Anyone who has attended a comic book convention knows that plenty of work goes on behind the scenes, but to plan one of the biggest conventions on the East Coast is another matter entirely.
Mitch Hallock, the owner and producer of Connecticut’s TerrifiCon (which returns to Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino on August 16-18), would like to chalk up his success to “clean living and a pure heart”, but he honestly admits that the business of running a massive convention is “pretty complicated”.
As far as building a show which year-to-year consists of dozens of comic book creators and stars of film and television, according to Hallock “Actually it’s taken over a decade. It’s not like an overnight success.”
“I am constantly going to comic book conventions up and down the East Coast literally driving from Maine to Maryland going to every show I can to see artist writers and editors and and just talking to them and do my sales pitch again and again and again, stressing that TerrifiCon is not a typical convention” Hallock said.
As evidenced by his “who’s who” of the comic book industry line-up each and every year, Hallock stresses to potential guests that “It’s not a celebrity filled extravaganza. It’s more of the old fashion comic book centered event and spotlighting the creators and making them the superstars and talking about Comics and having panels about Comics that’s the magic of TerrifiCon.”
“I’m more of the old-school approach maybe because I am so old and that’s really, yeah, that that’s the secret , it’s just wearing these people down and I think they come to appreciate it too. I mean I’ve literally flown to Italy going to Los Angeles. I’ve gone all over the world looking for these comic book creators and I talk to them on a one-on-one basis about TerrifiCon and that it is a show where we just emphasize artists, writers ,and comic book characters and that’s really it” Hallock said.
“And thankfully, the fans, the true comic book fans have reciprocated my efforts and have attended year after year and told their friends about it and talked about it on YouTube videos, chat rooms, and message boards and all that stuff, and the word has gotten out. TerrifiCon has become like the event in the north east if you’re a true comic book fan, so I guess I did something right” Hallock said.
And where did this love of comic books come from? For Hallock, it started with two dimes and a shocking encounter between Spider-Man and a werewolf.
“I can actually vividly remember running into a shop or a store or drugstore to actually buy a comic with my own money. It was Marvel Team-Up (#12) where the amazing Spider-Man meets the Werewolf by Night, because a friend of mine had told me that he had seen a book cover where Spider-Man meets a werewolf and I just was like, amazed that such a thing could be possible” Hallock said.
Hallock was on a mission and recalled questioning his friend “So I said “Where is this book?” and he said it’s at this corner drugstore and I remember getting the 20 cents, two dimes, and my mom waited outside in the car and I ran in and, bought it and read that whole thing in the backseat of the car before we even got home.”
For ticket information and the complete star-studded comic line-up, check out TerrifiCon’s official website.
Be sure to check out Conskipper’s previous coverage of TerrifiCon right here as well.
