Gerry Bernard suits up son Brodie, who was cosplaying as a member of Raven Guard. The two attended Mid Isle Con at Beban Park Saturday, which benefited the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Vancouver Island. (KARL YU/News Bulletin)

Gerry Bernard suits up son Brodie, who was cosplaying as a member of Raven Guard. The two attended Mid Isle Con at Beban Park Saturday, which benefited the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Vancouver Island. (KARL YU/News Bulletin)

Nanaimo comic con cosplayers, heroes champion Boys and Girls Club cause

Rebranded comic convention fundraiser takes place at Beban Park

While the name changed, the song remained the same for attendees at a Nanaimo comic book convention on Saturday.

The event formerly known as M-Con was rebranded Mid Isle Con and saw people dressing up as their favourite comic book and anime characters and superheroes and descending on Beban Park social centre to partake in a cosplay contest and play board games.

In addition to cosplay and games, Mid Isle Con featured a question-and-answer session with actors from The Dragon Prince, a Netflix series.

“We started as a [convention] that was funded just by one business … we became our own society, so we kind of wanted to make it about Nanaimo, about the Island rather than be attached to a company, which makes it sound for-profit,” said Jan Kubal, Mid Isle Con technical director. “We are Mid Island Con now and we are definitely non-profit.”

RELATED: Star Wars fans, cosplayers gather at GeekCon

Boys and Girls Club of Central Vancouver Island are the beneficiaries of this year’s event and according to Katrina Darwin, Mid Isle Con vendor coordinator, the charity was chosen for its work in the community.

“It’s a society that is very well-known and recognized and because we were rebranding, we really wanted to have a powerful impact and it’s a really worthwhile charity as well, so we figured, not only will people recognize it, they’ll hopefully tie the good work that they do to us and then back and forth, so we both have that good [rapport],” said Darwin.

Darwin said organizers hoped to raise $1,000 for the Boys and Girls Club.


reporter@nanaimobulletin.comLike us on Facebook and follow Karl on Twitter and Instagram

Nanaimo News Bulletin