Comic Con gives fans occasion to dress up

When Garrison Freeman arrived Saturday afternoon at the Cape Comic Con in costume as the Joker's accomplice and love interest Harley Quinn, she wasn't in the least concerned about being labeled a geek.

"Geekdom is amazing, and I just love it," said Freeman, who is from East Cape Girardeau, Ill., and came to the event at Cape Girardeau's Osage Centre with her friend Vaughn Boland of McClure, Ill. Freeman said she had hoped to convince Boland to come dressed as the Joker, but wasn't able to.

Comic book and sci-fi fans turned out for the Saturday session of the three-day event, which concludes today.

Cape Comic Con organizer Ken Murphy projected that attendance for the event would go over 1,300, topping last year's total by 15 percent and making it the best-attended event in the six-year history of the show.

Murphy said the audience for shows like Cape Comic Con ranges in age from 5 to 65.

"Grandparents and parents love to bring their children here," Murphy said.

Many of those in attendance were in the costume of their favorite comic book or sci-fi characters. Many, like Freeman, did it for fun. Others, like Lester Schopp and Dennis Booker of St. Louis, did it to promote something.

Schopp was dressed as an imperial storm trooper and Booker as a navy trooper, both from the "Star Wars" series. Schopp and Booker were at the show to promote the 501st Legion, an international organization of "Star Wars" fans now numbering more than 5,000 members from more than 40 countries.

"We do a lot of charity and volunteer work," said Schopp, who said the only qualifications for membership are to be at least 18 years old and have an authentic "Star Wars" costume.

Actor William Katt, who played the lead role in the '80s TV series "The Greatest American Hero," reminisced about his time on the series during a Saturday question-and-answer session with fans.

While Katt now looks back fondly about his time on the series, he admits that he wasn't thrilled about being on the show at the time.

"I had come out of doing a pretty good run of films, and I had worked a lot in the theater," Katt said. "When we did 'The Greatest American Hero,' it became harder for me to be taken as a serious actor. At the time, for a guy like me, I couldn't do that. Once they put you into a box, that's where you stayed."

Katt said that things are different in the industry today.

"You can do a TV commercial, you can do a comic book hero, then get on stage on Broadway. There's a lot more flexibility in what you can do as an actor nowadays."

Alexander Rae was busy posing for pictures and talking with fans of Christopher Reeve and the "Superman" movie series. Rae was the winner of the Christopher Reeve look-alike contest at the 2010 Superman festival in Metropolis, Ill., and now spends about two weekends a month at events impersonating the late actor. While he doesn't make a living impersonating Reeve, the college student said "it helps pay for schoolbooks."

Rae appeared at the show with GA Mountain Promotions, which displayed an assortment of Superman capes worn by various actors who have portrayed the Man of Steel through the years on film and television, including Reeve, George Reeves, Dean Cain and Brandon Routh. Owner Catherine Busbee said she is one cape short of a complete collection.

"I'm missing Kirk Alyn," Busbee said. Alyn was the first to portray Superman on film in movie serials of the late 1940s.

"They're impossible. No one has one anywhere."