Light the signal in the sky and get the heroes and fans to assemble, the Uticon comic book convention will return to Mohawk Valley Community College on Sunday, Oct. 1.

The annual convention — now in its 14th year — will feature more than 25 professional and semi-professional comic book artists, writers and novelists showing off their decades of work in the comic book industry and beyond. Uticon will also host vendors, collectors, photo ops and a number of local would-be creators.

“It’s a fun experience. You get to see a lot of different people with a lot of different art styles. It’s a fun atmosphere for families and collectors,” said Robert Elinskas, the host of Uticon.

Elinskas is senior community development manager for the Northeast Region of the American Cancer Society. All proceeds from Uticon will go to benefit the American Cancer Society.

Uticon will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 1 at the Alumni Center Building at MVCC’s Utica campus. Admission will be $5 for adults, $3 for teens and students and children 12 and under are free.

Among the guests at Uticon this year will be Roger Stern, a longtime writer of both Marvel and DC Comics. Stern has legendary runs on comics like Captain America, The Avengers, Spider-Man and more. He is best known for creating the super-villain The Hobgoblin and for helping to kill Superman in the famous Death of Superman story from 1992.

Other comic professionals include artists Jack Purcell, Bill Anderson and Charles Barnett, along with writers Todd Dezago and Peter Gillis.

“It’s just a really wide range of creators that will be there this year. It’s really a nice collection of people with some impressive skills,” Elinskas said. “They’re all doing different things and they all look awesome.”

Making her Uticon debut will be independent writer Kristen Gudsnuk, creator of Henchgirl. Gudsnuk started out self-publishing her comic, and Henchgirl has since been picked up by professional publisher Dark Horse Comics, and it has been optioned into a possible television show.

“It’s kind of neat to see someone who was self-published who has now found her niche and is doing really well,” Elinskas said of Gudsnuk, who he boasted could be the next big creative talent.

Uticon will also feature local creators showing off their own self-published comic and novel work. Elinskas said there will also be several female creators, like E. Handby, creator of Black Peak, and Shannon Myers, author of the Blood and Bone book series.

Operation: Supply Drop will also be in attendance collecting used video games and consoles to donate to the men and women in the armed services overseas.

For more information on Uticon and the guests and vendors, visit their website at www.uticoncomicshow.com or find them on Facebook.