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SALT LAKE CITY — With the promise of more to come, Salt Lake Comic Con announced the first 13 guests for its eighth event coming up in September.
With no plans to put on its springtime FanXperience event next year, Salt Lake Comic Con founders Bryan Brandenburg and Dan Farr say they are ratcheting up plans for the main event in September. The lineup so far includes a few returning guests, as well as new faces.
"It's great to come out strong with 13 guests at our initial press conference, but I promise you it's the tip of the iceberg," Brandenburg said Wednesday, surrounded by cheering costumed fans in the Capitol rotunda.
Brandenburg went on to tease at more celebrities from The Avengers, Star Wars, and Harry Potter franchises.
Farr called the lineup "our strongest yet."
Guest announcements Wednesday included Salt Lake Comic Con alumni William Shatner, the original Captain Kirk in "Star Trek"; Lou Ferrigno, "The Incredible Hulk"; and Jason David Frank, of the first "Power Rangers" lineup.
While the convention always aims to bring in new stars, it's hard to turn down requests from past guests asking to come back, the founders said.
"How do you tell Lou Ferrigno no when he says, 'Hey, I want to come to your con,' in his Hulk voice?" Farr said.
Also announced was Michael Rooker, who walks the line between good guy and bad guy in his roles of Yondu Udonta in "Guardians of the Galaxy" and Merle Dixon in "The Walking Dead."
"The Dukes of Hazzard" trio John Schneider, Tom Wopat and Catherine Bach will appear at the convention, as well as Jeremy Bulloch, the English actor who played the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Excitement in the Rotunda as @slcomiccon announces guest for upcoming #SLCC16 at press conference. #utpol#comicconpic.twitter.com/tXae7RHFNu
— Utah House of Reps (@UtahReps) May 11, 2016
Front and center among those in cosplay for the news conference were Julianne Payne and Victor Sine, along with 11-month-old daughter Addie Payne. The Utah family became an online sensation following April's FanX event when photos of their Rey, Finn and BB-8 costumes from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" went viral.
"The internet fame has been fun. It's just something more to do together," Sine said as a line of people wanting photos formed behind them. "We have an audience that expects us at different events, so we just post on our Facebook page or social media saying we're going somewhere."
In between wedding planning, Payne and Sine have begun communicating regularly with online with fans and are already planning their cosplay for September's Salt Lake Comic Con. The family says Star Wars and Avengers costumes are in the works.
Meanwhile, the couple said they are holding out hope for more promised Star Wars guests.
Salt Lake Comic Con will return to the Salt Palace Convention Center on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1-3. Last fall, the event topped 120,000 guests at its peak, while April's smaller FanX event brought in 50,000 people on its final day.
Brandenburg said Salt Lake Comic Con will continue its involvement in the Salt Lake Zombie Walk, a 5K event set for the week before the convention, and a new "gladiator cosplay" competition for those fans who work to make their bodies, as well as their costumes, match those of the heroes they dress up as.
Since becoming an overnight nerd hit in Utah, Salt Lake Comic Con has announced a business deal with POP Life Entertainment, the company behind the wide-eyed Funko Pop! collectible figurines. Together, the partnership put on its first international event last month in Guangzhou, China, attracting 160,000 people over three days, Brandenburg said.
They are headed next to Pop Life's ToyCon in the Philippines in June, and to Pop Life FanXperience conventions in China in September and Thailand in December.
For Utah, Brandenburg promised a "massive pavilion" of the increasingly popular POP figurines at Salt Lake Comic Con in September.
Other comic con guests announced include Jim Beaver, "Supernatural"; Ming Chen, Michael Zapcic and Bryan Johnson of AMC's "Comic Book Men" talk show; and Victor Joseph Mignogna, the voice actor behind Captain Kirk in the fan-made "Star Trek Continues" series.
