A weekend of nerdly paradise

The value of the common comic book in a true nerd's life is indisputable - we all remember back when we were kids, our parents taking us to go spend that couple bucks from mowing the lawn on a fresh, plastic-wrapped comic. The feeling of pride I got from looking at my hefty collection of comics was a feeling I thought for sure would be lost in growing up, much like the desire to finger-paint or bang on pots and pans.

Cape Girardeau is lucky, though, because Ken Murphy vows to not let the love of comics die with his first annual Comic and Gaming Expo (going on April 8 and 9).

This past week, I headed down to Marvels & Legends Comic Store on Broadway to catch up with the owner, Ken. The shop itself was packed with diehard fans and casual browsers alike, giving me the feeling that this expo is going to be a huge deal for Cape's gaming scene.

Once I sat down with Ken, he can't help but to grin and look around and the piles of swag and goodies to be handed out at the show.

"I just love comics," he says. "I want to do this for our community. I want this show to be a place where everyone - your comic people, your game people, families, everyone - can come down and just enjoy the day."

Ken hopes to make this expo an annual thing, and tells me there will be tons of things to look forward to if you're going.

"Oh, man," he grins. "What won't there be? We're gonna have vendors, comic artists, Stormtroopers, prizes - everything!"

Everything is about right. The comic show itself will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., which will include everything mentioned above. The vendor booth section will be selling everything you could imagine, from toys and (of course) comics to posters and lightsabers. Speaking of lightsabers, when he mentioned the Stormtroopers, he actually means that some of the area's most authentic Stormtroopers impersonators will be there, and expect to bring your cameras - I hear they're going to be posing for family shots.

About the artists? Along with a few phenomenal artists making an appearance, the legendary Gary Friedrich will be there, who you might remember as the original writer and creator of the comic "Ghost Rider." Gary is excited about coming out, so bring all your issues of "Ghost Rider" with you and stock up on autographs.

You're probably thinking, "This sounds great, but wasn't there gaming involved?"

You're right. There IS gaming involved, and tons of it.

April 8 is the official gaming day (making April 9 the official Comic day), in which tournaments will be held from 10 a.m. to midnight for "Halo" (Hosted by GameCrazy), "HeroClix," "Warhammer," "Magic: The Gathering" and many more. Ten bucks gets you in all of them, and while I'm not allowed to disclose the prize list, I can tell you that all of the prizes are going to be freaking sweet.

Along with the tournaments held on Saturday, there's going to be a little D&D going on, as well as tons of other games. Most of the gaming tournaments are going to be covered by the people down at Plainswalkers, so the weekend will be full of names and faces you're already familiar with if you're into tabletop gaming.

If the mention of free swag (free "Star Wars" comics, anyone?) and a plethora of nerdy activity won't bring you in, then maybe the Southeastern Missouri premier showing of "Tears of the Dragon" will.

"Tears of the Dragon" is an amazing film adapted from the Tomb Raider series that has been shown all over the world and even snagged a great review on the popular TV channel G4. The 40-minute live action film made by local filmmaker Nick Murphy promises to be not only action-packed with geeky goodness, but also family friendly. The shots I've watched from it are nothing short of awesome, and I promise it's worth moseying down to the upstairs room at Bucker Brewing Company to check out.

I know you're sold on it now, but a lot of you might be wondering where your hard earned ten bucks is going to disappear.

"We've actually decided to donate as much of the money as we can to the Christopher Reeves Foundation," Ken tells me. "It's the least we can do, and I feel like everyone's money is going to the best place possible."

I'm inclined to completely agree with Ken, being that the Christopher Reeves Foundation helps to find cures for paralysis, and all under former Superman Christopher Reeves' name. When you come out to the expo, you'll prove to everyone who thinks of gamers as violence-mongers that we're all caring, good people!

There you have it - comics, games, tournaments, movies and even charity. I can't think of a better way to spend that weekend. The only thing I have left to say to you is ... well, see you there