Medicine Hat Library to host convention for free comic book day

The Medicine Hat Public Library is looking to bring the city’s underground geek culture up into the light with the first ever annual comic convention.

The idea stemmed from the yearly celebration of Free Comic Book Day, which the library has participated in for many years, said event organizer and youth and community librarian Stephanie Kuhn.

“We’ve participated every year for the past five years,” said Kuhn. “Free Comic Book Day always falls on the first Saturday of May and it has always been our dream to transform this day into a bigger event for community members to come and enjoy.

“There’s often a lot of barriers to go to some of the bigger Comic Cons like in Calgary because of price and travel. So we kind of want to have something here,” said Kuhn. “There is also the Gas City Expo in Medicine Hat, and that’s in the fall and we’ve kind of worked with them with a schedule that week. So we have something twice a year here.”

The event will be entirely free to participate in as well as drop-in, with the exception of a Spiderman Story Time for children aged 3–7, which will require registration on the library website.

“Of course, we will have our free comic books. Those are a staple for these kinds of events. There’ll be lots and lots to choose from, a little of everything, with kid friendly ones, teen friendly ones, and some interesting ones for adults as well,” said Kuhn.

The event will also feature a costume contest in the morning, which will have categories for children, teens, and adults, to be judged by local cosplayers and have some prizes for those who win their category.

Star Wars themed crafts will be available, as will a themed scavenger hunt.

“We will be having a local author coming to speak. He’s a published graphic novel author. He is also bringing his publisher and she’s the current editor-in-chief of ASAP Imagination. They’re going to offer a talk to teens and adults on how to break into the graphic novel and comic industry,” said Kuhn.

Her goal, above all, is to create a space for people to make connections with others who share their interests for the day, and perhaps even discover new ones.

“I’ve been working with a lot of amazing community partners on this who are willing to pitch in. We have local cosplayers who are going to judge the costume contest. We have our local SCA medieval group coming as well, and they’re going to put on a free demonstration of medieval art,” said Kuhn. “And lots and lots of incredible volunteers.”

Should things go well,

Kuhn hopes to make this convention something that comes back year over year, and is tentatively calling it their “first annual” comic con.

“It has been my dream to run this type of event here. We were supposed to run this event in 2020. But of course, we were stopped,” said Kuhn. “So I’m so happy to be able to bring it back in, and see it survive and thrive.”

The event will run from 10–4pm at the library on May 4.