SARATOGA SPRINGS — Next week, on Saturday, Oct. 26 and Sunday, Oct. 27, the 10th Saratoga Comic Con will be held in the City Center on Broadway. On Saturday, the event will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., while on Sunday it will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
According to Samuel Chase, the event’s organizer, Saratoga Comic Con is a biannual convention and the top ranked Comic Con in the New York Capitol Region. He said that the reason the convention was biannual was because it grew too large to reasonably be a single yearly event.
For the convention next weekend, he said that they were expecting around 100 vendors and over 6,000 total people to show up, including various celebrities such as Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese in Terminator), Michelle Harrison from The Flash and Bob Carter (a voice actor in various shows, including Dragon Ball Z and Fullmetal Alchemist).
To get into the event, tickets both online and at the door are free for children six years old and under and $12 for either day for children between seven and 15. For attendees 16 and over, Saturday is $25, Sunday is $20, and a weekend ticket is $40.
VIP tickets are also available online for $75 and $95, both of which include tickets for both days and other merchandise. There are also military and group discounts available.
Chase said that while the name of the convention includes “Comic Con,” it is far from exclusively about comic books and superheroes. Instead, he said that the con’s slogan is “it’s not just comics, it’s a ‘pop culture experience.’”
There will be various cosplay groups and guest stars (cosplay being when a fan dresses up as a character from a work of fiction), Magic: The Gathering tabletop gaming, Super Smash Bros. video game tournaments, panels, events, tattooing, the 1966 Batboat, a bouncy house and various other attractions during the two-day event.
One cosplay group, the Montreal X-MEN have been attending Saratoga Comic Con since 2016, and will be raising money for the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention.
Chase mentioned that cosplayers do not need to show up in costume, and that the entire event was indoors, so no need to worry about rain or other inclement weather.
Unlike many other conventions, there is no specific artists’ alley in place. Instead, Chase said that he tries to mix things up, so that there are various artist’s tables spread throughout the space, rather than confined to one area.
Back when he first started Saratoga Comic Con, Chase said that it was not a dream of his or anything of the sort. Rather, he had tried being a vendor at other conventions selling self-produced kid’s show DVD’s, but when they did not sell well he realized he could create his own convention to sell at instead.
On April 25, 2015, he held the first Saratoga Comic Con. Chase said that 2017 was when the event got launched to another platform, as from one event to the next they saw 40% growth. Then 2018 became another launch site, when they booked actor Jason Mewes and the line to get into the City Center wrapped around the building three times.
To help raise awareness and draw more people in, before a convention Chase himself places posters in areas up to two miles away from the City Center to let everyone know that another Comic Con is approaching.
In total, Chase estimated that the two-day convention generates over $100,000 for the community, including expenses outside of the City Center for the likes of hotel stays and restaurant visits, as well as con goers visiting Saratoga Springs’s stores on a whim.
After next week’s event, the next Saratoga Comic Con is scheduled for May 2 and May 3, 2020.
For more information, visit www.saratogacomiccon.com
