Cosplayers, comics and collectors riddled the halls of St. Helena’s Roman Catholic Church on August 1 as people from all over the city attended the annual BX Anime & Comic Expo.
In 2020, Jose (Jcee) Esteva, owner of Lone Wolf Comics, questioned why there was no comic convention in the Bronx– he and other vendors regularly had to travel outside of the borough to places like Long Island or Manhattan to find their community.
“I rented a Banquet Hall on East Tremont Ave. I paid for everything. and I gave everybody a free table. It was a trial run to see if people wanted it. I invited a few people, a few vendors; everybody showed up and there was a good response by the community,” Esteva said.
As the turnout suddenly increased, he realized how much the borough needed an event like this.
Cosplayer Isaiah Suero –who attended the expo dressed as Cloud Strife from “Final Fantasy VII”– is a Bronxite at heart, despite currently living elsewhere in the city.
“There’s a saying you can never take the Bronx away from the kid. Always. So I just come, support my community, support the people and support some good friends,” Suero said.
Esteva said the best part of creating the expo has been the response from the community.
“Everybody loves it. Sometimes it’s a lot of work, but when you see a show like this, you see everybody say it was a great show, it makes my day. I’m really grateful that I took that first step, and now we’re all one big family,” he said.
Thanks to support from the community and local organizations like World Wrestling Extreme –who performed at the event, eliciting many cheers from attendees– Esteva no longer has to worry much about selling tickets or securing vendors/guests.
The biggest concerns are the grunt work of setting up tables before the event, and scheduling a good date for attendees.
“You don’t want to do it the same week the New York Comic Con is happening, then no one’s going to come,” Esteva explains. Be that as it may, attendees, vendors, and performers alike all seemed to enjoy the festivities, which included a cosplay competition, as well as signing opportunities with returning special guests voice actor Jennifer Silverman and artist Keith Williams.
Returning for the third time to the event, local cosplayer Arelis –dressed as “My Hero Academia” characters Deku and Bakugo with her daughter– highlighted the importance of community and happiness to the event, rather than pure competition.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s bought, it doesn’t matter if it’s made, it doesn’t matter where you got it from. We just want positive energy and to see you be your character,” Arelis said, before hosting the cosplay competition.
The expo also included a performance from husband-wife metal band Flarecore. Ryan Grim said Flarecore began when he and his wife started collecting Flareon Pokémon cards.
“We love conventions in general. It’s really been an outlet for us to meet new fans, get in front of people that we never would have. When you play a club, it’s a lot different than playing a convention. So we love playing conventions, we really do seek out many opportunities to play at whatever Comic-Cons or conventions in general,” Grim said.
He continued, “The experience here is awesome. We have wrestling. We have so many artists. We have Pokemon collectors. The energy’s electric and we’re having a great time.”
Clean Plum owner, NYC artist Jenny Li, primarily does commissions for fan art based on anime and games that she loves, including one very loyal customer that commissions her twice a month for art of a game they both enjoy: “Goddess of Victory: Nikke.”
“I started when I was a kid, I think that’s like a lot of other artists. I’ve been doing art, seriously, since middle school, and then I went to art high school, and I went to art college at School of Visual Arts (SVA) and then I worked at a vitamin company, but then I chose to start doing freelance after I quit the job,” Li said.
Ray Felix, founder of the Bronx Heroes, creates books and merchandise related to superhero stories about the Bronx, after previously running a Bronx Heroes Comic Convention of his own.
“We love Jcee and Yasu [Jcee’s wife and co-organizer]. They’re great people. I love the positivity that they bring to the Bronx and providing for the community, these types of shows. I’m here to support and also to advertise my business as a comic book publisher in The Bronx,” Felix said.
Esteva makes it a point to ensure all of his vendors have a good experience; he estimates about 90% of vendors ask to return the following year at the immediate end of each convention.
“I take care of my vendors. I buy food for every vendor, I make sure that someone cannot leave the table because they don’t have nobody [buying]. I give them pizza, give them water. I don’t treat them like vendors, I treat them like family,” Esteva said.
Owner of SFU illustration, Godfrey Leung, enjoyed his first time attending and vending at the BX Anime & Comic Expo. He appreciated the nice atmosphere. After a more than two decade break, Leung —who primarily creates detailed anime fan art— returned to creating a few years ago. Now every day, he draws like it’s his last.
“What got me into art is very much down to manga: the ‘Slam Dunk’ manga. The illustrator/creator from ‘Slam Dunk,’ his name is Inoue Takehiko. His work is pretty much god tier, and it inspired me in any sense to express myself through his style. SFU, in Japanese Kanji is ‘tamashii’; it means ‘soul.’ I want to use my soul to put my work out there and hopefully I can touch somebody’s soul as well,” Leung explained.
Peter, part of the brand Syren Ink Creations, is a huge anime fan himself, particularly fond of “Zoids” and sells custom clothes, footwear, and prints with anime art.
“We like to make sure our clients are happy. We go back and forth, praying on some mockups to make sure that they are satisfied, and we do our best to make sure our products are best can be,” Peter said.
One attendee, Julio Vasquez who cosplayed as Goku Black from “Dragon Ball” described a sentiment that surely many would echo.
“I just love coming here, meeting new people. I think it’s really important to have a con in the Bronx because I feel like most of the con is always in Manhattan and Brooklyn. So expanding in the Bronx would be amazing,” Vasquez said.
Esteva echoed a similar mindset.
“I want people to keep coming into the Bronx, I don’t want them to leave the Bronx. I want to keep the business, the people, everything here, and I want to bring more here. It’s not just for me, I also want my borough to grow,” Esteva said.
Maurice Burbridge is an intern at the Bronx Times. He can be reached at mburbridge@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
