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Fourth Annual Comic-con, largest yet, 'should be celebrated'

HUMBOLDT — Summer Sizzler-goers assembled at Humboldt’s fourth annual comic-con to partake in its largest iteration yet. The June 15 comic convention hosted 40 booths, “which is awesome,” said lead organizer Jeff Burton.
Humboldt Comic-Con
Alison Gerwing and Jessica Wilson sold their original art and beadwork at the Humboldt Comic-Con. Photo by Kiernan Green

HUMBOLDT — Summer Sizzler-goers assembled at Humboldt’s fourth annual comic-con to partake in its largest iteration yet.

The June 15 comic convention hosted 40 booths, “which is awesome,” said lead organizer Jeff Burton. Most featured items for sale such as comics, figurines, plush dolls, and handmade artwork and crafts.

“To foster a creative outlet and be able to share it with people is such a great fuel. We just feed off of each other. Everybody just grows throughout that,” Burton said.

“Having that imagination and creativity is such a big piece for all ages. You don't lose that just because you're not a kid anymore. You carry that with you for the rest of your life.”

Chris Bernhard – an old friend of Burton’s and co-owner of the province’s largest entertainment expo, Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo – said he’s seen Humboldt’s comic-con “grow and grow and grow” over the last four years.

“I know growing up in [Humboldt], Jeff, myself and our little group of people that read comics – it was very small,” Bernhard said. “Now, this whole resurgence of this sort of thing really lets people hang their passions out on display for everybody to see.

“Whether it's video gaming, whether it's comics, whether it's science fiction, whether it's horror, it's all fun and amazing and should be celebrated.”

The “biggest show yet” culminated at the end of Humboldt’s Canadian Comic Book Week, decreed by Mayor Rob Muench for June 10 to 16.

One set of comics for sale was Aurora Man, Burton’s own story surrounding Humboldt’s super hero of the prairies. The cosmic-staff-wielding hero is based in the Humboldt water tower, and is a school teacher by day. The comic series pulls inspiration from Humboldt’s own scenery, citizens and stories.

“One of the first stories I ever wrote talked about zombie moose coming from Dead Moose Lake,” Burton said. “[The comic’s reception has] been fantastic, and it's growing, every year getting more and more of a fanbase.”

Other vendors, such as sisters Christine Schmidt and Ferne Hebig of Geeky Tendencies and Nerfblat Bits, said they appreciated Humboldt’s comic-con for its size compared to larger expositions.

“It's not as overwhelming,” Schmidt said. “You can spend more time to linger, you can look at things more carefully, you don't feel like you're in a hurry.

Hebig said Humboldt’s convention brings “a very interesting mix of people” from folks who came to attend the Summer Sizzler.

“It's not necessarily the same people you'd get going to Sask. Expo, because that's the target market. Here, you're getting a lot of other kinds of people too,” she said.