Cape Comic Con is back and better than ever

In the 1970s Ken Murphy was just a kid who liked comics. Now he's responsible for the largest gathering of artists, actors, comic book heroes and comic lovers in Southeast Missouri and the surrounding area.

Cape Comic Con '08 starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Southeast Missouri State University Student Rec Center South on Broadway. The two-day convention is loaded with panels, trade booths, star appearances and a costume contest, which is new this year.

"We truly are becoming a regional show," Murphy said, which is just what he wanted when he started the event three years ago.

"The convention has grown from 400 to 800 last year," Murphy said.

The Comic Convention brings in artists and professional dealers with collectibles. This year Matthew Atherton — the winner of SciFi's first season of the reality show "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" — will be there as his character, "Feedback."

"He is kind of the star of the show, if you will," Murphy said.

Feedback makes appearances at comic conventions across the country and helps raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation. The Cape Comic Con has donated parts of the proceeds to charity each year through selling exclusive prints from the show or other methods.

This year's convention has several panels including one on the process of converting a comic book to a movie. Cullen Bunn, who writes "The Dammed," just got an offer from DreamWorks and will talk about the process of going from novel to film.

Bunn, who lives in St. Louis, has been to the Cape Comic Con each year.

"The first year I just went because I had some friends who were artists and who were at that show," he said. "It's a fun show to attend."

Bunn even disguises his trips to comic conventions as vacations. He said there are two types of shows: There's comic book conventions that are typically big events with guests and panels and then there are comic book shows, which "basically just have dealers and booths and you go in and you buy some comic books."

"Ken [Murphy] has really done a good job of making it more of a convention," Bunn said. "He tries to really enhance the feel of the convention, which is what really sets it apart form the smaller shows."

Bunn said Murphy has brought in things to entice more than just comic book enthusiasts.

"There's so much more to it than the typical Superman, Batman comics," he said. "And you get to see that."

Science fiction authors, artists, writers, and television and movie stars all turn out for comic conventions. A brigade of Stormtroopers from 501st 70th Explorers, a worldwide Star Wars costume club, will patrol the area posing for pictures again this year.

"They're a big hit," Murphy said. "Parents just love bringing their kids in to get their picture taken."

Bringing in movie and television representatives adds to the multimedia event that comic conventions have become. It's not just cartoon characters with superpowers anymore, Bunn said.

"It just really goes so far beyond that now," he said. "So many movies right now are comic book movies — 'Hulk,' '300' was a comic, 'History of Violence' was a comic, 'Road to Perdition' with Tom Hanks was a comic."

The Cape Comic Con will highlight some of the newer facets of the comic world as well as paying tribute to its roots.

For a complete list of activities, visit www.capecomiccon.com.