Mormons at Salt Lake Comic Con
About the Exhibit
October 1–22, 2014, HBLL Level 1, Special Collections
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be found all over the world and in every field, including comics, films, literature, and art. Since its inaugural convention in September 2013, the Salt Lake Comic Con has hosted thousands of artists, actors, filmmakers, and writers. This exhibit showcases the work of some of the Salt Lake Comic Con artists who are Mormon or whose art explores Mormon popular culture.
Curated by Trevor Alvord + Gerrit van Dyk
Salt City Strangers
Salt City Strangers are the first group of all-Mormon superheroes to appear in a comic book. In issue #1 the Mormon team fights a supernatural evil that is stalking teenagers.
Issue #2 presented here has a Comic Con exclusive cover sold at the 2014 FanXperience.
(Written by Chris Hoffman & Josh Butterfield)
Matt Page
Matt is a Utah native graphic designer and illustrator; his work as been included in several publications including Monsters & Mormons.
Matt’s postcards depict 20 different scenes of Mormon iconography mashed up with pop culture.
Also presented is Matt’s retro temple “Holiness to the Lord”
Jake Parker
Jake Parker is a Utah-based illustrator who has illustrations in over 14 publications, including Missile Mouse published by Scholastic for which Jake authored and illustrated the series.
Also featured are two of his sketchbooks: Drawings, features his character skull chaser, and InkTober.
Super
Published and distributed by the Salt Lake City based independent comic company Jay Crow Comic, Super is from creator Joshua Todd Crowther.
Recently the Kickstarter for issue #2 was successfully funded.
Tyler Kirkham
Tyler grew up in Utah. Working on The Gift was his first comic book project. After moving to Los Angles he started working for Top Cow Studios. His illustrations have been featured in comics such as: Tomb Raider, The Darkness, Transformers, Amazing Spiderman, X-Men: Phoenix Warsong, Ultimate Fantastic 4, and Green Lantern Corps (exhibited).
Trevor Downs
Trevor is currently a local to Utah County and attends Utah Valley University. Many of his illustrations are featured in the student newspaper UVU Review.
The dual prints of the Avengers Heroes and Villains and his Doctor Who: Rhyme Lord are highlighted here.
Undeath & Taxes
Carter lives in Northern Utah loves to talk about his adventures as a Primary Teacher. “Undeath & Taxes” is a printed comic strip from Carter Reid’s weekly webcomic The Zombie Nation.
Messenger
The protocol droid from the Star Wars universe, who was designed to serve humans and is fluent in “over six million forms of communication” has been transformed into a heavenly messenger the Angel Moroni by artist Zeuf.
From the Dust
From the Dust is a Book of Mormon comic written and illustrated by Michael Mercer. For his comic Mercer has reconceptualized the people from the Book of Mormon into anthropomorphic animals.
Featured is a SLC Comic Con 2013 exclusive print of Lehi and his family leaving Jerusalem, as well as some trading cards based on the comic.
Laugh-Out-Loud Cats
Adam Koford is an illustrator, animator, and t-shirt creator extraordinaire. He has been involved with the Incredibles Play Set and Spider-Man Play Set for Disney Infinity and has worked for MAD Magazine, American Greetings, the Daily Show, and Woot!
Featured is a story from his daily webcomic Laugh-Out-Loud Cats.
Travis Hanson
Travis is a California-based illustrator. His works include comics, children's art and fantasy. Hanson is best known for the comic Bean.
Featured is a large print titled “The Great Tree” inspired by the Tree of Life in Lehi’s dream.
Comic Con Cash
Featuring the film character Napoleon Dynamite as portrayed by Jon Heder, an alumnus of Brigham Young University.
Dan Farr
Dan Farr is a Utah native and is the founder of the Salt Lake City Comic Con.
Sal Velluto
Sal is one of the most prolific and prominent comic book illustrators in Utah. He has drawn for both Marvel and DC comics, and often has his illustrations published in the Friend, the LDS children’s magazine.
Featured is the official inaugural Comic Con 2013 poster Velluto was commissioned to create.
Schlock Mercenary Capital Offensive Game
The game is based on the popular webcomic Schlock Mercenary created by Utah County based and Brigham Young University alumnus Howard Tayler. Tayler has been publishing his daily comic since June of 2000, making him a pioneer among webcomic creators.
The Strength of Wild Horses
The second children’s book published by author and Brigham Young University alumnus Sandra Tayler. Tayler is also an Association for Mormon Letters award winning blogger. Strength of Wild Horses tells the story of Amy whose ideas tend to get her into trouble but also save the day.
Colorworld
Is a self-published novel by North Dakota native Rachel E Kelly. Colorworld, an urban fantasy novel, is the coming of age story for the main character Wendy who finds herself the primary care giver of her younger brother Ezra after the death of their mother. Colorworld is the first book in the anticipated seven-book series. Book 2, Teleworld has recently been released.
