Saturday, thousands of comic book fans will descend upon the Kentucky International Convention Center for the third annual Derby City Comic Con. New Derby City Comic Con owner Chuck Moore spent a few minutes with Louisville.com Tuesday morning after his appearance on WHAS for an episode of the morning program “Great Day Live” to talk about this year’s event.
To start, here is how he came to own the con:
“I took ownership of Derby City Comic Con at the end of [last year’s con]; Eric Bannister did for the first two years. He’s an old friend of mine, and [his life had] taken him in another direction… He reached out to me, and we talked, and ended up purchasing the show from him. So, this is kind of a transition year, and we are working to take it to the future.”
Moore, a veteran who has owned seven comic book shops in the 1980s, as well as founded the website Comic Related – “the CNN of comics” according to Moore – and traveled the convention circuit over the years, gave Louisville.com a brief history lesson about Derby City Comic Con: For 35 years, there wasn’t a dedicated comic book convention in the city, and Bannister (and now Moore) wanted to give something back to the local independent comic book scene, leading to the con’s founding. While most cons, such as the San Diego Comic-Con International and the Big Apple Comic Con, focus on the heavy hitters from the comic book world – as well as talent from other related mediums – Derby City Comic Con’s main focus is on Louisville’s and the tri-state area’s content creators.
Regarding the future of DCCC, the con’s organizers have filed a five-year plan with the Kentucky International Convention Center – chosen for its central location, size, name recognition and scalability – where the goal is to grow the con to the point where it would have “an Eastern U.S. representation” so that the organizers can begin drawing in more visitors. Moore said that he would have a major announcement regarding the 2014 iteration of the con during Friday’s launch party at Patrick O’Shea’s on 123 W. Main St., but couldn’t reveal all during the interview.
