Comic Con Pinellas celebrates creativity

This year’s local Comic Con (Pinellas Comic and Maker Con- PCMCON) brought more than five thousand people to St. Petersburg College (SPC)Seminole Campus on Saturday, Sept. 10. Now in its third year, the Comic Con convention is doing better than ever!

Comic Con draws crowds to SPC Seminole Campus

The free annual Comic Con event brings together makers, comics, anime, science fiction and horror fans. The first Comic Con event drew more than 3,000 attendees, and was the second largest event at St. Petersburg College Seminole Campus. In 2015, the convention grew to more than 4,000 fans and added additional space to host more vendors and panels. This year’s Comic Con event spread across Seminole Campus from the library and convention center to the University Partnership building.

wave club documentarians at Comic Con event — Members of the Seminole campus Web, Arts, and Visual Entertainment club document the convention.

Comic Con board gamers — Guests enjoyed board games provided by Serenity Games.

creative comic book artist at Comic Con event — Comic artist Austin Janowsky creating at PCMCon.

digital arts creativity promotion — Professor Delynda Keefe promoting the college’s digital arts program.

Comic Con Ghostbusters cosplayer shows creativity — Lots of creative costumes at Saturday’s convention.

3d printing demo at Comic Con event — Guests learning about 3D printing in the UP building.

Creativity rules at Comic Con

This year’s convention featured free talks on subjects from creating a graphic novel to improvisation. Fans celebrated the 50th anniversary of Star Trek with a panel by Kristal Mize on how the series inspired real technology. The event also featured a video game room run by Gamers on the Edge, a group that raises funds for John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. The Serenity Games board game room stayed full, and even overflowed into the hall until the end of the day.

Members of the 501st Imperial Legion, a Star Wars cosplay group, met with fans and posed for photos. Vendors sold everything from model kits, to costume supplies, to 3D printers. Members of St. Petersburg College’s Seminole Campus Web, Arts, and Visual Entertainment Club took documentary video footage. None of this would be possible without a strong community of volunteers.

Learn more about SPC’s A.S. Degree in Digital Arts, Media and Interactive Web Design.

Volunteers power Comic Con

The first PCMCON was planned in just six weeks, but as the event has grown, so has the work behind the scenes. Public library staff, friends of the Seminole Community Library, Greg Plantamura, and campus librarian Chad Mairn worked tirelessly.

“The Maker part of the convention is what makes us different from area comic and anime conventions,” said Chad Mairn, PCMCON organizer and SPC Seminole librarian. He says the do it yourself ethos is an important part of the spirit of the con. See more photos of this year’s convention and more on local Comic Con Facebook page.