Comic convention draws wide cast of characters

It's not easy being a zombie.

Sitting at a table against a back wall at the Middle Georgia Comic Convention on Sunday was Moses Moseley. The Atlanta actor played a zombie in several episodes of season three of the popular AMC series "The Walking Dead."

Turns out, there's a reason why zombies tend to walk around slowly with arms out as if they feeling in the darkness. The contact lenses that actors wear to achieve the eyes of the undead pretty much restrict all vision.

It was an interesting acting challenge for Moseley.

"The key for me was to kind of dumb myself down and try to focus on not falling flat on my face," he said. "I was completely blind with the contacts on."

In its third year, Middle Georgia Comic Con is put on by local volunteers with a keen interest in comic books and pop culture.

Kyle Yentzer, of Warner Robins, is vice president of the convention. He said it drew about 1,300 people the first year, 1,800 last year and this year he was expecting the final total to be about 2,000. The event was held Saturday and Sunday at the Edgar H. Wilson Convention Center in Macon.

"With the growth we are having, we will continue to keep doing it for as long as possible," Yentzer said.

The convention included many artists who spoke with fans and sketched small drawings on the spot.

One of those was Tom Biondolillo, who had an unusual theme in his drawings. He likes to do "mashups." He had several drawings of Shaggy from "Scooby Doo" in distinctly non-Scooby settings. That included Shaggy as the gun-wielding lead character Rick Grimes in "The Walking Dead," sitting on the throne in "Game of Thrones" and standing in his underwear in the desert as Walter White in "Breaking Bad."

His full-time job is as a college art professor in Atlanta. It was his second year at the Macon show.

"It's getting a good name," he said of the convention. "I'll keep on coming back. It feels like an old-time convention."

Jarrod Short of Athens came Sunday as Obi-Wan Kenobi and his wife as Wonder Woman. On Saturday they won the performance award in the costume contest as Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

He said he and his wife are "avid cos players." "Cos" is short of costume. They travel to many comic cons around the Southeast.

"This was a really nice con," he said. "I enjoy seeing all the little kids coming out."

The convention featured many vendors selling comic books, art and various other items. In a separate area there was a video-game tournament and in another room attendees engaged in role-playing board games.

Yentzer said about 60 volunteers are involved in putting on the event.

"We are all just fans trying to do this for people locally," he said.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published February 21, 2016 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Comic convention draws wide cast of characters ."