Pop culture fans flock to Rob-Con to see and be seen

Watch any Star Wars movie – the original three or the newest three – and missing from the big screen will be a Jedi named “Serrati.”

That’s because Beth Hiltebeitel made her up.

At the annual Rob-Con comic book convention at the Bristol Mall, Hiltebeitel, of Abingdon, Va., paced the rows of comics fully dressed in character – a blue-and-grey suited one she created about two and a half years ago.

“Serrati is from the Star Wars universe but I made up the character,” she said. “The only parts of the costume that aren’t homemade are the jeans and boots.”

Her handmade outfit nabbed the first place prize in the first Rob-Con costume contest. She won a Yoda light saber. As she carried it around a few minutes later, two people took in her appearance and her weaponry and sighed jealously.

“Dude, she’s got two light sabers,” one of them said.

Star Wars fans, and fans of nearly every genre of pop culture, were not hard to find at Rob-Con, a convention at which local vendors sell their wares alongside graphic artists and authors.

Former Marvel and DC Comics artist Gary Kwapisz, who currently lives just outside of Lebanon, Va., was a featured artist at this year’s convention.

Kwapisz wasn’t pushing Conan the Barbarian or Hawkworld at Rob-Con, though, he was selling his own books, two graphic novels about the Civil War he created with Chuck Dixon, who used to write Batman comics.

“I teach history through literature to my homeschooled daughter,” he said. “We thought, ‘Hey, let’s do it ourselves!’”

That was a year ago, and today the graphic artist-turned-businessman said he has a greater appreciation for the business end of the industry.

“The settlers [of history] and the people trying to do business today – it’s very much the same thing,” he said. “It’s always been tough.”

JJ. Jeffers, manager of Creative Studios, the company that furnished the costume contest prizes, said the comics industry has just “totally controlled the entertainment industry for the last 10 years.”Events like Rob-Con, and Comic-Con, the big comic book convention held this weekend in San Diego, allow the comic companies to interact with fans, he said. “It puts the cherry on the top of the fantasy,” he said. “Right now with times the way they are, you can just come and dress up – it’s that escapism.”

People were dressed as any and every comic book character one could think of – there were several classics, such as Superman and WonderWoman, a few newer characters, like one from Resident Evil and one from Bioshock, and a few who weren’t characters from comics at all, like the Wicked Witch of the West and Glenda the Good Witch.

The grand prize winner of the costume contest was Glade Springs native Daniel Jones, who was dressed as Cyclops from the X-Men. His prize, like Hiltebeitel’s, was appropriate to his costume – he won a replica of Wolverine’s leather jacket, valued at about $340.

“It’s very humbling,” he said.

He made his costume last year for Halloween, and this is his second time wearing it to a comic convention. He said he came to the convention to enter the contest, but also to pick up a few comic books.

“I’ve got about $50 stashed away,” he said.

Also perusing the aisles were 12-year-old Ethan Walling and his grandmother, Alice Hensley. Both are Star Wars fans, Hensley said.

“I’m an old sci-fi fan from way back,” she said. “We went the year before last as a family to the Star Tours in Disney with all the Star Wars characters.”

Ethan, sporting a Star Wars T-shirt, collects Star Wars paraphernalia, and spent several minutes digging through boxes of figurines, looking for something he didn’t already own.

Mountain Empire Comics, which has stores in Johnson City and Bristol, organized the convention.

Robert Pilk, who co-owns the stores, said this was one of the best Rob-Cons he’s seen.

“We’ve been in business 25 years,” he said. “This is the best turnout so far.”

Rob-Con is like Comic-Con “without all the stuff,” he said. “We’re Comic-Con without Angelina Jolie.”