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Toy and Comics Expo attracts hundreds

BRETT DUNLAP Special to the Times Artist Ren McKinzie, of Columbus, works on artwork at his booth Sunday during the annual Classic Plastics Toy and Comics Expo at the Parkersburg Art Center.

PARKERSBURG — The annual Classic Plastics Toy and Comics Expo in downtown Parkersburg over this past weekend saw more people attending this year than last year, organizers said.

The annual pop-culture show at the Parkersburg Art Center brought in hundreds of people throughout the weekend.

“It has been pretty amazing,” said Classic Plastics owner and expo organizer Tony Workman. “Last year, we had 1,200 people through the door.

“This year it is looking to be closer to 1,500. We definitely blew out last year’s numbers by a lot.”

The expo, now in its sixth year, featured celebrity guests Timothy Zahn and Daniel Pesina, events, toys, comics, games and cosplay. There were 80 vendor tables rented out featuring a wide variety of materials covering many interests.

“We had a lot of different stuff,” Workman said. “People seem to be having a good time.”

People were walking through the show areas looking at comic books, artwork, action figures, video games, movie memorabilia and more. Others were talking about their favorite TV shows and movies.

“I just love looking at all of the comics and all of the different things and doing some shopping,” said Ingram Blanchard of Parkersburg.

Artist Ren McKinzie, of Columbus, had a booth set up for his artwork which features numerous comic characters, things of his own design and more.

“Most people who come look for their favorite character or something from their favorite TV show or cartoon,” he said. “There are a lot of people who come who are into their own type of characters and things.

“They will have me draw their character of them and those are a lot of fun.”

McKenzie said he saw a lot of people on Saturday, but felt the snow on Sunday might have kept some people away.

“I have had a good response to my artwork,” he said. “So far, it has been good. I am having a good time.”

Ethan McPeek and Samantha Auth of the Parkersburg area came to the show Saturday to do cosplaying and they came back Sunday to see what items they could find.

“We wanted to see if they had any lower prices on stuff and get some stuff,” Auth said. “We are trying to get more stuff we are interested in like comic books and different things.

“We figured the prices would be lower the second day with people trying to get rid of stuff.”

She was interested in finding items and comic books featuring the characters of Harley Quinn, Deadpool, Black Panther, Batman Beyond and others.

“It is mainly Marvel, but I do like some DC,” she said of her favorite comic characters.

“I like to hang out with other geeks like me as well, find out new things, see stuff I haven’t seen before,” she added. “This is my first time coming to this show and it was a lot of fun.”

They cosplayed with him as Jason Voorhees from the “Friday the 13th” films and her as a scientist studying him. They won in the best group category in the cosplay competition on Saturday.

“I haven’t done a big cosplay before,” Auth said. “My boyfriend and I teamed up and we did our own cosplay.

“It is seeing how creative people can get and seeing what they can do to get the things for their own cosplay. It can also inspire you to do your own cosplay.”

Watching the other cosplayers gives them ideas for things they can do in the future.

“It was a lot of fun,” Auth said.

McPeek found a Hellboy figure he wanted and was looking for issues of Marvel Comics’ “Venom: Lethal Protector” series.

He too was looking at ideas for future cosplaying costumes. He wants to do his own Star Wars outfit, either Jedi or Sith while she wants to do her own Mandalorian armor costume at some point. They were always looking for ideas on what they can do and how to put such costumes together, based on their own ideas and what others have done.

“I like coming here to look for comic books and movies,” McPeek said. “It is fun.

“I get along with everyone. There are a lot of familiar faces.”

Workman hoped everyone who came to the show had a good time.

“I just hope they had fun,” he said. “I hope they found something that reminded them of being a child or put a gleam in their eye or a smile on their face.”

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