By Andrea Swalec
Special to DNAinfo
MIDTOWN - Dust off your light sabers and wizard capes. The Big Apple Comic Con is coming to Midtown this weekend.
Originally started as the East Coast version of the San Diego Comic Con, the festival is now in its sixth year and will showcase comics, toys, video games and some crazy costumes.
The event, being held at the Penn Plaza Pavilion at 401 Seventh Ave., near 33rd Street, began in 1996 as an annual fall event, but interest was so strong that Wizard World, its operator, added a spring event.
"Everyone – the celebrities, the fans, the dealers, manufacturers, artists, and the entire community we deal with was begging us to bring a huge Spring Comic Con to New York," Wizard World CEO Gareb Shamus said.
Celebrity guests will include actor Tom Felton, who played blond-haired junior villain Draco Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" movies, and James Marsters, who played Spike in "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer."
Comic fans will also get the chance to meet their favorite creators and artists, including Arthur Suydam of "Batman" and "Marvel Zombies," Mike Grell of "Green Lantern" and Luke Ross of "Captain America."
Sunday is Family Day in geek land. Face-painting and a costume contest will be available for children.
Peekskill, N.Y. resident Dominick Gaccino, 36, will travel 45 minutes to New York for the Comic Con with his wife, 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.
"It's like a goofy mini-vacation for us," he said.
Gaccino's daughter will dress as Supergirl, and his son is thinking of going as Wolverine.
On Wizard World's Facebook page, the company asked about the best costumes attendees had ever seen at a Comic Con.
Fans said a 6-foot-7 Thor, the Batman Arkham Asylum scarecrow, "the guy who comes to Philly Con every year dressed as a different Transformer" and "the overweight Spiderman."
Comic Con begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and ends at 7 p.m. It reopens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
