Comics Review: PalmCon

PHOTO CREDIT: CHRISTINA RIVERO

BY CHRISTINA RIVERO

PalmCon has been running for only a few short years, but has recently been picking up its pace. There are many vendors, exhibits, artists, and tons of cosplayers. Walking into the event itself was a gorgeous sight. In the extravagant location of the Palm Beach County Convention Center, the event was able to have two stories, one for panel rooms and the other for the artist alley, with giant windows and plenty of sunshine coming in.

Walking into the artist alley was an amazing view as well. In every aisle there were comics, artists, and many more vendors selling various objects. I walked down row by row and stumbled upon a friend of mine who was at the event for a special purpose.

Her father, Luis Naar, had built a life size, fully functioning R2D2 for a charity supporting children called 4KIDSINNEED and has moved on to build a Michael Keaton version of the Batmobile. Naar has been working on the car for about three years. I got to ask him some questions about his cause and how he came about this idea.

“I’m an artist; I like building things,” Naar said, “and I saw these guys who were building these R2s online and thought ‘Wow that’s pretty cool’. Imagine building a remote control R2, but even better than that would be building it and sharing it. That was my motivation. I thought ‘If I could build something that neat and be able to share it, the better’.”

Naar started off with R2D2 and went to a few hospitals with his daughter, Adriana Naar, who would dress up as Princess Leia while he dressed up as Darth Vader. They also started with Dan Marino’s Autism Walks and went to several different children’s hospitals. Their most recent visit was to Joe Dimaggio’s Children’s Hospital in Hollywood.

“I started thinking ‘What else could I do? What are the other things I love?’’ Naar said, “I’ve always loved Batman. I fell in love with the cars when they would hit the screen and in the back of my mind I thought, ‘Wow, I would love to have that one day’.”

What really kick started the Batmobile idea was actually an incident that happen to Naar before this idea became a reality.

“I was in a car accident a few years back, got beat up pretty good, but it wasn’t too bad,” Naar said, “I got some money from the accident and I used those funds to purchase the body. We started doing the work on the car and I knew that was it. That was all I needed; that initial push.”

The entire campaign is funded by donations only. Soon Naar hopes to finish the engine and have real flames shoot out of the car’s back. He also hopes to get together with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to further continue his journey to make these children happy.

Aside from promoting his projects, however, Naar was very excited to be experiencing the PalmCon atmosphere.

“I’m having a great time,” Naar said. “People are loving the car and they’re enjoying what we’re doing. It’s fun.”

He hopes to come back again and be able to enjoy the entire convention.

PHOTO CREDITS: CHRISTINA RIVERO

Not only was Naar’s story heart-warming, but so was being able to see familiar faces, costumes, and comic artists. One artist specifically I spoke with was Jeff Dekal. I had first met him at Florida’s SuperCon in early July of this year and seeing him again was just as great.

I first started enjoying his artwork when he did several covers for Journey Into Mystery from Marvel Comics which featured Lady Sif from the Thor universe. He has also done many original pieces, including one I picked up from the convention that he made exclusively for New York Comic Con, which was pretty amazing. Being able to sit and talk with him about how he got into comics made it all the more interesting.

“I met an editor at a convention from Marvel and she gave me a shot,” Dekal said, “She unlocked the door for me.”

His favorite covers he has made for comics include Superior Spider-Man and some of his Journey Into Mystery covers. He had been doing artwork for comics for about three years and has continued to do so ever since. Dekal enjoyed exhibiting his artwork at PalmCon as well.

“I think [PalmCon] is great for the amount of time it’s been going on for, which is not a long time,” Dekal said, “But it has grown significantly since it first started.”

All in all, Dekal also had some advice to give to upcoming artists and writers alike who want to get into the comic book business.

“It’s really difficult, I have to admit,” Dekal said, “But I just tell them the same thing I would tell anybody trying to do anything: if you want it bad enough and you put enough energy into it it’s going to come back around. No energy in the universe is destroyed or wasted; it’s all recycled. If you put your energy towards something, it’s going to come back in some way.”

He also emphasized that practice was key to anything and you have to make sure you are always doing your best.

After getting Dekal’s exclusive piece, which included many of my favorite Marvel heroes, exploring PalmCon was just as great.

I distinctly remember several cosplays that were out of this world, some of the cosplayers taking that term literally, and going out of their way to make their cosplays incredibly accurate. They were very impressive. Also, being able to hold the first appearance of DC Comic’s character Zatanna from Hawkman #4 had me gushing and smiling from ear to ear. My heart was soaring from just being able to look at some of the comics this convention had; let alone getting to leaf through them.

Another interesting piece was a life-sized Tardis from Doctor Who that was smack dab in the middle of the convention. Of course, photos were a must and seeing that the Doctor Who cast had signed it was even more exciting.

The environment itself was peaceful and calm. Everyone gave off the vibe of being a family or friends. Even some of the vendors I spoke to about purchasing comics were extremely nice.

I remember someone was willing to give me a good fifty dollars off a rare comic because he was thrilled to see a girl, and especially my age, invested in the comic world. That made my day knowing that the community was being more open and to see it live in the flesh was even better.

What I enjoyed most was the space of it all. It was not too crowded to the point where you were stepping on or over people. Everyone was able to breathe which was a nice change from other conventions I have been to.

I really cannot wait for next year to attend this convention once again. It was such a thrill and I had a fantastic time. From the artwork to the charities to the cosplay, I could not have asked for a nicer place to spend my weekend.

Another convention coming up that I am also equally pumped for is UltraCon in Fort Lauderdale in December. I cannot wait for another convention adventure.

PHOTO CREDITS: CHRISTINA RIVERO