Jet City Comics Show: Comics, Cosplay, and Geek Fun For All
By Roger Lee
The Jet City Comic Show at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center in Tacoma, Washington attracted a lot of fans this weekend. A one-day comics and geek culture show (next year it grows to two days), Jet City is now in the second year in their new digs in Tacoma, following a successful move from Seattle.
Saturday’s show had a little bit of everything for aficionados of geek culture: comic book vendors, artists from within the comics industry, a cosplay contest, and pop culture media celebrities. Oh, and lots of fans!
Deadpool Cosplay at Jet City Comic Show 2014
This is the second year in Tacoma for Jet City, having spent the formative years in Seattle. The move to nicer digs, at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center, turned out to be a good move. This year’s show had more of the feel and atmosphere of a small comic book convention (or comic-con) with all the requisite comic-con bells and whistles, than that of the small comic book show that catered more to the buying and selling of comics and memorabilia.
Gambit Cosplay at Jet City 2014
While Jet City featured quite a few comic book vendors (drawn from the local comic book shops such as Hills of Comics in nearby Auburn, along with Action City Comics, Spy Comics, and Fantasium Comics of Federal Way), this year’s Artist Alley teemed with artists and creators from all corners of the pop culture world. Quite a few non-comics vendors were in attendance as well, selling wares as diverse as hand-made comic book holders with various super-hero logos cut into the design, to comic-book supplies and other bling (most of which was totally cool to this geeky attendee!)
The celebrity guests included Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict, both of whom were quite busy meeting and greeting their fans.
501st Legion at Jet City Comic Show
Also in attendance at Jet City were the ladies from the Dockyard Derby Dames roller derby group (see their picture below), and the 501st Legion of Star Wars Stormtroopers. Panels were conducted also, ranging from topics such as cosplay costuming to the history of American comics.
Squirrel Girl and Friends of the Dockyard Derby Dames
As to the apparent increase in attendance, Hills of Comics owner John Hill, a veteran of Wonder-Con and the San Diego Comic-Con, and pretty much every other comic convention and show along the West Coast, said that this year’s Jet City Show had the most attendees he has seen yet at Jet City. “The guys who put together Jet City are doing it right,” Hill says, “The are keeping it manageable and fun for the fans, which is also good business for comic sellers like me. I love the Tacoma venue” On the topic of current trends in what comic book fans are buying at the shows, Hill observe that the younger generation, who have grown up with all of these cool superhero movies, games, and other media, are flocking to buy current comics. The Silver Age comics that the older generation favors are not selling as well lately, but there has been a surge in demand for comics from the 1980s and 1990s.
The 2014 Jet City Comic Show was a fun time for comics fans, cosplayers, and geeks of all stripes! NOTE: In the picture below of Robin and Blue Beetle, is a Luke Cage: Powerman cosplayer in the background.
Robin and Blue Beetle Cosplay
All Photos courtesy of Roger Lee for Bamsackpow.com