Boston Comic Con
April 10-11th, 2010

REPORT:
Hello, my name is Wormie and I am a recovering comic book collector...

This past Sunday fellow scavenger Jorge (ChewyKingWookie) and myself made our way into the 2010 Boston Comic Con. This year's show took place for the first time at the Westin Boston Waterfront hotel. As we entered the 24,000 square foot showroom filled wall-to-wall with vendors, artists and fan groups I felt as if I had just emerged from a time machine and it was the early 1990's again. The unmistakable smell of ink and rag paper reminded me of the days before I had a wife and family when comic books were my number one love. Back then I would easily spend over $100 a month on comic books and graphic novels. Every Tuesday after work I'd make a bee-line to the local store where I was on a first-name basis with the guy who ran the place. I'd take my haul home with me and spend the entire evening combing through each issue over and over, looking for the littlest detail that I may have missed before. As I stood there in front of the rows upon rows of comic books, I was amazed at how fast specific memories from so long ago came racing back to me.

As we made our way through the throngs of fans to see what each table would offer, we kept our eyes peeled for anything Star Wars specific. To our surprise there was actually a good handful of artists with connections to the Saga and it's expanded universe. Artists like Mark Chiarello, Daxiong Guo, Brian Kong, and Eric Powell had all set up shop, displaying, selling and demonstrating their incredible talents, offering up autographs, sketch cards and custom 8x10 sketches for their fans. Another artist with a focus for all things Star Wars was Arthur O'Callaghan. He was on hand selling prints of his recent work which included several amazing Star Wars pieces. From Luke and Vader to Boba and Jango Fett, Art's ability to capture a dramatic look and feel of each character with a palette of oil paints was simply amazing.

We also had the opportunity to sit in on a question and answer session with the previously mentioned Eric Powell. While his primary reason for being there was to help promote his wildly popular and critically acclaimed comic book series "The Goon" as well as the upcoming animated movie based on it, he did take some time to answer other questions, including one we posed him. When asked what it was like working on a Star Wars title and if there were any restrictions or limitations he needed to follow, he spoke of his love for the property, having grown up a huge Star Wars fan. He also touched on how they really let him do his own thing since his one-shot dealt with Greedo in "Star Wars Tales #6 - The Hovel on Terk Street" about a year before ending up on the wrong end of Han Solo's blaster. In hindsight he said he was glad he got the project when he did, because he feels that since the prequel movies have been released,  he lost a lot of his emotion and energy for the franchise.

At the conclusion of the question and answer session, we made a final lap around the showroom, checking out every dealer and artist one last time making sure we didn't overlook a fantastic deal. We also stopped by the 501st New England Garrison's table as they were spreading the Star Wars love amongst all of the convention attendees. Perhaps the biggest non-comic book draw was an appearance by the Ghostbusters New England Chapter. These guys did an amazing job not only on their costumes, but also the props they brought with them.

All in all it was a great show and I really enjoyed myself. Getting the chance to re-acquaint myself with the world of comic books was beyond enjoyable. The sights and sounds were amazing and the venue made it very easy to get at each and every table you wanted to visit. Here's to hoping next year's show is even bigger and better.

Until next time my fellow Jawas, this is DarthWormie signing off. Untini!!!

PHOTO GALLERY
Photos and Report by Mike Kearney (Darthwormie)

STAFF ATTENDEES
Mike Kearney (Darthwormie)
Jorge M. Stephenson (chewykingwookie)