Vine-grown fandom takes root in Lodi
Fans from all over flocked to Lodi for Grape City Con, a celebration of pop culture
Where else this time of year can you see The Tick chatting up Iron Man?
Or the Joker walking hand in hand with Harley Quinn while, out on a nearby field, a dozen kids attack each other with foam sticks in a game of LARPing — Live Action Role Playing?
That can only mean one thing. Sunday marked the third annual edition of Grape City Con, a popular culture event for lovers of comic books, video games, movies, science fiction, cards, Pro Wrestling Bushido, anime and manga (Japanese animation and graphic novels) at the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds.
Organized by the same folks who put on the annual StocktonCon and Central Valley Con, Grape City Con gave Lodi enthusiasts the opportunity to sport costumes of their favorite superhero or heroine and take some time out from the stresses of every day life.
“I feel like I’m Tony Stark in real life,” said 30-year-old Scott Berger of Stockton. Like the fictional Stark — the superhero best known as Iron Man — Berger spent eight months fabricating his own custom Iron Man suit out of fiberglass.
And just like Stark, Berger is a technogeek who has plans for an improved suit made on a 3-D printer that he hopes to debut at this year’s StocktonCon on Aug. 1920 at Stockton Arena.
Grape City Con also provided a showcase for Valley vendors and artists to present and sell their creations while sharing some of the proceeds with Lodi’s Salvation Army and United Way of San Joaquin County.
Comic book collector Ryan Snethen, 34, in character dressed to the nines in a sharp purple suit, gold vest and the distinctive white face of The Joker, said he wanted to go all out for Sunday’s show, his second “Con” event.
He got a kick out of younger kids whose parents asked to take a photo.
“They tell their kid to go stand by me, but instead they run off screaming,” Snethen said, his face expertly made up with the menacing Joker’s “smile.”