The Asbury Park Comicon was founded in 2012 by Cliff Galbraith of Crucial Entertainment, LLC. Galbraith wanted to create an old-fashioned convention that focused on comic books rather than movies and television shows. According to him, the new convention offered a much more intimate setting and gave the opportunity to really spend time with the artists.
The inaugural Asbury Park Comicon was held on May 2, 2012. It featured well-known comic book artists and writers such as Jamal Igle, Stephanie Buscema, Sarah Dyer, Evan Dorkin, and Steve Mannion. The second convention took place only half a year later, but starting 2013 the event became annual.
The attendance of the Asbury Park Comicon grew steadily each year (for example, the 2013 convention attracted about 3,800 comic book fans). By 2015, it became clear that Asbury Park couldn’t accommodate the increasing number of attendees and exhibitors. It was decided that the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus would provide a more convenient venue.
The 2015 convention was the first one to be held under the name East Coast Comicon. A new venue allowed to increase the number of featured exhibitors to 300. The guest line-up featured Herb Trimpe, a comic book artist best known as the first artist to draw for publication Wolverine and as the seminal 1970s artist on The Incredible Hulk. It was Trimpe’s last public appearance at a comic book convention before his death on April 13, 2015.
Although the East Coast Comicon still focuses on comics, its program also includes panels, autograph sessions and photo ops with media guests, cosplay guests, a costume contest, exhibitors and vendors, workshops, the Kids Love Comics program, and more. For example, the media guest line-up of the 2016 convention included actors Sam J. Jones (Flash Gordon), Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek: The Original Series) and Jeremy Bulloch (Star Wars).
Photo: Jason Laboy
