Costumed crusaders transform Osage Centre during Cape Comic Con

Like any good superhero, the otherwise mild-mannered Osage Centre transformed itself for the 11th annual Cape Comic Con.

Thousands of fans turned out to see all things fandom, from comics to sci-fi to gaming and more.

Hundreds of vendors sold all types of goods including clothes, art and even outlandish accessories such as swords and armor.

Bob Fitzgerald, of Tamms, Illinois, had more than 7,000 comic books for sale from his personal collection, which he began in 1964.

"Pretty much the only ones I kept for myself were my early Jack Kirby Fantastic Fours," he said. "I've got every one of them at home."

Butch Patrick, who portrayed the child werewolf Eddie Munster on "The Munsters" television series, operates a booth at Cape Comic Con on Saturday at the Osage Centre.Fred Lynch

All the rest, mostly Marvel, were up for sale, some worth hundreds of dollars.

A Green Lantern issue No. 2 for $1,000 was Fitzgerald's most expensive comic.

At another booth in the gymnasium, David Pierce and his daughter Miranda sold all types of chain-mail accoutrements, including an 85-pound, custom-designed, $15,000 chain-mail and leather hauberk Pierce called Pete.

Crafting the suit was part of what got him into creating chain-mail, he said. He was bored one day and had seen similar crafting at a Rennaisance fair, and one thing led to another.

"The wife comes home, and there wasn't a wire coat hanger in the house anymore," he recalled.

Jarred Wilkerson of Kennett, Missouri, dressed as Superman, and his fiancee, Johanna Spalding, browse items at the Cape Comic Con while his daughter, Reiah Wilkerson, dressed as Supergirl, grabs some rest Saturday at the Osage Centre.Fred Lynch

"All our clothes were on the floor," Miranda said.

"So she sent me out to buy plastic ones, and from then on, I was hooked on doing chain mail," he said.

One of the weekend's most popular events, the costume contests, happened Saturday as well. The children's contest featured costumes that were a bit more customized, including a stoic Princess Vader, Crillan from Dragonball-Z and a mirror-universe Spock who spilled the beans about having been put up to it by his parents.

LaKrisha Moore of Cape Girardeau won the adult contest with her original "Goblin Queen" costume that imagined a character that David Bowie in "Labyrinth" might have shared a throne with.

Area youth also created original comic heroes and villians in the Caped exhibit, hosted by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

Original heroes included "Rainbowia," who shot rainbows from her hands; Fire Woman, who shot fire from her hands; and "Woman Woman," whose superpower seemed to be Rosie the Riveter-esque confidence.

Hannah Camarato, who attends Notre Dame High School in Cape, took second place with her interstellar-exploring protagonist, "Mallory," whom she invented in a creative writing course.

At another booth, Columbia, Missouri-based independent comic writer Scott Schmidt showed off his original characters under his Pistol Whip Press label.

"I do a lot of pulp-inspired stuff," he said, "things like action and horror."

One of his comics on display followed the adventures of a monster-hunting Canadian mountie in the wilderness.

The Cape Comic Con continues today at the Osage Centre, where tickets are $5.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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