Although Halloween is still a month away, a plethora of zany costumes and painted faces filled the on Saturday.
Area kids, teens and young adults came out to take part in the Second Annual Mana-Con, a comics convention geared toward getting teens interested in reading and art.
Sponsored by Friends of the Central Library, the mini-convention featured local comics shops such as Bradenton's and St. Petersburg's Anime Fix.
Mana-Con also hosted a HeroClix tournament. For those not in the know, HeroClix is a turn-based game played with miniature action figures on a grid map. Players construct teams of comic book characters and villains, as well as characters from popular video games, to do battle against one another.
Kids and teens also had an opportunity to play other games, including the Harry Potter inspired Wizard Chess, Jenga, and Mario Kart Racing for the Wii.
Additionally, area anime artist and graphic designer, Tiffany Ciper (aka Hihoshi) hosted an anime drawing workshop for ages 12-18 in a classroom outside of the main convention area.
Raffle tickets were given out at the door and prizes were announced every hour. Kids and teens had the opportunity to win graphic novels, Naruto DVDs, toys, and more - most of which were donated by local vendors.
Volunteers from the ManaTEENS organization were stationed at tables throughout the convention to help run the event.
