Comic book store Collected embraced this year’s Halloween Comic Fest, a nationwide event with sales, free comics, a costume contest and barbecue.

One of the store’s managing partners, Ron Killingsworth, helped coordinate the event.

“Basically it’s bringing people in from the industry, the different artists, and making sure that we have a local focus on it,” he said.

Local writer and web comic creator Stephen Totten premiered his first graphic novel, “Monsters and Miracles,” at the event.

“It’s a collection of three short stories,” said Totten.  “We were funded by Kickstarter and spent a year and a half learning how to make and produce and publish this graphic novel.”

The anthology comic, illustrated by Totten’s collaborator, Joseph Valero, includes a story about a ”wave of Russian zombie sandwiches.”

 Killingsworth was previously the owner of Heroes, a Fort Worth-based comic shop chain (the Berry street location, which closed in 2006, has since become Fusion Hookah Lounge and Smoke Shop). He opened Collected in March of this year as joint venture between himself and co-owner/fellow veteran comic shop owner Brent Erwin.

“This is our first year with TCU in session,” Erwin said. “We’ve managed to build a nice, TCU crowd.”

Killingsworth encourages fans to check out other events that occur at the store regularly.

“We do something at least three or four nights a week that’s free – no cost to attend,” Killingsworth said. “We offer everything from comic talks to Doctor Who talks to free gaming nights.”

For more information, visit their website.

Also, to see more pictures of the event, click here.

To see a timeline of comic book history, click here.