Stan Lee’s Presence Kicks Up Boston Comic Con’s Game

Boston Comic Con 2015 has drawn to a close, and this year brought a nice variety of surprises, such as its awesome guest list.  Stan “The Man” Lee was definitely the biggest draw for most of this year’s attendees. Those lucky enough to get a ticket for the event got to be a part of the “Stan Lee VIP experience” on Friday night for 3 hours, the package included:

• a moderated fan Q&A panel with Stan
• one professional one-on-one photo with Stan
• one autograph of a personal item of your choice by Stan
• one exclusive limited edition Stan Lee Boston Comic Con VIP lanyard.

There was a limit of only 400 tickets for BCC — however for those not fortunate enough get in on that event, Stan was doing photo ops and meet and greets all weekend.

In addition to that, Boston Comic Con was also graced by the presence of Haley Atwell, aka Peggy Carter of Captain America and Agent Carter fame, Robin Lord Taylor, who plays you Oswald Cobblepot on Gotham, and last but not least Billie Piper of Penny Dreadful, and some Timey Wimey show in the UK.

Scott Ian from the band Anthrax was also in attendance as well for a meet and greets, informal photo ops and to sign his book I’m the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax. Getting the chance to meet him, and hear him regale some of his of misadventures in Boston in his youth was pretty awesome. He was very gracious, and told me he had a great time.

The dealer room was even larger than last year, and that was partly accomplished by eliminating the space reserved for the charity fundraising costume groups, like the Ghostbusters of New Hampshire and the New England Garrison of the 501st Legion. The demand for vending tables was undoubtedly increased due to the presence of Stan Lee, and, while a generally unpopular move, not having those charity groups at the show did allow Boston Comic Con to both add more vendors and open up the space between rows for better traffic flow.

But of course, it wouldn’t be a con without cosplayers would it? And as is the tradition with Boston Comic Con, the costume contest was held on Sunday, but this year it was outside, on the covered concourse area adjacent to the roadway from Summer Street that passes the Seaport Hotel. That allowed for the setting up of an amazing stage, with professional sound and flanking screens onto which the contestants’ images were projected large enough for anyone in the back to see. However, no chairs were provided for seating. While the crowd handled that by sitting on the floor, it might have been a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act — it was certainly inconsiderate.

With a much smoother registration and ticketing system than last year, and the capping of Saturday ticket sales, Boston Comic Con 2015 didn’t experience the overcrowding that caused it to be closed off for a few hours on Saturday last year. All in all, it was a much more smoothly run and better managed con than in previous years.

Until next time my fellow nerds.