WSLR’s Rhatia Murphy, on a personal quest, walks us through a day at the Tampa Bay Comic Convention.
By Rhatia Murphy
Original Air Date: September 10 2026
Host: Comic conventions were once stereotyped as gatherings for young, mostly white male comic book fans. But today’s convention culture encompasses movies, television, poetry, elaborate costumes—and an increasingly diverse community of fans. WSLR News reporter Rhatia Murphy went to the Tampa Bay Comic Convention in search of one of her favorite stars from the 1980s. Along the way, she found something larger: a place where fans of every age and background could openly celebrate the stories that shaped them.
Rhatia Murphy: Thousands of people filled the Tampa Convention Center dressed as superheroes, villains, aliens and characters I couldn’t always identify. I came dressed as a reporter—but also as a lifelong movie fan. My mission was to meet one celebrity in particular: Anthony Michael Hall. More on that later. First, I had a convention to cover.
Blue Diamond and Rhatia Murphy
Walking through a comic convention is a little like stepping into five or six different universes at once. There were tables covered in comic books and collectibles. Artists displayed prints of familiar superheroes. Vendors sold toys, jewelry and vintage movie posters. Everywhere I looked, another character walked by—sometimes handmade, sometimes meticulously recreated and sometimes reimagined entirely. And that is part of the attraction.
Cosplay isn’t only about dressing like someone else. For many participants, it is a way to reveal a part of themselves that everyday life doesn’t always make room for.
Cosplayer: I just love to meet everyone else who’s coming here. It really feels like, when you come to a con, you’re coming to meet your own people, and you get to be whoever you want to be.
RM: That freedom was visible throughout the convention. Women weren’t standing at the edges of this culture. They were artists, collectors, creators and superheroes. People of color weren’t simply visitors. They were helping define what fandom looks and sounds like now. And the crowd wasn’t made up only of children or teenagers. Many of the adults roaming that floor had grown up with these characters. Now, they had grown-up money to spend—and no intention of leaving their childhood passions behind.
I understood that completely. I entered nerd culture through movies—particularly the films of the 1980s. For me, the people appearing on the convention schedule weren’t simply celebrities. They were part of my personal history.
That included actor Ernie Hudson.
[Cheering]
Crowd: Ernie! Ernie! Ernie!
Ernie Hudson: So good to see you guys. Great to be here.
[Cheering]
RM: Hudson is best known as Winston Zeddemore of the Ghostbusters franchise. Seeing him on that stage carried an additional meaning for me.
Black people have always loved science fiction, fantasy, comics and horror. But we weren’t always represented in those stories—or welcomed as the presumed audience for them. For generations of Black fans, Hudson was one of the few people who looked like us inside one of popular culture’s biggest fantasy worlds.
Today, there is even a name for the community that has grown around that love: Black nerds, or “blerds.” The community is increasingly visible online, in cosplay groups and at conventions like this one.
And in Tampa, Black creativity wasn’t confined to the vendor floor. The convention also presented its first Black Poetry Slam.
Emcee: Give it up for Nebula!
[Cheering]
Nebula: What’s up!?
RM: Inside the room, poets took the stage with work that was personal, political, funny and unapologetically Black.
Poet: Existing in my feminine, I sense myself perceived. As I turn, my eyes are caught in the orbit of a golden-white planet.
RM: A poetry slam may not be the first thing people imagine when they hear the words “comic convention.” But it belonged there. Comic culture has expanded far beyond printed books. It now intersects with movies, television, gaming, music, fashion, performance and spoken-word storytelling. The stories may be delivered differently, but the impulse behind them is the same: creating a world, finding your voice and connecting with people who recognize something of themselves in it.
By late afternoon, I had walked what felt like miles. I had met cosplayers, listened to poets, explored rows of merchandise, covered a celebrity panel and taken in as much of the convention as my feet would allow.
I was hot and tired. I had eaten, and I’d found something to drink. My reporter’s notebook—and my camera—were full. But there was still one thing I had to do: I had to meet Anthony Michael Hall.
Hall starred in Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science—three movies that helped define the teenage comedy of the ‘80s. For people of my generation, those movies didn’t merely entertain us. They helped create our image of adolescence: awkward, rebellious, funny, lonely and desperate to be understood.
So when I finally stood in front of Hall, I asked him about the film that brought five very different teenagers together for one unforgettable Saturday detention.
Rhatia Murphy with Anthony Michael Hall
Anthony Michael Hall: I think, over time, the movie is sort-of a deconstruction of stereotypes, and I think it’s also kind-of evolved into a bit of an anti-bullying message in some regard. But, ultimately, the lesson and the takeaway is that we’re all more alike than we’re not.
RM: I came to Tampa hoping to meet someone connected to the movies of my youth. And I did that. But after a day surrounded by superheroes, poets, collectors, performers and fans, I understood that conventions aren’t really built on nostalgia alone. They survive because people continue to make these stories their own.
Some arrive through comic books. Some through movies. Some through gaming, poetry, costuming or characters who made them feel visible for the first time. And some of us arrive decades later—still looking for the people and stories that remind us who we have always been.
At the Tampa Bay Comic Convention, I found Anthony Michael Hall. I may also have found my people.
For WSLR News, I’m Rhatia Murphy.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6pm.