Long Con To Short Con: Boston Comic Con Releases Panel Schedule

The Boston Comic Con was originally scheduled to take place in late April, but had to be postponed for the most mundane of reasons: a mad bomber who had blown up a part of the street where the convention was scheduled to be held was on the loose, leading to a five-city cop lockdown and to most of the population of Eastern Massachusetts to scream at their televisions, “Just turn the dogs loose on the prick so I can get to the fucking bar!” You know, everyday irritations.

Well, the convention was very quickly rescheduled for August 3rd and 4th. Which was great, and we couldn’t wait to throw our support behind it… until we realized that that weekend was less than two weeks after the San Diego Comic-Con, which is an experience that normally takes us an entire week from which to recover from the fatigue hysteria.

Oh, make no mistake: we’re still going. It might mean that by mid-August we are so ravaged that we are unable to write anything more complicated than, “Comics are neat,” but we are going.

Because not only has the guest list ballooned since the reschedule, including Dan DiDio, Scott Snyder, James O’Barr, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez to name a few, but the convention has just published their panel schedule for the event. Now, make no mistake: Boston Comic Con is still a small convention as these things go – San Diego’s panel schedule fills a magazine-sized book every year, while Boston’s fits comfortably on a single Web page – but still, you need to remember that as recently as 2009, Boston Comic Con wasn’t big enough to host any panels. So following that growth path, maybe in a few years I’ll be able to attend a massive comic convention without having to spend five and a half hours on a smoke-free airplane.

So yeah, there are only a few panels over the two-day event… but there’s one or two that you won’t be able to see anywhere else. You can get the whole schedule here, but as we did with the San Diego Comic-Con event schedule, I’m gonna call out a few that look particularly interesting to us.

Here’s some of what’s up on Saturday, August 3rd:

Neal Adams’ Secrets of The Silver Age
12pm–12:45pm
Neal Adams

Adams is upping his profile at San Diego – he’s taking part in the annual Quick Draw panel with Sergio Aragones – but the chance to see him at a smaller venue, talking about turning Batman back into a real hero (as opposed to a Batusi-ing fixture at car shows) and battling for creators’ rights back in the 70s? Yeah, this one should be interesting.

Independent Creators
2pm–2:45pm
Terry Moore, James O’Barr, David Petersen

The original miniseries of The Crow is one of my favorite books, so to hear James O’Barr talk about that would be pretty damn sweet. To hear him justify The Crow: Wicked Prayer starring Edward Furlong? Yeah, not so much.

DC Comics
3pm-3:45pm
Tony Daniel, Aaron Lopresti, Dan Didio, Scott Snyder

You can say what you want about how DC Editorial has been making decisions recently – God knows I have – but after years of attending SDCC while DiDio was Editor-in-Chief, I can tell you that he fronts an entertaining panel. And Scott Snyder talks about his projects with such enthusiasm, he could probably get you excited to read his shopping list. With that said, I am strongly considering attending this panel in a Batgirl costume and demanding that DC hire more fat, middle-aged transvestites just to watch DiDio shit his pants in reflexive terror.

Star Wars “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”
3pm-4pm

“Yeah, for my lifeline, I want to call on Jake Lloyd… no, I don’t have his phone number; he’s out in front of the convention center, jingling a Dunkin’ Donuts cup for nickels.”

Fables
4pm-4:45pm
Phil Jimenez, Barry Kitson, Bill Willingham, Chrissie Zullo

Bill Willingham’s not coming to SDCC this year. So if you missed FablesCon for whatever reason – say, perhaps, that the idea of going to Minnesota in wintertime sounds less like a vacation than it does penance for some horrible mortal sin – Boston Comic Con is your huckleberry for your immediate future.

Female Creators
6pm-6:45pm
Amy Reeder, Colleen Doran, Sara Richard

Amanda and I met Sara Richard back at 2009’s Boston Comic Con, and Amanda bought a print of Vash The Stampede she did that is simply spectacular. Richard has a Rocketeer print that’s not like anything I’ve ever seen, and I intend to get my hands on one at this convention… if not to commission an original version. Sure, everyone loves Colleen Doran, but I want to hear what Richard might be up to.

And for Sunday…

Mike Mignola Spotlight
12pm-12:45pm
Mike Mignola

One thing I can do at Boston Comic Con that I can’t do at SDCC, what with the cross-country flight, is bring in books to get signed. And my first print of Gotham By Gaslight is coming home a little heavier this year.

Marvel Comics
1pm-1:45pm
Mark Bagley, Mike Choi, David Mack, Brandon Peterson

You know, I complained the other day that the Marvel panels at SDCC were heavy on editorial types and hype, and often light on creators. This one is clearly the exact opposite, and worth attending just for that reason. Besides, I think it’s only fair to give David Mack a chance to smack my in the eye for arguing that Mapone isn’t a thing.

Doctor Who Comics
1pm-1:45pm
JK Woodward, Blair Shedd, Josh Adams

Amanda is a longtime Doctor Who fan, and she owns an original Josh Adams Dalek painting. So I will clearly be telling her about how the Marvel panel went, while she tells me about her 20-minute oratory argument that Matt Smith’s Doctor should be sucked into a black hole.

And, the money shot (at least for me):

Locke & Key
2pm-2:45pm
Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez, Chris Ryall

I’m not sure that the writer, artist and editor of Locke & Key have ever all been in a panel before, and Hill has gone on record that he won’t be attending too many comic conventions in the immediate future due to workload. So considering the series is coming to an end in just a couple of issues, and that Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are developing a movie based on the series, the next time you see these guys together will be in Hall H in San Diego. Well, either then, or outside Boston’s World Seaport Trade Center, kicking the living shit out of Jake Lloyd. Either way: Sunday’s your chance.

If you think about it, that’s one hell of a lineup for a little regional convention. And considering how much the Boston Comic Con has grown in the past few years, it’s worth checking out and showing your support if you’re local to New England. You can order advance tickets through EventBrite – 42 bucks for two days ain’t bad – but if you can’t be there, we’ll be covering the convention just as feverishly as we will the San Diego convention.

Perhaps even more feverishly, considering that almost every contributor to Crisis On Infinite Midlives will be attending the convention… and also considering that there will be no jet lag, and that not having to spend money on a flight to attend means that we will have extra money for whiskey.