Love rules at Imperial Valley Comic-Con
EL CENTRO — There were no hearts and flowers, and none of the gooey gestures typically associated with the greeting card holiday celebrated a day earlier. But make no mistake: Love was in the air throughout the Martin Luther King Jr. Pavilion at Eighth Street and Adams Avenue Saturday afternoon for the Imperial Valley Comic-Con.
Nearly anyone manning a booth, visiting an exhibit or sporting a costume showed up to express love for something associated with the event.
For Danny, a member of the Imperial Sands Garrison of the 501st Legion, it was a love of Star Wars. Danny, who is currently stationed at Naval Air Facility El Centro, is one roughly 150 members in Imperial and San Diego counties of the regional chapter of the international Star Wars costuming organization. Members must possess movie-quality replicas of uniforms used in the Star Wars films, and they must be uniforms belonging to the bad guys. Danny is a Stormtrooper. The group raises money for charities like Make-A-Wish and resembles Star Wars fandom’s version of the American Legion.
Dan Cotes said he was in town for his passion for his work and the opportunity to connect with readers. Cotes, who lives in Los Angeles, was one of more than 100 exhibitors from throughout California, Arizona and even Nevada who made the trip to El Centro.
Since 1987, Cotes has been the artist behind a comic series entitled “Zen the Intergalactic Ninja,” published by First Comics. It’s never been a particularly big seller, although it has had movie options taken on it a few times and once was the basis of a Nintendo game. But mostly it’s a passion project, said Cotes, who by day works as a packaging designer for a toy company.
Cartooning tends to be an isolated enterprise, Cotes observed.
“Getting out and talking to people about what goes into this is very important,” he said. “We need people to know there is a human being behind this work and not just a corporation.”
For local comic book artist Dave Garcia, drawing isn’t a matter of choice. “We just have to do it,” he said.
Garcia was at Imperial Valley Comic-Con promoting his latest project, a six-book series entitled “Shadow of the West,” which appears to involve a monster-fighting gunslinger. Garcia explains the premise as something he thought about ever since he was a kid and saw “The Lone Ranger” on TV. “I always wondered why he needed to use a silver bullet.”
There a lot of love behind Saturday’s event for organizer Ruben Najera as well. The retired skateboard pro and owner of Metahumans Comics in El Centro started Imperial Valley Comic-Con at Ricochet Rec Center in Imperial two years ago.
This year’s third annual event was expanded not only in scope but in floor space with the move to the Martin Luther King Jr. Pavilion this year.
It was apparent the response was favorable. Although final attendance numbers weren’t available as of press time, pre-sales were nearly double last year’s. Najera said local hotels began calling him as the event approached asking what was going on that they were getting such an unusually high number of bookings.
Najera said he wants to make the Valley a destination for comic book fans. “Everyone passes by us,” he said. “I want to put us on the map.”