EP-CON 2012: A Comic Con for the Borderlands

Around 200 exhibitors, and special guest artists came together in the West Texas Town of El Paso for the 2012 El Paso Comic Con aka “EP-CON” and Wartime Music Fest Sept. 15-16 drawing in thousands of fanboys, fangirls, cosplayers, gamers and collectors from throughout Texas, New Mexico (and old Mexico) to participate in one of the Sun City’s fastest growing events.

I was fortunate to be there with my entire geek clan to increase our comic and fantasy art collection, meet the faces behind favorite movies, televisions and video games, give my daughters a chance to meet their superhero idols “in person” and generally thrust our hard-earned money towards whomever we deemed worthy.

This year’s guests included Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens, Tombstome), Tyler Mane, (X-Men, Halloween), Eric Roberts (The Dark Night), James C. Burns (Call of Duty, Black Ops), Edi Gathegi (X-Men First Class, Twilight), Erin Gray (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), as well as some supporting cast members from “Walking Dead,” “Teen Wolf,” “Hunger Games” and “Star Wars” among others.

Artists present included Arthur “The Zombie King” Suydam, Greg Horn, James O’Barr, Andy Kuhn, Michael Champion, Nei Ruffino, Larry Welz, Edgar Delgado and a huge list of other international talent along with a competitive representation of the local artists.

In just three years, this local gathering of geeky glee (and I mean that in a good way) has shown the comic con world that this the dusty little dot at the edge of Texas can hold its own in the ‘con market.

Here are some highlights from this year’s event:

PHOTOS BY RICK TATE

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