Khoi Pham, who has illustrated comic books for Marvel Comics, creates a drawing at River Road Expo for David Blumer of Corning, N.Y. (Photo contributed by James Lowenstein, The Daily & Sunday Review)
On Sunday at the River Road Expo held at Tioga Downs, in Nichols, N.Y., fans got a chance to meet some of the people who created the comic books they love, like Batman and X-Men.
The one-day, free event featured tables manned by many comic book authors and illustrators, including artist Bob McLeod, who co-created the New Mutants comic book characters for Marvel Comics, and Khoi Pham of Philadelphia, who has illustrated Mighty Avengers and X-Men comic books for Marvel Comics, according to the main organizer of the event, Jared Aiosa.
Mike Raight, who has written for Marvel and DC and who created a book called “Stuff of Legend,” which has been optioned by Disney and is the process of being made into a movie, Aiosa said, manned another table.
Billed as a comic book and pop-culture convention, River Road Expo has been held in the spring and fall for the past three years at Tioga Downs.
While the event’s main focus is comic books, it also features novelists and fine artists, Aiosa said. The event features not only established professional writers and illustrators, but also up-and-coming artists and writers, and self-published creators of comic books, Aiosa said.
“It’s a fun, nice friendly (event),” said attendee Lana Lord of Binghamton, N.Y. Lord added, “There is a lot to see and do. You get to talk to some of the artists and stuff, which is nice.”
Alex Sanchez, who has illustrated Batman comic books for DC Comics, manned one of the tables said Aiosa, who owns the Heroes Comic Shop in Elmira Heights, N.Y.
Sanchez, 38, said he had been a Batman fan before illustrating four comic books about the action hero.
“I loved doing the line drawing for the Batman comic books, especially because I got to draw the Joker, who I Iike even more than Batman,” Sanchez said.
Davis Blumer of Corning, N.Y., said he buys X-Men comic books “by the box” and brought X-Men issues to the convention for Pham to sign.
At River Road Expo, Blumer paid Pham to draw a character for him named “Uncle Creepy,” who appears in a horror anthology of comic book characters.
“I absolutely love this,” Blumer told Pham after he had completed the drawing. “It’s awesome!”
Aiosa estimated that approximately 1,000 people attended last spring’s River Road Expo. Each time the event is held, attendance increases, he said.
Jeff DeLeRee of Towanda, Pa., and is a member of the five-person committee that organizes River Road Expo, said that Aiosa works hard to organize the event, and will cold-call famous people in the comic book industry, like McLeod, to try to get them to come to the convention.
Some of the people who attended dressed as characters from comic books or movies.
