Year: 2024

Fans of all stripes will find fun at the Granite State Comicon

By Zachary Lewis
zlewis@hippopress.com

The Granite State Comicon is here with most of its action on Saturday, Sept. 21, and Sunday, Sept. 22, at the DoubleTree Downton Manchester and SNHU Arena across the street.

“When we started Granite State Comicon in 2003, we just used a small room at the hotel, and then over the number of years we’ve been growing, [we had] to take on a larger room and larger space. And then we went for two days. And then for the past couple years, we’ve kind of noticed, ‘hey, we’re getting really tight on space.’” said Chris Proulx, owner of Double Midnight Comics and con organizer.

“There’s things we want to fit in that we can’t fit in. The attendance was getting a little tighter, and we knew if we wanted to bring in more comic artists, more celebrities, and especially if we’re getting from bigger franchises, we would need more space,” Proulx said.

Which venue should be chosen for this quest?

“If you’re looking for more of the comic-centric things, you would kind of hang out on the hotel side, because that’s where all of our guest artists are,” Proulx said. Meanwhile, at the other venue: “And then if you’re looking for more of the celebrity and pop culture stuff, you’re looking at the arena. Both of them have vendors and lots of stuff to see. So there’s unique stuff at both venues. It’s definitely worth crossing Elm Street.”

Like with Gotham or Metropolis, the city itself is integral. “What we’ve been kind of talking about is referring to the third venue [as] downtown Manchester, trying to get some of the restaurants and bars involved, you know, whether it’s if they offer some kind of special drink or, you know, some kind of special menu or get dressed up,” Proulx said.

It’ll be a day for the arts on Saturday. “We’ll be promoting the [Manchester Citywide Arts Festival], so that way people can kind of cross-pollinate and just see the more positive sides of Manchester,” he said.

“We talked to the Rex because we wanted to do a screening of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s a beautiful venue and they agreed to partner with us on that and it’s going to be a fun night. We decided to go all in on it and celebrate it, or ‘shell-a-brate it,’ as they say. So we’ve got actors from the 1990 movie, the ‘87 cartoon, tons of artists and writers who have worked on the Ninja Turtles over the years, including Kevin Eastman,” he said. See palacetheatre.org for tickets to the screening, which starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21.

But those aren’t the only stars at the con.

”John Rhys Davies, you’ll be able to find him at the hotel. He’ll be doing signatures, professional photo ops, he might have some props with him for photo ops, like Gimli’s ax from The Lord of the Rings. My business partner has met him a bunch of times and he’s the sweetest, nicest guy, so we’re very excited to have him join us,” Proulx said.

“Amy Jo Johnson, she’s the original Pink Power Ranger. There’s been many many iterations of the Power Rangers over the years but she’s one of the the original cast members so we’re very excited to have her joining us. She recently wrote a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book mini-series. She had a couple of the artist guests that we have that had done covers for it, so it’s a pretty cool thing,” Proulx said.

“Then we have Kevin Nash, who was a two-time WWE Hall of Famer. He’s also been in a bunch of movie and TV projects, like The Punisher, and he was Super Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. He was a nice crossover there.“

“We’ve got Nolan North, who is the video game voice of Deadpool, and Cal Dodd, who is the voice of Wolverine in X-Men, the animated series. There’s a lot of cool guests, plus we have the original four voices of the Ninja Turtles from the ’87 cartoon. It’s a big Turtle-centric thing this year because it’s the 40th anniversary of the Turtles. They’re created by Eastman and Laird in New Hampshire,” he said.

Be sure to check out the website for more information. “The full program is up there, so you can see all of our panels and workshops. There’s information on KidsCon, movie cars, all of the various features.”

The event even attracts fans from all over the world. “We never thought people would be coming from multiple countries to Manchester, New Hampshire,” Proulx said.

“We want to make sure people are having a good time…. Our show’s very family-friendly and entry-level so you’re not like, ‘oh man, if I want to go to Comicon I gotta go to New York, I gotta travel four hours, I gotta pay for a hotel, I gotta pay for this, everything’s more expensive,’” he said.

Patrons do not need to have read a single comic book to have fun at Granite State Comicon.“We always say everybody’s a geek over something. The people that play fantasy football, that’s geeky. We’re all geeks. So there’s literally something there for everybody. So whether you’re into anime or board games or comic books or costuming, there’s literally something for everybody and it’s a great time. We’re very affordable for a family trip. There’s lots of stuff for kids to do. So it’s a really good fun time and we feel like it’s a great fun event for Manchester,” he said.

Even as the convention grows, what makes Granite State Comicon special stays the same.

“A lot of people like our vibe. It’s not hyper stressful, it’s fun, we have that focus on the fans so people really dig that. We have a really good team and we want to continue to grow at a good pace without breaking who we are,” Proulx said.

Granite State Comicon
When: Saturday, Sept. 21, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: DoubleTree, 700 Elm St., Manchester, and SNHU Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: $20 to $125 (various packages)
More: Visit granitecon.com and doublemidnight.com. Email info@dmcomics.com or call 669-9636.

Featured image: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

AerospaceFest 2024 brings all kinds of STEM

By Zachary Lewis
zlewis@hippopress.com

The Hippo recently spoke with Katie Marinoff-Silk, the Director of Development at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, about this year’s AerospaceFest, the center’s yearly family festival, which blasts off on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“AerospaceFest is our annual celebration of all things STEM,” Marinoff-Silk said. “So we bring various science and education organizations from around the state. We invite them to come set up booths at our museum, both inside and outside, just to share what they do with our community.”
Granite Staters will not need to spend a penny to get inside. “It’s the third Saturday in September every year. And admission is free. We do have a suggested donation of five to 10 dollars,” she said.
There is typically a good turnout. “Last year we had about 630 people come and that was during a hurricane. So we’re hoping that the weather will be nicer this year and that we’ll see even more people,” Marinoff-Silk said.
The New Hampshire Astronomical Society will be setting up telescopes, for those who want to look up at the sky. If you’d rather keep your gaze earth-bound, you can look at bugs: the Caterpillar Lab from Marlborough will be bringing some of their caterpillars.
“So we just have a bunch of different organizations doing all kinds of science coming,” Marinoff-Silk said. The Caterpillar Lab aims “to raise awareness about the animals you can find in your local ecosystem, particularly caterpillars, and how important they are to our local ecosystems,” she said.
An activity called Mad Science will introduce children to the principles of air and pressure as they watch a hovercraft in action, according to the event page.
A special guest yet to be announced will be in attendance as well. “That guest speaker will also present the winners of the Alex Higgins Memorial Space Camp Scholarship,” Marinoff-Silk said. The scholarship was founded in 2000 in Memory of Alex Higgins of Bedford. Since 2001 it has helped more than than 50 New Hampshire children and teens attend the U.S. Space Camp & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for a week of simulated astronaut or pilot training, according to the website.
The planetarium will also be in full use, with a premiere of a new planetarium show. For that, you need tickets, which are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Show times will be at 11 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. The show, We Are Guardians, looks at how the world, its people and its ecosystems are connected and how satellite monitoring helps us see the effects of human activities and climate change, according to Marinoff-Silk

AerospaceFest
When: Saturday, Sept. 21, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, 2 Institute Drive, Concord
Tickets: Free, suggested donation $5-$10
Info: starhop.com