Comic Con Nebraska opens in Omaha this weekend

Comic Con Nebraska is coming to Omaha’s CHI Health Center this weekend.

The new "con" is Octopus Events Group’s first event, though the members have previously put on comic cons like Portland, Oregon’s Rose City Comic Con, and Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con prior to the formation of OEG.

Ron Brister, one of the eight founders of OEG and a founder of Rose City Comic Con, said they chose Comic Con Nebraska as their inaugural event because they saw the area as missing a comic centered comic con.

“We felt like there's some other things in the area that maybe are focused a little bit more on celebrities or anime or gaming, and we thought, well, this is an area where we know there's comic book fans, because we've had them come to some of our events, so let's bring some comic book creators to them, and to their hometown,” said Brister.

This being the con’s first year, Brister said the group’s goals are twofold: to keep it affordable and establish a good show.

“We want people to walk away and say, ‘that was a lot of fun.’ We don't want people to walk away and say, ‘oh, that was really expensive,’” Brister said. “The first year of any one of these events that we ever land in a market with new attendees, they become our evangelists, right? They're the ones that can tell their friends they went to Comic Con Nebraska and had a good time and say, ‘you should come up with me next year.’”

This is not the only comic convention held in the Omaha area. OCon, Omaha’s longest-running comic convention and pop-culture expo at 10 years, was held earlier in July. Brister said they were conscious of not stepping on any other event.

“Because these dates were available afterwards, we figure anybody who's been going to OCon is going to go [to Nebraska Comic Con]," Brister said. "[OCon]'s the established show. People are going to go to that show. We want them to go to that show. We want OCon to grow. But, you know, we're a month later. Are we worried about oversaturation? I don't think so. I think Lincoln and Omaha and the surrounding areas can certainly support multiple shows.”

Brister said they are already committed to putting on Comic Con Nebraska for another year and will be looking for feedback on what and who attendees want to see.

“We don't know what Comic Con Nebraska is going to look like in year two, year three, year four," he said. "We know how all of our other shows grew, and I can say they all grew in ways that we probably wouldn't have predicted in year one. So we don't know. All we know is we're committed to doing a year two already, so we will be back no matter what [for] year two.”

The event will take place Saturday and Sunday at the CHI Health Center. More details can be found at the Comic Con Nebraska website.