GREENFIELD — The 177th Franklin County Fair has packed up for the year, meaning it will soon be time for the Western Massachusetts Comic Book Show to shuffle into the Wisdom Way fairgrounds.
The event, which is gearing up for its ninth iteration, will make its second appearance inside Halberg Hall, the facility’s grandstand building, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26. Until last year, nearly all of the shows had been held at the Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center, and they typically attract 300 to 500 attendees.
The show is the idea of Montague resident Kit Henry, who started as a comic book vendor in 2012 and noticed a lack of local shows after driving to ones across the Northeast.
“And, you know, it’s been a rolling ball since,” he said. “Last year’s event was very good. People were very excited. Everything seemed to flow very well.”
Henry mentioned guests seemed to enjoy the new single-level format that is available at the fairgrounds, as Hawks & Reed has multiple stories. He said thousands of dollars worth of art and comic books are sold at the shows.
Henry started with two shows in 2019, and there were also two in 2022. No shows took place in 2020 due to the pandemic.
“COVID kind of put a damper on events in general, not just comic book events,” Henry said.
The founder said this year’s show will feature a “sketch-off” between two artists who will be given a random prompt.
The event will also include another appearance by Rick Parker, the artist behind the former “Beavis and Butt-Head” comic book series published by Marvel Comics.
Parker said he used to see Henry at various shows and was regularly invited to the Greenfield event, but he did not have a chance to attend until a few years ago.
“I had a good time last year, I really did,” he recalled. “First of all, it’s really a small, personal show where you can go and talk to an artist for an hour if you wanted to do. I’m an old artist, and I like to talk to young artists. I can tell by the looks on their faces, they seem to like what I have to say.
“Plus, it’s a family-friendly show,” Parker continued. “There’s no one there that doesn’t want to be there.”
Parker said he has been in the business for 50 years, having started at Marvel in 1976. He mentioned he lettered the record-breaking, best-selling 1990 “Spider-Man #1” comic book that was written and illustrated by Todd McFarlane. Comic book lettering is the process of adding all text, dialogue and sound effects to a page.
Parker mentioned he will make the trip to Greenfield with his wife, Lisa Trusiani, who wrote 100 Barbie comic books for Marvel.
Nishon Morgan, owner of His and Hers Comics at 40 Bank Row in Greenfield, will also be on hand. His business essentially started at the first Western Massachusetts Comic Book Show. The industry was a hobby for him and he attended the event with a sign-up sheet to gauge the desire for a brick-and-mortar store in the city.
“It was a notebook, and there was three or four pages full [of names and email addresses],” he recalled. The store opened in 2020.
“We’ve been growing steadily at 20% to 25% every year. And this year is no exception,” Morgan said.
He said his favorite aspect of the show is bringing together local artists and writers.
“I mean, western Massachusetts, southern Vermont, New Hampshire, has an abundance of comic book writers and creators, and we’re able to bring them into one location,” he said. “It’s more for the fan than the investor, even though there are investor-grade books there and investors will come to it. But it’s more of a fun show.”
Tickets are $7 apiece and are available at eventbrite.com/e/western-massachusetts-comic-book-show-tickets-1999421367132. Children ages 12 and under are admitted for free with paid adult admission.
