Central Jersey Con Expands to Two Days at a New Venue
For its fourth outing, Super Jersey Comic Expo expanded from one day to two and moved from the Bell Works in Holmdel, New Jersey to a new venue: The Dome driving range and sports complex at Adventure Crossing in New Jersey’s Jackson Township. In contrast to the hard cement floor at many conventions, the driving range’s artificial turf provided a wonderfully comfortable surface for strolling around the vendor booths and artist tables.
In addition to comics vendors, the event included many comics creators, headlined by writer/artist Larry Lieber. One of the few remaining pioneers from the early Silver Age of Marvel Comics, Lieber worked side-by-side with his older brother Stan Lee. Lieber scripted the first stories of Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man and wrote and drew stories in Marvel’s Rawhide Kid Western comic and a long-running newspaper comic strip The Amazing Spider-Man.
Now, at 93 years of age, Lieber has written his first prose novel, Chirps, the story of a genetically enhanced bird of the same name. For two hours, he signed copies of the book and comic books to a long line of fans.
Other comics creators at the show included former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, artist Joe Rubinstein, IDW Licensing Group Editor Heather Antos, artist Rags Morales, artist Keith Williams, artist Rudy Nebres, and many others.
A handful of media guests available for autographs included Dean Cain, Michael Jai White, and an array of voice talent.
Although some attendees showed up in creative costumes, this didn’t appear to be a particularly cosplay focused event.
A smattering of panel discussions held in a corner of the venue included sessions on collecting, a panel with cast from the X-Men animated universe, and an extended conversion on comics by Scott Hanna, Guy Dorian Sr., and Chris Ryall.
Concluding Sunday was a conversation with Larry Lieber moderated by Danny Fingeroth and Frank Lovece. In addition to talking about his new novel, Lieber discussed creating the names of Marvel characters Tony Stark and Hank Pym, monikers he feels fit the characters more than their frequent current appellations Anthony and Henry. He also talked about naming Thor’s weapon the “Uru Hammer,” a name he made up in part to have a short word that wouldn’t overly burden the story’s letterer.
For a collection of photos from the event, see the Flickr album Super Jersey Comic Expo 2025:
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