For the past 10 years, Mitch Hallock has been helming
Terrificon—a super-sized comicbook convention—at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville,
on the eastern border of Connecticut. One of the things that makes the show so
successful is that Mitch is first and foremost a comicbook aficionado, and his
show is most assuredly comicbook-centric, concentrating on guests who have
worked in or adjacent to the field of comics. He is especially adept in booking
comicbook stars from the ‘80s & ‘90s. This was especially true this year
when the show released its first show-related comicbook Captain
Terrificon Presents: The Scarry Squad.
The comic, written by Paul Kupperberg, with art by Pat &
Tim Kennedy, inks by Barbara Kaalberg, and lettering and color by the late
Mortt Todd (who passed away about a month after the show). The 24-page comic has
a three-page back-up strip (Harley the Terrifidog in A Study in Mylar)
by Paul with pencils by Rich Maurizio, inks and colors by Ken Weaton, and
colors by Robert Snyser. Interestingly enough, this comic was aided and abetted
by a supporting eight-page comic strip that appeared in the convention’s program
book. This supporting comic, written by Mitch, and illustrated by George Deep,
tells the origin story of Captain Terrificon.
To start with Paul’s story (which was originally intended to
appear in the sadly short-lived Charlton Arrow line of comics, itself a pro/fan
reboot of the late great line of Charlton Comics.) The Scarry Squad is a group
of four young cosplayers who keep losing the costume contest to a different group
of entitled and slightly bullyish cosplayers who keep winning. After their
latest loss, the squad is majorly disheartened, especially after being teased
about their continuing string of losses.
After the con, the squad not only grouses about their most
recent loss—which they attribute to their lack of funds to produce winning
costumes—but are further disheartened over a humiliating video of them that was
uploaded by the leader of their rivals. What lifts their spirits is when their
leader, Ziggy Scarry, discovers the costume of a very cool character in an old
Ditko story. The discover of the Winnie the Witch character leads them to
discover others, including Countess Von Bludd, Baron Wearwulf, and Mr. Bones.
His sister Winnie, who is also their costumer declares that she can make the
new set of costumes.
Afterwards, she and Connie Sangra go off to locate materials
for the costumes, While wandering through town they discover this odd curio
shop, the Arcania Boutique run by a mysterious Professor Coffin. It is in this
shop that they find all of the materials that they need to construct the new
set of costumes. Just as they are checking out Winnie locates Ajax, an odd golem-like
plushy to which she takes a shine and keeps as well. As they walk away from the
shop with their purchases, the shop itself reverts to an abandoned out-of-business
location. Fully supplied with their purchases, Winnie sets about crafting a new
set of costumes that the Squad then wear to the next Terrificon. When they
arrive at the show, they are greeted by none other than Mitch himself, who
marvels over their amazing costumes. So impressed with them that Mitch invites
them into Ballroom D which houses Professor Strangelo’s House of Horror,
however, just as they approach the ballroom, a hooded and robed cosplayer
bursts out of the ballroom carrying the Professor’s Amulet of Cthulhu, not only
is the amulet priceless, but it is claimed to be an object of great evil.
As the Squad takes off after the hooded figure, their
rivals, Reid Foster’s group—not to be outdone—also take up pursuit. As both
Reid and Ziggy close in on the thief, Ajax (who has mystically come to life) manages
to trip the thief up causing the demonic force that possessed him to transfer to
Reid. The tale winds up with the police escorting the confused thief away,
Ziggy and his squad being congratulated on stopping the would-be thief, and
Reid and his crew also walking off with Reid now in possession of the mystical
amulet.
In the back-up tale, all of the dealers at a comic show
discover that their 8.5 and higher graded comics all mysteriously reduced to
dust. As Harley the Terrificdog wanders through the show, it seems that every
dealer has befallen the same fate. As Mitch arrives on the scene, he discovers
only one dealer, Darryl Nearmint, has any bagged/boarded/slabbed 8.5 or higher
comics for sale, and he is selling them like hotcakes. However, Harley
discovers that Nearmint has used a teleportation device and a mouse to swipe
all of the missing comics and replace them with dust so that he would be the
only dealer at the show with any high-graded comics. Needless to say, this tale
also ends with the culprit being escorted out by police as Harley is being
praised.
Which brings us to Mitch’s story in the program guide. Here
we learn of the origin of Captain Terrificon. Kyle Kirby, a lifelong comicbook
fan is cosplaying as the good captain and is headed for the Mohegan Sun to go
to the Con, when he is confronted by his arch enemy, Benny the Cranky comic
store owner, A.K.A. Novelty Man. Who zaps Kyle with some sort of Cosmic ray
gun, throwing them both through a portal into a different dimension. This act
transforms each of them into the person they are cosplaying and sets them into
an epic brawl. As the two bash each other out, they wind up at the Con. The
fight (and the story) ends with Novelty Man in possession of the Cosmic Comic,
and Captain Terrificon changed once again.
All three comic stories are fun, engaging, and we wish that
Terrificon and other major comic conventions would create comicbook tie-ins to
their respective shows. Not that it actually relevant or even important, while
the back-up story and the program comic were specifically created for this
show, the Scarry Squad story (as already pointed out) was originally intended
for a different publication. The Scarry Squad story became involved with the “magic”
of a change in a couple of dialogue word balloons, as well as the addition of
in-comic references to Terrificon inserted into the story. All-in-all the three
stories were fun and made for a very cool piece of convention swag, especially
for those of us who really love comics. Hopefully we’ll see
another Terrificon comicbook next year.
_____
For those comic collectors and fans who are unaware of the
history, Charlton was a Connecticut-based comicbook company with a publishing
history that not only ran from 1944 to 1985, but through which an impressive array
of legendary writers and artists got their start. Though never as popular as
DC, Marvel, or even Archie, Charlton had a long run and produced a line of
successful publications like. While they didn’t produce the superhero icons that
other publishers did, they released a variety of titles that have become
beloved by millions. When Charlton closed shop, they sold off most of their
properties, (including a group of which that wound up transformed into the
Watchmen), with many others left to languish in limbo. However, if anything,
appreciation of those old comics and the characters that populated them, has
grown over the years.
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