Mini-Comic Con event mixes reality and fantasy

Though it was billed as "mini," the Comic Con at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus showcased plenty of talent. On display was artwork of four professional artists from the comic-book and fantasy world.

One of them was William Stout, who sat at one of the booths, touching up prints of the Lon Cheney drawing he'd made. In his black leather jacket, red bandanna ascot and silver hair, he looked quite the character himself.

Over the years, he said, he's worked on dozens of movies designing monsters, sets, makeup and more. Many of the movies he's worked on tend to be scary, but even the horror films contained humor, he said.

"Like this one," he said, pointing to his "Return of The Living Dead" T-shirt. He served as production designer for the film, in charge of sets, makeup and set dressing.

For one scene, he said, he wanted to create a twinkle of humor in an otherwise scary scene.

Jamie Hubbard dressed as Cinderella walks around during the Cape Mini-Comic Con on Saturday at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus in Cape Girardeau.ANDREW J. WHITAKER

"My primary goal with [art] is to entertain," he said. "So if I can slip something funny in ... it ended up I bought a book of butterflies."

He cut out all the pictures and pinned them in a case like a collection and hung it on-set. When, in the script, things begin coming back to life, Stout was off-screen fanning the butterflies to make them flutter.

Little touches such as that, he said, are what keep things balanced. But for someone who's done design work for fantasy film directory Guillermo del Toro, he also understands how to scare people, as well.

He pointed to the pictures of Lon Chaney in front of him.

"There's something that Lon Chaney said once about what's scary are things that are normal but in the wrong place," he said. "If I go to a circus and I see a clown performing, that's fine, but then I go home and at midnight and I see the same clown standing by my door, that's it."

Artist William Stout gives a talk during the Cape Mini-Comic Con on Saturday at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus in Cape Girardeau.ANDREW J. WHITAKER

But not all the artist's fantasies were as dark. Terese Nielsen made her name producing the lush art for "Magic: The Gathering" cards.

Father and son Chris and Grant Schaefer came to the exhibit with stacks of their cards.

"It's really neat to see the art that you see on the cards," Chris said.

They've only been playing for a few years, since Grant was about 9 or 10 years old.But it's become something they do together.

"My favorite part is seeing how the story plays out through the art," he said, "and using that to see how the game plays out."

Jens Brammer looks at artwork during the Cape Mini-Comic Con on Saturday at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus in Cape Girardeau.ANDREW J. WHITAKER

Fellow artist Rick Burchett was at another table, inking a sketch of Captain America and chatting with fans.

Burchett, who graduated from Southeast in 1975, is best known for his work drawing Batman, She-Hulk and Superman.

Between the booths and the exhibits were the typical Con festivities such as face-painting, memorabilia for sale and, of course, cosplaying, a contraction of the words "costume playing."

The tallest one was Lonnie Johnson, who dressed as The Punisher.

"One of the artists who's here right now, Rick Burchett, has actually seen me at a few different cons, and he asked me to do something a little different," he said, explaining his costume choice.

Plus, he said, he identifies with the character of The Punisher because Johnson, a cop, fights criminal activity like the character, Frank Castle, does.

And, appropriately for Veterans Day weekend, Johnson was spreading the word about his cosplay foundation "Heroes for Kids," which brings together cosplayers to benefit veterans and first responders. "Our goal is to bring our costume characters together with our real heroes," he said. "It helps bring people together for a good cause."

His other goal, he said, was to inspire the next generation of superheroes such as 6-year-old Wyatt Williams, who was dressed as Deadpool but went by "Kid-pool."

"'Cuz I like Deadpool," he said, "and he's my best friend."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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