Vendors find large crowd to sell to at Ithacon as over 45 authors, artists, and editors Ithacon each hoping to be able to sell their wares and draw general interest in their comics.

Comic book artist Doug Laura, who is the artist for the online comic book Rock Steady, came to Ithacon to sell and promote his comic books,

“I have two books and I’m here to get them out.”

And it’s not just the artist who are here to sell. Several collectors were selling out comics ranging from free to priceless.

Comic book vendor Carl Weed has participated in 40 of the last 42 Ithacon’s and he said that the comic book industry has changed a lot in that time.

“I’ve been doing Ithacon since I was a young pup,” he said. “I do it every year. I haven’t kept up with comics after they went to thirty cents I thought that was way more than you should ever pay for a comic.”

But, he said that doesn’t stop him from buying some of the older comics.

“I never make anything because I always spend it on comics,” Weed said. “What’s ridiculous is that no matter how much I make I end up keeping it in a box and then when I see some comics I spend it.”

Local comic book artist Ten Van Winkle who was a contributor and co-editor of the book Vertescope: The Anthology of Villains said that the way the Con is run has changed over the past couple of years.

“It actually use to be a little more like a collectors market, but they’re moving more towards having smaller artists and local vendors.”

For the 42nd year a cast of colorful characters descended on Ithaca College’s campus for the annual Ithacon. The Comic Book Club of Ithaca, which is the longest running comic book club in the country, held the first event in 1976 where they originally hosted only four guests. The event bounced from venue to venue throughout Ithaca and ended up coming to Ithaca College in 2014 in memory of Tori Howell a former English major at the college who was incredibly passionate about comics.

The event, or Con as the participants call it, drew a large crowd of comic book artists and sellers. They ranged from local artists to more well known artists and writers some who had even worked at Marvel. One such artist was Roger Stern, who has worked on comics like The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man. He and the former Editor in Chief of Marvel, Jim Shooter, spoke to a large crowd as the keynote address of Ithacon.

Laura said that for him there is more than just a profit motivating him to attend the event.

“I write and draw my own books and I self-publish and so for me it’s just the thrill of someone buying my book, reading it and getting back to me and saying they like it.”

Van Winkle said that she enjoys the atmosphere of Ithacon.

“It’s nice because it’s a really chill convention but there’s still plenty of people to talk to. There’s a good range of folks from collectors, to students, to younger kids wanting to find out about our art. I really love Ithacon.”

She went on to echo the thoughts of Laura saying the biggest take away from the con is the people that come to it.

“I meet really cool people and a lot of locals come and so it’s good to find the community in the area,” she said. “It’s always just a really good time.