrast to his character, Laurent.
In fact, during his Q&A, Gathegi said playing a bad vampire is more fun because in real life he’s the good boy type.
Cosplay: Yaya Han, Jessica Nova and a whole bunch of really cool costumes!
Cosplay Deviants
Cosplay ― or costume play ― is a way for anime fans to dress up as their favorite characters and strut their stuff all around the convention. Elaborate costumes, which require hours and maybe days of labor, are typically seen at the Supercon.
Cosplay models Jessica Nova and Yaya Han conducted in-depth workshops at the Supercon. OUTLOUD caught up with them and found out more about the Cosplay world.
Comic Book Legends and Superstars
They were the unsung heroes of the festival. Tucked away in the corners of the convention center, these artists conducted lectures and signed autographs. In the hustle and noise of the festival, it was peaceful to see them sketching away, pencil on paper, quiet and serene in their animated worlds.
Comic book legends and superstars included Chris Claremont, voice of X-Men for 17 years; Tony Moore, co-creator of The Walking Dead; Doug Mahnke, the current artist of Green Lantern for DC Comics, as well as many other comic book legends and stars.
Ted Raimi
Brad Kesten
Voice Actors and Pop Culture Stars
Supercon was jam-packed with pop culture actors and television stars. Ted Raimi (Xena: Warrior Princess, Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, My Name is Bruce) was there for autograph signings and a Q&A session with fans.
Dana Snyder, voice of Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, was a notable celebrity. And of course, the most-anticipated celebrity for anime fans, were the Smash Brothers, who put on an "epic battle super show" every year at Supercon. Smash Brothers is a Cosplay show with Nintendo characters such as Luigi and Mario.
Other actors included Daniel Logan, best known for his role as young Boba Fett in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Voice Actor Brad Kesten was also there, best known as the voice of Charlie Brown from the classic cartoon The Charlie Brown & Snoopy Show.
OUTLOUD caught up with Logan and Kesten and interviewed them about their roles.
After Parties, Parking, and other need-to-know info
Characters from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
The scoop on the after parties was that they weren’t much of a party. We heard from attendees that the raves are semi-descent, but that all depends on who you ask. We were invited to a masquerade party at the convention, but fetish pole dancers and body painting wasn’t quite on our radar that night. We later heard we didn’t miss anything.
Parking was crazy; using the word "packed" here would be an understatement. People were almost getting into car accidents, and most cars were parked in the middle of the lot.
Not only was parking expensive, but it was also a mission because the amount of cars they allowed into the lot did not accommodate the amount of spaces that were available. Even though Supercon was at a larger venue this year, the parking situation was insufficient.
2009 and Future Supercons
Spike Speigel and Veronica Suarez
There are several anime and comic books conventions in South Florida. But with a new and larger venue this year, Florida Supercon marks the biggest comic-book and anime convention by far. Even so, the diversity of the convention gives it weakness and strength. The weakness lies in the insufficient amount of anime; the strength of the convention was all the different shows and events.
For future conventions, the best thing an anime fan can do is check out the PDF guide to the convention prior to attending. (It’s available on their Web site.) The day with the most events and shows is Saturday. Parking will be crazy that day, but if you’re a fan of comics and anime then that’s the day you’ll get the most for your money. A three-day pass just isn’t worth it. Of course ― if you’re a crazy animation comic book geek ― then by all means attend all three days.
Were you there? MySpace Us!
Bleach Noitora
Costumes by Shunya Yamashita
X-Men characters