SOUTH PORTLAND — Kyley Donovan of Yarmouth walked into the Doubletree hotel Saturday wearing a dramatic, bright red gown. On her head was a scarlet wig. Her lips, of course, were a matching red.

Like hundreds of other children and parents, the 13-year-old was attending Kids Con New England, a family-friendly comic book convention. Kyley’s costume was the Queen of Hearts.

“I’ve never been a villain,” she said.

“She has so much fun,” said her mother, Lori Donovan. “You can’t squelch this.”

This is the third year that Kids Con New England, a dizzying collection of children and adults dressed as fairy tale characters, super heroes, Star Wars characters and more, has been held in South Portland.

There were 3-foot-tall Wonder Women, little Belles from “The Beauty and the Beast,” an adult Captain Jack Sparrow, Power Rangers, Eevee and Yoshi of Pokemon fame. One mother wore a Mad Hatter costume.

Saturday’s event was similar to other comic cons, but this one is rated G.

“Everything here is family friendly, a lot of comic cons are not,” said Emily Drouin, organizer of Kids Con New England. Drouin was dressed as Merida, the hero in the Disney movie “Brave,” her outfit consisting of a green gown, curly red wig and a bow and arrow.

With the continued popularity of Marvel movies, demand for comic cons is high, she said.

A comic book artist and children’s book illustrator, Drouin said she’s passionate about kids getting excited about reading through comics. “It’s very visual.”

The goal of the comic con is to have fun, but also to promote art education and literacy through comics and children’s books, Drouin said. She expected 1,200 or more to attend.

There were workshops on drawing, gaming, reading, coloring, creating art of characters, and collaborating to write a spooky story.

“We have a lot of independent publishers,” Drouin said. “We have books you can’t find in other places.” Some of the writers and illustrators are young, she said.

Like Makana Wallenta, 11, who was selling his books with his father.

Adam Wallenta of Connecticut and his son were working a table holding copies of a hard-covered comic book they wrote: “Punk Taco.” Punk Taco is “a space taco,” Makana said. “He’s a musician. He travels across the galaxy.”

Nearby was a table holding “Tiny Tap Shoes” books written by Aaron Tolson of Manchester, New Hampshire. Tolson teaches at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, is a professional tap dancer who has danced on Broadway, and writes children’s books. When asked about his story, Tolson jumped from his chair and started dancing in his gold tap shoes.

“The book is about ‘practice makes better,’ a visiting fairy (named Steve) to help them practice,” he said. The book stems from a story Tolson told his children when they were home during the COVID shutdown, he said.

In addition to workshops about music, mask-making, and super hero and Jedi training, there was a drawing workshop given by Dave Roman of New York City. Roman is the author and illustrator of the “Astronaut Academy” children’s book series.

With a room full of children and parents, Roman asked what was their favorite thing to draw. Answers included humans, dogs and imaginary treehouses. His workshop offered a friendly drawing competition. Roman said he wants to “inspire them to have fun drawing, and to show them they can draw and share drawing with others.”

Matthew and Stephanie Boucher of Lisbon came to the comic con wearing Star Wars costumes. “I’m dressed as Boba Fett, to match my son,” Matthew said.

Their son, Harrison, 3, was making a super hero mask. Stephanie Boucher said she likes that the Kids Con promotes literacy. And, she said, “it’s around Halloween time and the kids like to dress up in costumes. This is his first big event since COVID. We’re excited to expose him to this and see a lot of fun people.”

As she spoke, her husband’s shoulder puppet started laughing. The puppet was a Star Wars monkey lizard, he said.

Jackie and Jen Parker of Portland brought their two children, one dressed as a “Hocus Pocus” witch.

“This is a fun experience,” Jackie said. “All the characters they love are in one place. Also, there’s a whole room of new games that people have created.” The family comic con brings characters to life in a way that can’t be experienced playing video games, Jen said.

Jason Hopkins of Bow, New Hampshire, who works as a truck driver, said he volunteers to host and welcome attendees. It’s fun, Hopkins said. “And I love the arts. Anything that can be done to make the arts more accessible to everybody.”

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