There's No Place Like Denver Comic Con

Written by:  John Edward Betancourt 

There are two words that instantly evoke a giddy feeling in any fan boy or girl...Comic Con.  Few ever have to explain what those words mean, and few have to think hard about where one would go for such an event because of the incredible impression those two words have imprinted upon all of us.  

But in Denver, it has for many years been nothing more than a myth for some, a voyage for others.  Because we all know that those two words could only mean taking a journey to San Diego to see your favorite stars and celebrate our love of all things geeky.  Would it be an easy ride out that way?  Of course, it's not like we're talking about packing up and leaving for Egypt, but let's face facts, not everyone can do it. Life happens, and that puts an event like San Diego Comic Con onto bucket lists, and that's unfortunate, only because anyone who loves comics, science fiction and the geekaverse in general should be able to share it with those who share their interests.  Thankfully this last year, all of that changed.

I had the distinct honor to step through the hallowed halls of the Colorado Convention Center for the first ever Denver Comic Con and holy cow, what an incredible experience it turned out to be.  I've heard the horror stories about first year cons, how unorganized they are, how awful the guests were and so on.  I was so glad to see that this was not the case.  Sure there were some cancellations, that happens but one lost star was instead replaced with another, and the massive lines at every booth spoke to how well of a job the powers that be did in replacing those they lost.  Quite frankly, and I've said this before, it really seemed as though we were attending Denver Comic Con 2016.  That's how smooth the whole convention went.  

But I think the best part about all of this, is the fact that there is finally a massive Comic Con, right in our own backyard.  The Midwest has been so desperately in need of a convention such as this, and finally we have it.  For anyone who thought this was unnecessary was easily proved wrong with the massive crowds roaming the halls and that fact that it almost broke every record for a first year con. This was everything we have been waiting for and more, and it was just incredible to see the crowd go crazy when Stan Lee's voice boomed over the intercom mere minutes before the convention closed to remind us that this was no flash in the plan, Denver Comic Con is here to stay.  But what caught me off guard most, was the amount of families there.  To see generations of fathers and sons and mothers and daughters enjoying this con with their massive smiles,  well it took me right back to my youth, complete with memories of my own father, taking me to see Return of the Jedi when it came out opening weekend in 1983.  This is a celebration of so much more, it's about family and the bond that we all share from stories that have reached us in such special ways.  

What has me excited more than anything however, is to ride the light rail downtown once more and step through those metal doors that take me to convention floor.  Because at that moment the same quote that slipped into my mind last year will echo again.  I'll hear the voice of William Shatner as Captain Kirk in Star Trek IV:  The Voyage Home, at that moment when he and his intrepid crew fly over the hull of the U.S.S. Excelsior only to see a brand new U.S.S. Enterprise and Kirk simply says:  "My friends, we've come home."  

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