Boston Comic-Con invaded the Hynes Convention Center and had a fantastic turnout. My anticipation grew for it as the weeks passed since this was my first comic book convention. Last-minute shenanigans made me absent on Saturday, and Twitter feedback suggests there were a ton of people in attendance. I arrived bright and early on Sunday to take in all the sights, sounds, cosplay, and comics that I could handle.
I brought some books from my collection to get signed by various artists, and I missed out on two of them as the line for Kevin Eastman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was beyond long, and I somehow forgot to visit Daredevil artist Paolo Rivera. Despite these two little setbacks, I had an amazing time, and I will make sure I’m in attendance for both days next year!
After hitting up the showroom floor, I headed over to the DC Comics panel, which was moderated by ForcesofGeek.com Editor-in-Chief Stefan Blitz, who I had the pleasure of meeting in person for the first time. The panel consisted of Cliff Chiang (Wonder Women), Ivan Reis & Joe Prado (Aquaman), Jamal Igle (The Ray), and Francis Manapul (The Flash), who stole the show. The biggest news item from the panel was the confirmation of DC Comics #0 issues in September, which will serve as prequel versions to the first issues from a year earlier. Other items talked about at the panel:
– Ivan Reis and Joe Prado were attached to Aquaman before Geoff Johns, and the people in attendance thanked them for making Arthur cool again. Both artists said their design was inspired by Flash Gordon. You could tell they have a genuine enthusiasm for the character.
– The five of them of them found out about the DC Reboot at different times, with Igle finding out in February.
– A fan asked why DC re-numbered Action Comics out of concern for missing out on issue #1000. Manapul stated that they had to make a statement in rebooting all of the books to have the impact they were looking for, and anything else would have been 98%.
– The artists said they have received a positive response to the New 52 at the convention compared to negative Facebook feedback that Prado touched on. Chiang stated that many have told him they had never read Wonder Women before the reboot.
When asked about Wally West’s absence in the New 52, Francis Manapul said he grew up on Wally West and really wants him in the series, but DC won’t allow it. He said he snuck him into issue six to test the waters, but DC put the kibosh on it.
– The line of the night came when a relatively young fan felt the reboot came out of nowhere and asked why it happened, and Manapul replied, “Basically, Flash fucked up.” His delivery with that line was priceless as I thought, “This is one cool dude.”
The DC Comics Panel had a full house, but the Marvel panel’s line immediately following was crazy long. Stefan Blitz and I had a great conversation after the panel, and he informed me about some exciting things on the horizon for ForcesofGeek.com, and he got me excited for the Rhode Island Comic-Con in November. Then, it was time to rock out with my geek out and have some fun.
Ringside Logic 