It’s not normal to see Ghostbusters walking through a library unless, of course, someone has seen a ghost. But thanks to this year’s Halloween ComicFest, Ablah Library welcomed Ghostbusters, superheroes and lots of costumed comic book characters this weekend. The building, normally home to students cramming and researching, became a hotbed of family fun Saturday afternoon, which combined Halloween with people’s love of cosplay.

“It’s a combination celebration of Halloween and comics,” said Lizzy Walker, assistant professor and metadata and digital initiatives librarian.

Walker had wanted to put on an event that draws attention to graphic novels for a while. “We wanted to showcase that we have all these items in our collections,” she said.

“ComicFest is similar to free comic book day except it’s near Halloween,” Walker said. “It’s been mostly focused on retail shops but last year I received a newsletter email from Diamond Comic Distributors about getting libraries involved in ComicFest. Last year was our first year and it was so successful that we decided to do it again this year.”

Walker said she wanted to make sure that people of all ages in the community had access to an event where they could dress up in costumes, play with new technology, and win prizes including free comic books.

History department chair Jay Price was one of four people on the keynote panel that kicked off the festival. He appeared alongside three WSU students — Lisa Duran, Miles Foley, and Andrea Wilson — who helped him get a graphic novel published last year. They discussed the process of creating Luke the Longhorn: Chisholm’s Trail. It’s a graphic novel set in early Kansas that shows everyday hardships of some historical figures during the cattle drive.

Though Luke is fictitious, Andrea Wilson and Lisa Duran, who both worked as researchers on the novel, said that a lot of fact checking went into the graphic novel to make sure the historical details were accurate. Price said they are now working on getting the graphic novel into stores.

There were a handful of breakout sessions offered after the keynote.

“The breakout sessions are designed to be more academic,” Walker said. “There’s a superhero poetry session. They’re all comic or cosplay related.”

WSU alumnus Veronica Dowty ran a breakout session on cosplaying during which she explained how she created the costume she was wearing. She described how she used vinyl rolls, wire, craft foam, fabric dyes, paint, contacts and a well-designed wig to complete her costume.

The day ended with a costume contest involving prizes including some artwork made by the library’s curator as well as WSU and Halloween-themed swag.

“A huge part of ComicFest is free comic books,” Walker said. “We had a gracious donation by Image Comics,” and though not every comic was kid-friendly there was something for everyone. All event attendees got to choose three comic books to take home.

“I’ve been really impressed that almost everyone in the library is helping put it on and there are 40 to 50 of us,” said Associate Dean for Academic Engagement and Public Services Ginger Williams. “There are tons of people. Tons of student workers.”

Students who attended the event said they enjoyed it, especially the virtual reality, green screen photos, and the free comics and candy.

Regan Archibald spent some time inside a virtual world alongside a T-rex. “That was my first time ever being in virtual reality and it was very very strange,” he said. “It was the first time I ever felt like I could reach out and touch something that wasn’t actually there. I kept having to remind myself that what I was looking at wasn’t actually there. Even though there’s a bunch of people here I felt completely isolated. I heard everything that was inside the game but couldn’t hear anything out here. It was amazing isolation.”

Students who missed out on the event but still want to try virtual reality are free to stop by C-Space in Ablah Library where they can check it out for themselves.