Boston Comic Con 2014 Reporter’s Notebook

OK, I have said before that the Reporter’s Notebook style article should happen during an event, but, hey, I was tired. That said, below are my impressions of this year’s Boston Comic Con, it’s second at the Seaport World Trade Center in South Boston.

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Line management and volunteer workforce size has improved, but both still need work. Part of the problem with line management is the facility’s panel and meeting room areas just aren’t laid out with long lines in mind. If BCC is going to stay at the Seaport World Trade Center, some seriously creative planning well in advance needs to happen for line management. However, last year’s registration line fiasco was nowhere to be seen. Sure, lines were long, but pre-registered attendees were checked in much faster than last year. And while there seemed to be plenty of volunteers on hand any time a manager-level staffer called for some (which kept the line management problems from becoming disasters), I never once got a correct answer for any question I asked about the location or timing of anything or anyone. To be fair, every volunteer was polite, just not very well-informed.

Watching John Barrowman act like a good penny-pinching Scot, as he laid down the law to the children that were apparently accompanying him on the trip about how they had to clear any vendor purchases with him first, was a fun moment.

Not nearly enough drink concession stands or carts. The Dunkin Donuts and the 7-Eleven right outside the front doors must have made huge stacks of cash. At 2 p.m. Saturday, the check-out line at the 7-Eleven stretched all the way to the very back of the store. On the plus side, a Domino’s in Southie delivers to the World Trade Center.

Jason Momoa really is Khal Drogo. All reports are that he is a really nice guy, and unlike most of the other celebrities, who would make a beeline straight for the green room doors when taking a break, Momoa would take a circuitous route, walking around vendor and artists aisles, stopping to say hello — almost like a khal knowing he needs to be seen by the khalasar. But in addition to him being nice and outgoing, I will paraphrase one description of him: If you put all the alpha males you know in one room with Jason Momoa, he would still be the alpha male. Oh, and he also knows how to play the Hollywood game, so don’t ask him about his role as Aquaman, at least until Warner Bros. officially confirms it. Any time someone asked him that question in passing, it was met with a quick smile, and something like “Thanks! Glad you like my TV show!”

Mark Texiera and Steve Scott are very chill guys. Thanks, Brian from Merrymac Games and Comics, for introducing me!

While it was better than last year, BCC still needs to step up its celebrity photo booth game. Last year having just a single color inkjet to print out all photos meant many had to be shipped to very disgruntled attendees. This year they had two printers, meaning there was a three to four hour wait past the time most people were told the prints would be ready. That led to a near riot on Saturday evening (handled superbly by operations director Kirby Chin). I said this last year and I say it again — rent a high-speed dye sublimation color printer for a few hundred bucks for the weekend and it will spit out prints every 40 seconds or so. Then, put the photo shoot room next to an enormous room in which people can wait for their prints, and in which the prints can be laid out on tables for the attendee to pick up.

Boston Comic Con did, however, step up its panel game this year. With a Torchwood reunion panel that filled a 600-person room (leaving an additional 300 or so still in line left out — a good problem for the con to have) leading the pack, BCC has definitely added both greater quantity and greater quality of panels.

The costume contest, again this year handled by the human version of Sonic, Pat Covey of C2 ECO, drew more than 100 amazing cosplayers, including the Best In Show winners, the Warhammer 40,000 Space Wolves pictured at top. Cash prizes were given out and Los Angeles-based cosplayer Ivy Doomkitty rocked the mic as the MC.

Overall, despite the problems that, frankly, plague every convention these days, what with the insane growth in attendance they are experiencing, Boston Comic Con 2014 edition was a good time, with great creator guests, celebrity guests, awesome vendors and outstanding cosplayers. The founders just need to address the issues above and it will be a top stop on the comic convention circuit. Oh, and can you boost the AC in the showroom? Saturday was pretty swampy.