Shazam! Boston Comic Con This Weekend
Celebrity autographs, Q&A panels, costume contests, more
Fans dress up as comic book characters at Boston Comic Con. Photo by Flickr contributor Rodney Brown.
If you see the Avengers on the T or walking down Newbury Street this weekend, don’t panic. The city is safe. It’s the return of Boston Comic Con, which takes up residence at the Seaport World Trade Center tomorrow through Sunday. Fans can pursue celebrity autographs, attend Q&A panels and film screenings, meet award-winning comic book artists, and visit more than 300 exhibitions.
The annual convention began in 2007 as a one-day event to celebrate comic book culture. Its rising popularity, in part from the box office success of comic book films like 2008’s The Dark Knight and 2012’s The Avengers—the fifth highest grossing movie of all time—has turned it into a three-day extravaganza that’s now the largest comic convention in New England.
The weekend’s main attraction is an array of celebrity guests, this year including some of the biggest names in the world of comics and science fiction, such as Star Trek veteran William Shatner, X-Files star Gillian Anderson, Doctor Who’s Jenna Coleman and Karen Gillan, and Gotham star Ben McKenzie. Find a complete list of celebrity guests here.
Attending this weekend is iconic comic book author and director Frank Miller, who has penned numerous popular dark comic books and graphic novels over three and a half decades, several adapted for film, including 300, Sin City, and The Dark Knight Rises. Miller and Shatner will be on hand as part of special VIP ticket packages.
Visitors are encouraged to arrive in costume as their favorite character. The convention has a history of cosplay (costume play), and each year sponsors a popular costume contest. Prizes will be handed out, with the top winner taking home $2,000 on Saturday. There’s also a separate kids’ cosplay contest. And this year, a special CosSpace has been added. Dedicated to cosplayers and costume and wig design, it will have a repair station.
More than 300 vendors will be on hand displaying collectibles, racks of comic books, video games, clothing, accessories, toys, action figures, and more. The weekend is loaded with events for all ages. Find a schedule here.
Boston Comic Con is Friday, August 12, through Sunday, August 14, at the Seaport World Trade Center, 200 Seaport Blvd., Boston. Find hours here. Find prices and buy tickets here. Take an MBTA Green Line trolley to Park Street, the Red Line to South Station, and the Silver Line outbound.
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