Boston Fan Expo 2022 Review

I went to my first ever Boston Fan Expo, which I enjoyed, and my wallet did not. Before I dive into the usual four categories of what I saw (Celebrities, Comic Creators, Merch, and Cosplay), I wanted to take some time showing off the venue itself. I went on a Friday with one of my friends, so it wasn't too busy. The venue (Boston Convention Center) was simple and fast to get into, and it's a quick walk from South Station. One of the first things you see when you walk in is this VERY important warning about cosplay.

I saw PLENTY of neckbeards going "(Heavy breathing) RAVEN can I get a picture of you RAVEN?" So it was really refreshing that this was the first sign you see walking into the conference. Good reminder here to not just jump on someone because they are wearing cosplay, and to ask them for a picture in a polite way. Here is a look at some of the convention exclusives they had at the show!

Rule of thumb is to always buy at least one exclusive, so I settled for a Poison Ivy Magnet from Batman The Animated Series. The floor was decked out, filled with cool props, videogame stations, and much much more (as you can see below).

1. Celebrities

Fan Expo had a lot of excellent celebrities to talk to, including all four hobbits, Ewan McGregor, tons of voice artists for My Hero Academia, and much more. With that being said, NONE of them go on Friday. If you want to meet an A List celebrity, you need to come on Saturday, and you will need to wait in a very long line. On Friday we went to Sean Austin's panel (which I included video of below). He was super kind, answered questions fully, and made sure everyone had time to ask a question. I had never been to a panel before so seeing Sean Austin's for the first time was a delight. I'm mostly over having celebrities sign things for me, mostly because of the crazy prices, so we didn't really interact with any that day. But I went to the after party, which was a showing of The Room (the best worst movie ever made), with Greg Sestero, one of the actors unfortunate enough to be in that "film". It was a cool experience, with Greg telling us behind the scenes stories, and he was a pretty cool dude. I got him to sign my copy of the book No Country for Old Men, because why not? The showing was LOUD but it was a unique experience, I would never do it again but everyone should go to a Room showing at least once. Threw in an extra video down there for you Room fans.

2. Comic Creators

As usual, there were no lines for the creators of the comic books that inspired the event. Which is super depressing. If you go to a con, stop and talk to a writer, an artist, or inker, they contributed so much. But. With that in mind. We did stop to talk to Michael Golden, one of the creators of Rogue. It's always cool to meet the people who made characters, since they have influenced so so so many people with their work. So we asked him a few short questions.

Question	Answer
What made you want to create Rogue?	Money (literally rubbed his fingers together staring at us first, then said money)
(After we recovered from the first answer) What do you like most about her?	That she paid for my three cars and two houses.
What makes you the most money off her? (after we realized where the convo was going)	The toys

I mean, SUPER honest, but not really inspiring. I always am worried that creators at comic book companies do not get credit for their creations, but I'm glad they get royalties from toys. Heck I have a Legends Rogue figure, so I've paid this man. Never really thought about toys being the big earners. Like I said, take the time to go talk to a comic creator, usually a good conversation. And as a capitalist I loved his answers. As a comic fan, not so much. To cleanse my palette a bit of the capitalist answers I just received, we went to see Jeph Loeb. I am a huge fan of Jeph, I LOVE Spider-Man: Blue, and think it's one of the best Spider-Man stories ever written. So obviously I had him ruin my copy of it.

I am going to do an artist spotlight very soon on Jeph, but his work on Spider-Man Blue, Daredevil Yellow, and Batman Hush are MUST reads for any comic fan. His book Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America is a triumph, as it goes through the five stages of grief (one comic for each stage). It's personally helped me through a lot, so I recommend reading it if you are going through a tough time. Boston Fan Expo does an ok job hosting comic creators, but they are kind of just shoved in the back while the main attraction (the celebrities) get all the spotlight. If you want a comic centered show, go to Terrificon in CT. Fan Expo did have a pretty cool collection of comics to buy, here is what I got my hands on.

First copy of Justice, beautiful cover by Alex Ross

Batman #500 where Azrael makes his new batsuit

Iconic cover and story of new fantastic four team

(Introduction of Nitro and issue when Captain Marvel gets cancer)

Iconic cover, and awesome cover, BEST cover

3. Merch

As per any comic con, there were plenty of things to buy. My biggest purchase was a lifesize Mt. Olympus keyblade, but I spent a fair amount of money on art, like usual. My white whale was this life size bust of Spider-Man by Alex Ross, for 500 dollars.

In the words of Terrence Howard War Machine, "Next time baby". The first person I bought art from was awesome, I got a cool Galactus and Cyclops print from him and actually remembered to include his website!

I got swept up in the chaos of comic con again and didn't get credits from other artists, but here is the rest of the art I bought!

I also got an excellent Hellcat shirt from the only shirt vendor at the con.

So overall the merch was awesome, they had a LOT of artists there to sell their work, whether it was crafted or painted. So if you want to get some awesome art, Fan Expo Boston is the place to go, definitely had the most selection out of the three cons I have been to. The collectibles were a little more scarce, but I got myself an excellent Goku POP, so that is all that matters really.

4. Cosplay

We saw a lot of cool cosplay at Fan Expo, a lot more than Terrificon, so here they are! Straight from court, here is the incredible Jack Sparrow, who true to character was stumbling around for the four hours we were there.

A huge Chewbacca.

Superman, 10/10 cape.

Losing points for no Meowth.

An awesome Oogie Boogie suit! Incredible work.

An elegant pair of Princesses without their plumbers.

Boba Fett which is whatever LOOK AT THAT RATCATCHER COSTUME.

A Thanos that has haunted me in my dreams for the last few weeks.

Rogue's reaction to me telling her her creator doesn't love her.

A VERY nice bald head with a VERY nice cane with a VERY nice shirt.

Summary

The process was smooth, the merch was bountiful, and the celebrities were awesome and engaging. With an easy walk from South Station to the convention center, it's a simple place to get to. If you haven't been, I strongly suggest going to Boston Fan Expo, as it truly has something for every fan. But don't buy that Spider-Man bust, I called dibs.