Carnival Cinemas and CTRL V will become a destination for comic-book lovers this Sunday.
The two businesses, located at 5402 47 Street, will host the first-ever Red Deer Film and Comic Expo from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“I’m a huge comic book nerd,” said Kurtis Chick, owner of CTRL V.
“When I took over CTRL V, I kept looking at the stations and thought they were the perfect booths for a comic book expo. They’re 10-foot by 10-foot, they’re three-quarters walled already.”
Throughout much of the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions prevented large gatherings. Chick said he wanted to have an event to bring comic book and film lovers in Red Deer back together.
“I really miss the comic book culture. There’s so much fun in it and it’s vibrant,” said Chick.
“The old comic book expos you’d see in Calgary and elsewhere were so phenomenal and they were bringing in 100,000 people. What I really missed was having that kind of thing available for the youth and I think Red Deer needs that right now.”
Chick said he hopes this weekend’s event will bring in about 400 people.
“We’ve got seven different vendors – everything from new comic books, old comic books, toys, video games,” said Chick.
There will also be a local comic book creator Dug signing copies of The Nefarious Smyths, which is a series he started a few years ago.
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On the movie theatre side of things, there will be a Super Smash Bros. tournament throughout the event. Then there will be two movies screened: The Powerpuff Girls Movie at 1:15 p.m. and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) at 1:30 p.m.
”Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the movie that brought me into comics. It was the thing that started my whole world,” said Chick.
“It was a big thing for me. Hopefully, we can inspire more youth, just like that movie did for me.”
Chick said it would be great to make the Red Deer Film and Comic Expo an annual event.
“We’re super excited to bring something like this back to Red Deer. It’s something that can bring a little bit of fun,” he said.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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