Submitted by Happy Valley Comic Con
STATE COLLEGE — Holy sequel, Batman! HVC3 is returning!
The Happy Valley Comic and Collectibles Convention will be returning to the Nittany Valley Sports Centre Feb. 24 and 25. This annual convention will once again host celebrities, guest artists and groups, vendors, cosplayers and panels.
The celebrity selection has expanded this year and is very diverse.
There will be voice actors including Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld (Nurse Joy from “Pokemon”), Carey Means (Frylocke from Aqua Teen Hunger Force) and James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture from “Venture Brothers”).
If you are a Star Wars fan, you do not want to miss Sussana Malek, who plays a Jawa on both the “Book of Boba Fett” as well as “”The Mandalorian.
There will be two actors from the show “The Sopranos,” Matt Servitto and Al Sapienza. Al’s singing partner, Deborrah Rennard, who played Sly Lovegren on “Dallas,” will also be on hand.
Katarina Severen, an ex-WWE wrestler and current actress will be in attendance, and Eric Paul Erickson, who was a guest last year, will be taking over some of the master of ceremony duties as well as promoting his books. He plans to hold a workshop on how to create a podcast for all you potential podcasters out there!
There will be plenty of comic book artists attending.
Of special interest will be Rick Leonardi, the co-creator of “Spider-man 2099” and Fabrice Sapolsky, co-creator of “Spider-man Noir.” And you can’t talk about Spider-man without Spider-man artists Wayne Faucher and Khoi Pham and Super Spider-man fan Bruce Wechtenhiser, who will be doing two separate presentations about his connection to Spider-man, and Steve Ditko, the first artist of “Spider-man.”
Other topline comic artists include: Clayton Crain, Scott Hanna, Kevin Conrad, Will Torres, Brian Middleton and local artist Gus Mauk. Get your books signed or hire an artist to create an original piece of art.
You can’t have a Comic Con without cosplayers!
Come join the Alliance of Heroic Hearts, the Cosplayers of Penn State University, as they welcome the Garrison Carida of the 501st (“Star Wars Empire” cosplayers), the USS Solstice (“Star Trek” cosplayers), The Melachor Temple (Jedi cosplayers), Ryan Brown (Dwight from “The Office” cosplayer) and Aaron Kajowski (Chewbacca cosplayer). Adam Lenker will be returning as well with his very own Dalek from “Doctor Who.”
There will be plenty of fun things to do too!
Join in on a game of Magic the Gathering or Pokemon, take part in a costume contest, learn the ways of the force by joining the Padawan Learning Institute, sit down and enjoy a panel or two, visit the All-Sports Museum booth, get a tattoo at the Holey Truth Body Art booth or just walk around the show floor and look at all the great merchandise the convention has to offer.
The convention is hosted by the Range family of Centre Hall. Tom and Maureen Range and their children, Megan and Mitchell, began working on the 2024 version of the convention just a few days after the completion of the very successful 2023 version.
The convention still has the full support of the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, The Comic Vault in Altoona and a new sponsor, the Happy Valley Brewing Company. The Brewing Company will be offering 25% off an appetizer for all con attendees plus a selection of one-of-a-kind superhero drinks. If you can get a group of eight together, you can enjoy 50% off an appetizer as well as a free fry appetizer for the table.
Tickets are available online at happyvalleycomiccon.com until Jan. 31. Children under 4 are free both Saturday and Sunday, while children under 10 are free Sunday. Penn State student tickets are only $6 each day, while regular admission tickets start as low as $8. Early-entry add-on attendees will be allowed on the show floor a full 45 minutes before regular con-goers, and they will get two free exclusive lithographs by Scott Hanna and Khoi Pham.
