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On Oct. 7 and 8, the annual Fall Comic Convention (called Fallcon) was held at the state fairgrounds. It attracted unexpected crowds of people each day. There were easily between one and two thousand in attendance says Bob Brynildson, owner of the local Source Comics and Games store on Larpenteur Ave.

The event catered to fans’ many needs, housing thousands of comics and games including Dungeons & Dragons, and Magic: The Gathering card game. Along with all of these exciting items being sold, the convention still gave back to the Twin Cities.

“[Fallcon] raised over $3,000 for Lupus,” Brynildson said.
Funds were also raised to support the local comic scene, a scene that Brynildson says is huge.

Brynildson says this is partly because comics have such a loyal fan base in Minnesota. He believes the Twin Cities have the largest amount of avid readers of all cities throughout the country.

When it comes to comic genres, Brynildson says his store sells superhero comics most often, but suspense and mystery books sell easily too. Recently, however, alternative-world-themed comic books are gaining in popularity.

“Superman, Batman, X-Men, Spider-man, these are our top titles,” says Brynildson. These titles belong to the two largest comic book publishing houses, DC and Marvel. Superman and Batman are DC titles, while X-Men and Spider-man are Marvel Comics.

Marvel is currently advertising what they have termed a “comic book event” called Civil War this fall. Civil War encompasses many different titles and asks the question: should mutants and superheroes be able to live private lives, or should they have to sign the Superhero Registration Act? This comic has drawn many real-life comparisons, in particular to the Patriot Act. Both acts expand on the authority of American law enforcement.

DC, Marvel’s top competitor for comic sales, has introduced its 52 Weeks series. This comic book series has a new issue coming out every week for 52 weeks. Considering that the average comic takes a month to hit the racks, Brynildson says this is the most impressive comic he has ever read.

He also considers these two comics, Civil War and 52 Weeks, to be very popular with his costumers, though there is a local comic that he says is quickly gaining in popularity. Simply called Local, it is drawn by St. Paul resident Ryan Kelly.

Local is a miniseries that takes place in a new city each issue. Issue number two occurs in Minneapolis.

This series is less fantasy-focused and more involved with real life situations including relationships, normally focusing on the main character, Megan.

Kelly has also drawn for American Virgin, another comic book that is gaining devoted readers. According to Brynildson, Kelly’s books tend to be more relatable to real life; superpowers are not a common focus of Kelly's.

“Comics talk about real issues,” says Brynildson. “They talk about the gay issue, AIDS, drug abuse, crime, and whether or not the U.S. should be a policeman of the world.”

These real-life issues are fueling comic book sales, causing some titles to be harder to purchase than others. In some cases, issues will be reprinted, often with variant covers. Variant comics contain the same story as the normal comic, but the cover looks different.

With today's large fan base, comic books of all varieties are rushing off the stands and into consumers' collections.

“Comics are big, bigger than they’ve ever been,” Brynildson said.