Comics and Community

Chris Proulx (center) poses with “Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles” creator Kevin Eastman (at his left) and the voice cast of the original “TMNT” cartoon series: Barry Gordon, Rob Paulsen, Cam Clarke and Townsend Coleman.

In the past decade, superheroes have taken over the big screen and hit the mainstream in ways no one had predicted when I was reading comics as a kid. Growing up, comics weren’t cool, and outside of Halloween no one dressed up as their favorite hero in public. When we started Double Midnight Comics in 2002, my partners and I set out to create a space where geeks and nerds like ourselves could meet up and celebrate our shared love of comics, games and pop culture. Our goal was to be a place where everyone was welcome from the fan that first discovered “Spider-Man” back in the ’60s to the newbie who loved the latest movie. Eighteen years later, and I’d like to think we hit on something that worked. In 2003 we launched the Granite State Comicon to bring the community together on a larger scale. Over the years that event has blossomed from a one-room comic book show for New England comic book fans to a big pop-culture event that welcomes all sorts of fandoms from all over the country.

This year with COVID-19 we can’t get together for events like our annual Free Comic Book Day, and the Granite State Comicon is canceled, but we’re busy preparing for 2021 when we can get all of our friends together to celebrate the geeky things we love.