San Diego may be the Comic Con but it's over and now it's time for Boston area comic fans to get their chance to cosplay, don costumes, swap comic book nerd wisdom and interact with their favorite artists, writers and stars. It's time for the Boston Comic Con.
The convention, now in its ninth year, kicks off Thursday, July 30 with Boston Comic Con night at Fenway Park. The panels begin Friday, July 31 at 1 p.m. at the Seaport World Trade Center, right on the Boston Harbor.
Guests can choose to start things off with either a panel called "Why collect comics?", in which librarians will discuss the challenges and reasons for collecting comics for their libraries, or a panel called "Exploring the Spider-verse," where Marvel comics creators will discuss the many iterations of the web-slinging superhero we know as Spiderman. The night ends with a sold-out VIP event featuring Marvel's main man, the legendary Stan Lee, followed by a kickoff part at 8 p.m. at the World Trade Center's Headhouse Concourse.
Saturday features 15 panel events from 11 a.m. through 6 p.m., including a Scott Snyder Q&A, a Q&A with The Vampire Diaries star Kat Graham and a panel updating fans on the happenings in the Marvel Universe. Also on the agenda for Day Two of the three-day event: a comic art auction, a cosplay dinner cruise and an after party at the Laugh Boston Comedy Club. The final day of Boston Comic Con boasts a costume party and 13 panel-type events, including a trivia game, a DC Comics panel, and Q&As with Gotham star Robin Lord Taylor and actress Cassandra Peterson, best known as her cult hit character Elvira.
With all these events happening, comic fans will be flooding the harbor area of Boston to see the people behind the stories they love. Here's a breakdown of those people:
The celebrity guests
On Friday: Scott Snyder and Stan Lee, Brett Dalton, from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Billie Piper, from Doctor Who and Penny Dreadful.
On Saturday: Scott Snyder and Kat Graham, Manu Bennett, from Arrow and Spartacus and Thomas Jane, from The Punisher and the upcoming SyFy project The Expanse.
On Sunday: Robin Lord Taylor and Cassandra Peterson, and Marvel's Agent Carter star Hayley Atwell.
What could have, should have, would have been: A few other great stars were supposed to be here but cancelled due to "scheduling conflicts" (to my — and I'm sure many fans — chagrin). The biggest of all was Gillian Anderson, star of the beloved X-Files, as well as The Fall and Hannibal. Also gone from the schedule: Tyler Posey, the main man of MTV's hit show Teen Wolf and Bob Morley, from the CW's young smash (and my favorite show) The 100.
Alas, at least there's still plenty of other awesome stars, as listed above.
The comic creators
Tim Sale, Amanda Connor, Ken Bald, Jason Latour — a Boston artist, the Somerville-based Ming Doyle, Shelli Paroline (Adventure Time), Bob Flynn (Spongebob comics), Joshua Williamson and Mike Henderson (who created the Nailbiter comic series) and many, many more.
The others
Other special guests include the notable cosplayer Ivy Doomkitty, geek stand-up comedy veteran Tom Franck and stand-up comic Judah Friedlander, who'll perform at Laugh Boston.
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This convention has a strong focus on the comic book world itself, but whether that's your nerd game, or your love of comic stories is tied to television shows and movies (like myself) there will be plenty to do and see and plenty of awesome people to talk to at this year's Boston Comic Con.
So get your best costume out, get your tickets and get pumped for an exciting weekend of all-you-can-handle comic fun.
For a full schedule of events, click here and for panels, click here.
Stay tuned for Boston Comic Con coverage throughout the weekend.