Monmouth County's First Comic-Con Comes to Manalapan

It’s time to embrace your inner nerd and express it in the most outwardly way. On Sunday, Sept. 23 the is holding their first ever comic convention! So grab your light saber and come join the fun.

KAPOW! Comic-Con: A Celebration of Comic Books and Superheroes at the Monmouth County Library is every comic book lovers dream come true. From 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. meet your favorite characters, superheroes, authors, illustrators, and artists from the creative and zany comic-book world. Take pictures with your favorite superheroes, including Batman, Robin, Batgirl along side the Batmobile in front of the library.

Jonathan Maberry, multiple Bram Stoker award-winning author and freelance comic book writer for Marvel Comics, will be the Keynote speaker of the KAPOW! Comic-Con, kicking off the festivities at 1 p.m. Maberry is also a New York Times Bestselling author who penned the popular Joe Ledger series.

Ming and Mike, from Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash in Red Bank and AMC’s Comic Book Men, will be conducting a podcast at the event. And be sure to be dressed to the nines as your favorite comic or anime character as both Mike and Ming will be judging you in KAPOW!’s costume contest, at the end of the day.

Actor David Engel will also be at the convention, appearing as Jedi Master and teaching you how to properly fight with your light saber. Engel has choreographed fight scenes for television and film and has acted on the stage as Macbeth in a regional theater production and as Titus in Titus Andronicus in New York City.

Raconteur Radio will be putting on an old-fashioned radio play entitled Batman, the Dark Detective. The play will be produced with costumes. sound effects, and theatrical lighting and be performed on an old “fatboy” radio microphone. Both adults and children with enjoy this vintage play.

After the performances, the expo will open up and more than a dozen tables will be set up for comic enthusiasts to peruse, including:

• The Jack Kirby Museum: this museum is located in Hoboken and is dedicated to the comic book illustration of Jack Kirby, whose best-known creation is Captain America
• Paul Merklein Draws Great Big Faces: Artist, illustrator, and entertainer Paul Merklein will draw audience members as superheroes on life-size paper.
• New Jersey Authors’ Network: Meet local authors who have published books in the science fiction, fantasy and graphic novel genres.
• Comic Book Appraiser: Bring in your comic books and discover how much they are worth from the comic book appraiser!

 
The free convention, open to all ages, will come to a close with the Costume Parade and Contest, judged by Mike and Ming.

Monmouth County Library Headquarters is located at 125 Symmes Road in Manalapan Township.

KAPOW! Comic-Con is the inaugural celebration of the month-long comic-related activities that will be taking place across the Monmouth County Library system.

For a full list of the comic-con related events taking place at all of the county libraries, click here.