Boston Comic Con 2011 report

On Saturday, 30 April 2011, I attended the Boston Comic Con. The show moved from the Westin Boston Waterfront to the larger Hynes Convention Center downtown. There were numerous artists, vendors, and costumed fans, and I’m glad the modest show moved to a larger venue.

Among the artists I spoke with were Frank Cho, who I’ve followed since The Washington Post ran Liberty Meadows; Joe Quinones, whose expressive and retro renditions of Green Lantern were phenomenal in Wednesday Comics; and Stephane Roux, whose work I’m currently enjoying in DC’s Zatanna.

The comic book writers and graphic artists were accessible, the back issues were fairly well organized and priced, and there were also panel discussions. It may not have had the attendance of last month’s Anime Boston, but I hope that events such as the Boston Comic Con and Wizard World’s New England Comic Con continue to grow and prosper.

Hollywood has kept mining comic books and graphic novels for ideas, and I look forward to this week’s opening of Thor, as well as Green Lantern and Captain America: the First Avenger. Janice and I had hoped to get to Dylan Dog: Dead of Night last weekend, but the movie (based on an Italian supernatural horror/comedy title) wasn’t playing anywhere nearby.

I’m less interested in X-Men: First Class and the Spider-Man reboot, since they take more liberties with the continuity established in both the source material and the previous films. They and the planned Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, and Hulk movies seem more intended for Sony and Fox to hang onto their licenses rather than let them revert to Disney/Marvel control. Other than Chris Nolan’s profitable Batman series, Warner Bros./DC Comics has some catching up to do!

On the animation side, I still recommend Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Young Justice, and it’s too bad that the campy Batman and the Brave and the Bold has been canceled, but at least Bruce Timm and company are working on a Green Lantern television series.

Back in print, I’m also looking forward to Free Comic Book Day, which is this Saturday, May 7. I’ve thinned out my monthly “pull list,” or subscription, at New England Comics in Norwood, Massachusetts. I’ve dropped The Avengers, Batman, Batman and Robin, Streets of Gotham, and the proliferating Green Hornet titles, but I’m still reading many others, which I’ll try to review in the coming months.