Toms River’s Jersey Shore Comic Book Show bills itself as the “biggest little con on the East Coast,” offering comic book and art fans tons of cool comics and collectibles biannually. The event took over the Toms River Elks Lodge for an entire day of fun on Saturday, July 16. Of course, the show featured comic book and art vendors, as well as professional comic book writers and artists.
The Elks Lodge reserved two rooms for the event’s festivities. The first room was lined with various vendors offering popular comics, classic movies, original artwork, awesome collectibles and much more. The second room of the show featured a number of professional writers, artists and authentic cosplayers. Writers and artists offered their original work for sale while chatting with fans and signing autographs. Meanwhile, cosplayers dressed as characters from movies like Ghostbusters and Star Wars, posing for pictures and interacting with other attendees.
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Cosplay and Comics Combined
The Jersey Shore Comic Book Show also welcomed professional comic book writer and New Jersey resident Tony DiGerolamo, popular for his work on the Simpsons comic books and his own Jersey Devil series. Tony DiGerolamo’s Jersey Devil, first published under South Jersey Rebellion Productions, encompasses a dozen issues following several different storylines. The stories from the series are based on supposedly true events, DiGerolamo tells Best of NJ, and since there are so many different accounts, Jersey Devil also follows multiple points of view.
While the Jersey Devil series hasn’t been published in some time, DiGerolamo did reveal to Best of NJ that the famous “J.D.” will be back later this year. DiGerolamo continues to write comic books, as well as screenplays, and publishes much of his work on The Web Comic Factory.
Towards the end of the day, the Jersey Shore Comic Book Show revealed the winners of their cosplay contest. While a number of creative costumes entered, two Harley Quinn cosplayers won the competition. (One sporting the comic book style and another from the Suicide Squad film.)
The Jersey Shore Comic Book Show is a tremendous little event for all comic book lovers. It is a great opportunity for fans to get together and enjoy the artistic spirit of comics and storytelling. The Jersey Shore Comic Book Show next returns to the Toms River Elks Lodge on Saturday, November 20, 2016.
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Hero (Top) Feature Image (& Additional Images): © Patrick Lombardi / Best of NJ
