Keystone Comic Con 2019

This year I was lucky enough to attend Keystone Comic-Con. It is a relatively new Con and this was my first time going. Those at Keystone were gracious enough to allow me to attend as press. Part of me was apprehensive as this was a newer Con and that is when things tend to go wrong. 

For me, there are two keys to a Con being successful. It does not matter how many vendors you have or the stars you attract if these two items are not up to par – Organization and Location. You have a large group of passionate people are conversing in one place. A lot can go wrong if those in charge do not take the time to have a solid plan in place. To give the Keystone Comic-Con credit I was massively impressed with how things went while I was there. They had more than enough staff to get everyone where they need to be and outside of the initial line to get in there were virtually no lines.

I should note I did not partake in the celebrity autographs section as my major focus was on getting comics. For those looking for autographs, there was an impressive selection to choose from including John Carpenter. Levar Burton, and the major headliner Spider-Man himself Tom Holland. Considering this was taking place the weekend it was announced Spider-Man would no longer be part of the MCU I was highly expecting him not to be able to attend. Luckily for fans he showed up and from those, I talked to that did meet him, he was an amazing guest. 

There were some guests from the Comic Book industry as well including Jimmy Chueng and the legendary Jim Steranko. Personally, I would have liked to see more guests from the comic book side of things. There was at least a nicely sized artist ally that had some impressive talent that I could easily see becoming major stars in years to come. 

If you were to ask what my biggest takeaway was from Keystone Comic-Con is was how many different things they had to do. Although this was a relatively small Con they worked to cater to all different types of fandoms. From having actual live wrestling take place to a massive gaming section for Table Top and video games. Seeing a bunch of tube TV“s with N64 setups was liking looking into a childhood dream made real. Of course, they had plenty of vendors with toys, collectibles, and comics. 

Overall there was not a huge amount of vendors. You could pretty much look through nearly all of them within a day depending on how meticulous you are with your searching. There were plenty of great deals to be had. I tend to get books that have more sentimental value than finical, but the friends I went with got some key books for amazing prices. Despite how much comic speculation has become a thing you can still get books for reasonable prices. Part of that is also on the Con to attract the right type of vendors–which Keystone did. 

Looking at Keystone Comic-Con 2019 as a whole I would have to say it was a success. It may have been on the smaller side, but the benefit of that was it did not overextend itself or over-promise. I do hope in the future they focus on the comic side of things as much as the celebrities as well as expand their panel section. Still, it has the foundation in place to become the Comic-Con Philadelphia has severely lacked for some time. 

Take a look at some pics below:

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Daniel Clark

A fan of all things comics. Growing up on a healthy diet of 90's Batman and X-Men cartoon series ignited a love for the medium that remains strong today.

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