Arlington Heights FanCon connects summer reading with love of comics

Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.comSupergirl Erin Kuhl and Cat Woman Gracie Kent, both from Arlington Heights, make dragon eggs during Fan Con at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.comModel Lindsey Marks poses for artists as Poison Ivy from Batman during Fan Con at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

Arlington Heights Memorial Library officials had long wanted to host a comic convention.

But this year, teen program adviser Alice Son said, felt like kismet.

The library's summer reading program's superhero theme of "Up Up and Away" was a natural tie-in as organizers planned FanCon, the library's first convention. And, with local parents and kids lured into the library with the chance to participate in drawing workshops, meet comic book artists and volunteers dressed as Star Wars and Ghostbusters characters, more children than ever -- roughly 2,500 -- have signed up for the library's summer reading program at this point in June, librarians said.

Saturday afternoon superheroes of all ages, shapes and sizes were spotted in between shelves of books, some sparring with light sabers and others snapping selfies.

On hand were members of Midwest Garrison, a local chapter of the 501st Legion, a worldwide Star Wars costuming club. Also present were the Des Plaines Ghostbusters, a local group dedicated to impersonating characters in the popular 1980s film, who drove up in an Ectomobile and hosted a craft activity where kids could make their own ectoplasm, or ghost slime.

Jennifer Wood drove from Crystal Lake with six-year-old twins Joshua and Justin, who were dressed as Star Wars villain Darth Vader and a storm trooper -- a soldier of the fictional Galatic Empire. Wood -- a self-proclaimed Star Wars superfan -- had traveled to Philadelphia recently with a friend to attend a comic convention there. This, she said, was a local opportunity to show her sons what she had experienced.

Stephen Colella of Arlington Heights spent the morning chasing around his eight year old grandsons Kurt and Trent Golden, not fully understanding who the characters the boys were so excited to see were, but happy to share in their joy. Kurt came in a Batman costume while Trent was dressed as Kylo Ren, a character in last year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens, who is the grandson of dark side leader Darth Vader and commands an organization spawned from the fallen Galactic empire.

"When I met the storm troopers, they looked at me, and they knew, I was their boss," Trent said.