The Four Color Media Monitor

State College interviewed a guy who founded the Happy Valley Comics & Collectibles convention:

Tom Range traces his love of comic books to a playground mishap that left his younger brother with two broken wrists.

“I was in fifth grade. [Vince] was in third grade. He broke both his wrists trying to swing all the way around on a swing set at recess,” Range says. “Aunt Sue sent him some comic books to read to cheer him up. But both his hands were in casts and I had to sit next to him to turn the pages for him. That’s how we got kind of addicted to comic books.”

Range eventually found his way to Penn State, where he played sousaphone in the Blue Band; he graduated in 1989 and embarked on a career as an educator in Bucks County and New Jersey. His passion for comic books never waned. He and his brother ran a comics shop in Bucks County for a time, until his children came along. Later, Range became more involved attending comics conventions.

That gave him an idea: Penn State “would be a perfect place for a comic book convention.”

Years later, Range and his family brought that inspiration to life. In 2023, they founded the Happy Valley Comic & Collectibles Convention. The event, casually known as Happy Valley comic con — or HVC3 (C to the third power, Range says) — celebrates its third year March 1-2 at the Nittany Valley Sports Centre.

When they present more questions for how he founded the convention and his childhood inspirations, the following comes up:

You started collecting comic books at a young age with your brother and became a comic books dealer. What’s your favorite?

Range: It’s interesting how he and I went two different ways. He’s more of a DC (Comics) guy. I’m more of a Marvel guy. He’s definitely DC, Superman. My favorite, and actually the first series I finished, was a group called the Defenders. And it was considered a non-group. Their membership changed regularly. It started off with Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, Namor and the Hulk. And then Valkyrie came in and it grew.

If it had a single character, I always liked Daredevil. Here’s a guy who was blind, but his other senses kind of took over. Supposedly he was blinded by a radiated isotope that hit him in the eyes, but the radiation heightened all his other senses. And of course, Spider-Man. Everyone loves Spider-Man. That’s the holy grail of superheroes, I guess. And again, it depends if you’re a Marvel or DC (fan). Marvel, it’s Spider-Man; and DC, it’s Superman. Superman started the whole comics superhero genre.

Finally, it's a real relíef to discover somebody citing Superman as a favorite pastime from DC reading, rather than Batman, and at this point, even Daredevil makes a more challenging citation when discussing series with darker angles. What took some press sources so long, you could wonder, to give specific mention to the Man of Steel as somebody's numero uno favorite DC hero? I'll be very happy if more news writers make an effort to highlight a superhero like Superman, and even Supergirl could make a great example, if the right material up to the early 2000s was cited.

Why do you think events like yours are so popular? What is it about comic books and superheroes that capture the imagination of so many people of all ages?

Range: I think there has always been a fascination with “super” people.

What are sports stars? Maybe just low-level superheroes that can do things that normal people can’t. How many times have we seen a spectacular play and been envious that we can’t do that? These superheroes are the beings we wish we could be.

And we as a species have had superheroes from the beginning. What was Hercules if not a superhero?

We talk about Thor and Loki, thinking they are Marvel superheroes [or villains] but those characters have been around for centuries in Norse mythology.

What was Beowulf if not an early superhero?

I think it is just in our human nature to create beings of immense power, because deep down, we wish we could be them.

Now comic conventions are popular because they give you an avenue to enjoy your favorite character and celebrate him or her. You get an escape for a few hours to immerse yourself in a culture you can enjoy and get to know people that are very similar.

No matter how obscure a character you might like and enjoy, there will probably be at least someone else at the convention that likes and enjoys the same character.

On this, there's a vital message to consider in something the late Mark Gruenwald once said: "every character is someone else's favorite. You shouldn't kill them off lightly, or worse, ruin their appearances in retrospect." I'd hope such a viewpoint is brought up at these conventions, because even "civilian" co-stars in superhero comics have been some of the biggest victims of such a mindset, and it can't continue any longer. I'd even add that, no matter how well written the 3rd Robin, Tim Drake, was under Chuck Dixon, that doesn't excuse the cheap direction taken with 2nd Robin Jason Todd in 1988's "A Death in the Family" storyline in Batman. Why, one could argue even the killing of Jean deWulff in 1985 in the pages of Spider-Man was going a bit far. Certainly, if these stories were self-contained, that's the saving grace. But since the turn of the century, as I've discussed before, things have a taken a turn for the worse, mainly in the company wide crossovers that have come down the pike since. They also bring up certain fan clubs participating:

How important is the Penn State audience to your convention?

Range: I find it very, very important. I mean, if one of our big selling points is that Penn State has 46,000 students, am I [saying] 46,000 people are going to show up to my convention? No. But if we get 10 percent of that, that’s almost 5,000 people. [A shuttle bus runs from East Halls to the convention.) And Penn State already offers groups that are interested in the stuff that we’re dealing with. I just presented to the Yu-Gi-Oh! club. There’s the Magic the Gathering club. There’s the Students of S.H.I.E.L.D, which is a comic book club. There’s the Star Wars club, the Disney club, the anime club. There’s the Alliance of Heroic Hearts. That’s the first group we did an alliance with. They are cosplayers that show up to local hospitals and different events for children. We give them a booth, and they help us advertise; they were in the homecoming parade, handing out fliers and things like that.

On this, one must wonder if Magic the Gathering, as allegedly celebrated at the convention, is still going by "woke" standards, as seen in the past decade? The same could be asked when it comes to Star Wars, of course. Or, do the fans attending the Happy Valley convention put up with this, and have any complaints to raise in regards to what Wizards of the Coast and Disney are doing to those franchises, and what they've also done to Marvel, and Warner did to DC? Well I sure hope so, but that's where the interview avoids any discussion of challenging issues when it comes to pop culture. And that's where it's honestly not helpful.

I wish the convention good luck in the forseeable future, but if it turns out they too happen to take a PC approach to promoting pop culture, then it can be argued they too are another convention that's not defending pop culture convincingly. At least the citation of Superman as a favorite pastime is an important plus.

Labels: conventions, Daredevil, dc comics, history, manga and anime, marvel comics, msm propaganda, sales, Spider-Man, Superman