Interviews
Women Behind the Scene: Michele Young, SC Comicon
It’s no secret that the Nice Girls like going to comic cons. Meeting the actors that star in our favorite shows, interacting with other fans, being part of the experience—it’s a geek’s paradise.
But did you stop to think about who’s responsible for making all this wonder happen for us? I think sometimes we forget that real people are behind the scenes. This curiosity of mine led me to Michele Young, co-organizer of the SC Comicon.
The SC Comicon will take place on April 2nd and 3rd at the TD Convention Center in Greenville, S.C. It is hosted by Borderlands Comics and Games, the shop owned by Young and her husband, Rob. Together this Southern dynamic duo organizes the SC Comicon.
The Youngs started the convention in 2014 to provide a place for the geeks of Upstate South Carolina to come together. In one of the fastest growing cities in America, SC Comicon is on its way to being a real contender in the convention arena.
Last year, the event attracted almost 13,000 people. Young says this year they anticipate hitting upwards of 25,000 attendees.
By comparison, attendance at the 46-year-old San Diego Comic Con has topped 130,000 in recent years. Dragon Con, the Labor Day weekend affair since 1987, drew more than 70,000 attendees in 2015. HeroesCon in Charlotte is projecting 40,000 fans to attend this June.
“We took a chance,” Young said about starting the convention in Upstate South Carolina.
People would come to the store and express how they wanted the fantasy realm to have a bigger presence closer to home. Not everybody wants to or is capable of making the two-hour drive, give or take, to the other nearest conventions, Charlotte’s HeroesCon or Atlanta’s Dragon Con. The area needed it.
And getting it to work was “trial and error,” according to Young. But they did their homework.
Before the Young’s bought their comic shop, they attended HeroesCon, DragonCon, Baltimore Comic-Con and Charlotte MiniCon as fans. When they bought the store five years ago, they started participating at these cons as vendors.
By day, Young works in mortgage business. When she punches the clock there, she then dons her cape to give to the community they fantasy they really want – a comic book convention.
Young is behind the scenes setting up for the event, arranging guest appearances and helping at the store while her husband’s out promoting event. She also mans the registration booth the days of the event and manages the social media.
This year’s celebrity guests include Sean Maher from Firefly, Helen Slater, the original Supergirl; The Walking Dead zombies and the 1960s Batmobile, to name a few. Young’s dream guests would be Doctor Who’s David Tennent and Stephen Amell from Arrow. But she would also love to have more Firefly cast appearances.
Comic books and science fiction wasn’t in Young’s background, it’s her husband’s passion. But what drew her in more was merging their events with community outreach. The day we spoke, their shop had a team participate in the local St. Baldrick’s Day event and raised a little over $10,000.
On the Saturday night of the convention, they host a ‘Drink & Draw’ fundraiser. Here artists and guests draw on coasters and artboard, and then donate the pieces to be purchased throughout the evening. The proceeds will be donated to the Hero Initiative, which helps comic creators in need, and Team Cul de Sac, an organization that raises money and awareness for Parkinson’s research. A blood drive will also be on-site at the SC Comicon.
And the community supports the convention – more than 40 volunteers are on hand to help this year. “Most of the volunteers have attended in the past and are customers of the store and wanted to be a part of it,” said Young.
Like most major events, the work isn’t over once the last fan leaves. Young said they start planning for the next year as soon as the current event is over. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s so rewarding,” said Young. And for her, the reward is meeting new people, the family and the children that attend the event.
“It’s amazing to see t
he reaction on a person’s face on something we created,” said Young. The convention acts as a sanctuary for those who never felt they really belonged anywhere. “That’s biggest thing. Creating a place where people feel welcome.”
Her husband may have introduced her to the science fiction and fantasy realm, but she is very much a part of this world now. Her favorite television shows are a testament to that – Daredevil, The Flash, Doctor Who, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Sherlock. She’s also indulges in the Travel Channel’s Expedition Unknown and Brad Meltzer’s Decoded re-runs on the History Channel.
Young’s parting advice to Nice Girls – “You be surprise what you enjoy doing if you just get involved. Don’t turn away from something different, give it a try.”
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