History was made in Salt Lake City on September 5th 2013. Salt Lake City, Utah held its first ever Comic Con: Salt Lake Comic Con. What was formerly known to the Salt Lake community as GEEX, has grown over the past several years, which in turn started a movement that no one saw coming. When it was first announced, I did not believe it. Comic Con….in Utah?…yeah okay. Shortly after that, my jaw dropped as I saw a bill board in downtown Salt lake which was advertising the Salt Lake Comic Con. I remember being very disappointed that GEEX 2012 was cancelled due to “scheduling issues”. In September 2012, the GEEX facebook kept saying that they were going to announce amazing news, but the news never came. What looked like the downfall of the geek community in Salt Lake, ended up being the Superhero for the hope of all geeks in Utah and surrounding areas.
The expected turn out of SLCC 2013 was suppose to be up to 20,000 people. Well, obviously they were mistaken. As soon as tickets went on sale, they were disappearing like the Invisible man. Soon they had sold over 30,000 tickets. Though the hours of SLCC 2013 were odd, it seemed to be just right for the working community. After learning of the quickening interest in the first ever Comic Con, I got my tickets as quick as I could. After waiting several months for the Salt Lake Comic Con to finally open, the time had come. Comics, gaming, and anime fanatics came out from their nerd caves to line up for their opportunity to participate in the first annual Salt Lake Comic Con. The line to pick up badges was incredible. It stretched around the conference center, and then kept on going. Most attendees were dressed in cosplay. I am sure that the people that were not attending were extremely confused as to why trick or treating came extra early this year.
A lot of large vendors underestimated the turnout as well. Microsoft had an amazing opportunity to put the Xbox One into the hands of the public with their booth conveniently located near the front doors. However, most large companies showed an array of common knowledge and outdated products. Ubisoft had an amazing booth. As little as it was, they were showing new games that they are developing, to the general public to get an idea of how interested people would be. Other reporting websites that were suppose to be there, lost their opportunity to experience an awesome new conference….sorry IGN. Luckily you, the reader, have REAL fanatics in the industry that will report anyways.
With a large special guest list, including Stan Lee, William Shatner, Adam West, Lou Ferrigno, and more, the excitement continued to grow as the days went on. All the previously mentioned guests, and more, hosted panels that we all enjoyed. Upon waiting for Stan Lee to arrive on stage, Comic Con announced that they will extend it from a 3 days conference, to 5 days of Comic Con in Salt Lake. They said there will be more special guests and parties as well. The environment was electrifying! Everyone was so friendly and awesome to be around.
Everyone was getting along, having fun and making friends with the same interests. The most surprising part of the announcements before Stan Lee took the stage, was that SLCC 2013 had broken the 70,000 attendees mark. The crowd was going nuts. I can not stress how electrifying the events that occurred on the last day of Comic Con were. I look forward to next year, when SLCC 2014 will sweep people off their feet. I have no doubt that everyone will take the SLCC very seriously. There were a lot of opportunities lost, but at the same time, it somehow made the conference seem more enjoyable. I interviewed quite a few booths and snatched up a ton of pictures. Check out our video coverage of SLCC 2013 coming soon and pick your favorite cosplay from our SLCC 2013 Cosplay Gallery below. Click images to enlarge.
