Iowa City convention gets serious about comics

IOWA CITY - Comic creators, collectors and enthusiasts gathered in Iowa City this weekend for the first Mid-Con Comic Show.

'It's like a tight little community, but we just met them,” said Nicole Snell of St. Paul, Minn., who sold comics-related crafts at the event. 'When you come to a convention, you know you already have something in common with them.”

Snell wore a hand-made Wonder Woman costume Saturday. She said she goes to about 15 conventions a year and tries to make a different costume for each day of a convention.

One discussion Saturday explored sexual harassment and gender issues in light of 'cosplay,” which stands for costume play and refers to people who dress as specific comic characters.

Other discussions focused on the role of religion, social life, body shaming and education in comics.

'When I started, we were such a small subculture that no one even thought or noticed those attitudes,” said Phil Hesler, an established comic writer and artist originally from Cedar Rapids. 'This geek subculture has now become such a large culture, that we bear a lot more social responsibility.”

Hesler, who now lives in North English, said he tries to give back to Iowa comic events as much as possible.

'When I was a kid growing up here, I knew I wanted to do comics and there was nothing like this, so I want to make sure this environment is around for young cartoonists today,” he said.

Event organizer Noel Burns said about 250 people had attended the weekend-long show as of Saturday.