Pellissippi State Community College’s annual celebration of comic books, cosplay and pop culture returns Saturday, April 6, with a special after party at Central Cinema.
The Mag Comic Expo will be held 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. on the college’s Magnolia Avenue Campus, 1610 E. Magnolia Ave., Knoxville, and is free to the public.
The third annual Mag Comic Expo, which was created as a different approach to promoting literacy, drew more than 800 fans in its first two years, and organizers hope to grow the event even more this year, said Associate Professor Grant Mincy.
“We are looking for a festival-like atmosphere for year three – with more music and live entertainment,” he said. “We’ll also be keeping the tried-and-true cosplay contest, panel discussion and keynote.”
The Mag Comic Expo is family-friendly fun with something for all ages. Other planned events include:
- “Wrasslin’” from Total Professional Wrestling
- A kids’ corner, where they can design their own comic
- A sculpting workshop
- Board games and tabletop games, including a Magic the Gathering tournament
- A mad scientist lab and a homicide investigation lab
- Screening of “scary movies to watch in the dark”
- Food trucks, live music and more than 50 vendors
Also new this year is an after party at Central Cinema featuring special guest Mark Edward Edens, a television writer who has penned scripts for “X-Men: The Animated Series” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” that ran from 1987 to 1996, among others.
The after party, hosted by Central Cinema and Nirvana Comics Knoxville, will begin at 7 p.m. at Central Cinema, 1205 N. Central Street, Knoxville. Tickets are $15 and on sale now at centralcinema865.com.
“We’ll play some of the old X-Men animated classics (rated ages 7+) and then screen the movie ‘X-Men 2’ (rated PG-13),” Mincy said. Edens will discuss “his role in the projects, and Nirvana Comics will hand out free comic books and have other merchandise for sale.”
There will be X-Men trivia and other prizes awarded throughout the night, Mincy said.
To keep up with all the latest developments, follow the Mag Comic Expo on Facebook.
Lesli Bales-Sherrod is a public relations specialist at Pellissippi State Community College