Salt Lake Comic Con (SLCom) has come and gone once again. The event has grown larger and brought with it a large amount of attendees, which ended up being a problem.
The 2014 event featured a large amount of celebrities ranging from wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, “Ghostbusters” star Ernie Hudson and even Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee. The convention also played host to over 400 vendors, artists, writers, and cosplayers, but at the sacrifice of walking space and an odd layout.
The artists’ alley was a packed area where attendants could interact with non-local and local artists like SLCC student Eilonwy Kimball of Plot Bunny Studios. Kimball is a returning artist from the previous April event, Fan Xperience, and had a booth in the Artist Alley near the registration area. Kimball and Plot Bunny Studios had sold out of several watercolor prints by Saturday, the last day of the convention.
SLCom’s ticket sales matched the large number of celebrities, artist and guests with attendance numbers around 120,000 as estimated by co-founder Bryan Brandenburg. SLCom initially broke previous records by reaching over 92,000 attendees, more than Fan X’s numbers for its Saturday attendance back in April. However, with large numbers of attendees can come confusion and chaos.
Thursday was not a very smooth day for both volunteers and attendees as many attendees could not enter the Salt Palace Convention Center.
Attendees had to line up to redeem their badges and once that was done, had to get into another line to actually enter the convention floor at 2 p.m.
The SLCom staff did not give any numbers as to how many were unable to enter the convention floor, but Brandenburg and staff did give Thursday attendees a free pass to enter either Friday or Saturday in order to appease complaints. Praise to the convention itself also stemmed from many celebrities, including Stan Lee, praising the convention.
“You people have the greatest comic con in the world,” said Stan Lee during his convention panel.
More information for future SLCom events can be found on the official website at www.saltlakecomiccon.com
