I have returned to the blogowaves a champion, having successfully conquered the monstrous event known as Boston Comic-Con 2013!

If you’re just tuning in, I went to the Boston Comic-Con last weekend, my first visit to Beantown’s comic book convention. I’ve been going to conventions for a few years now, and Boston is my third locale after Baltimore and New York. I haven’t been to San Diego yet, mostly because I live in New York and am mostly broke all the time. It’s not cheap to fly out to California just to be stuck in a massive, unwavering crowd of comic book fans. Just sayin’.

I had an awesome trip. The Boston Comic-Con was smaller than New York, but was still a ton of fun. There were thousands of fans, many many costumes, and more geeky merchandise than I could buy in a lifetime. And seriously, I’d buy it all if I could. I’m that kind of insane. You can also read about the many reasons I love going to comic book conventions on a previous List of Six. They’re just so much fun!

Join me after the jump to hear my tale of Comic-Connery, and check out my awesome, homemade cosplay costume!

At previous cons, I dressed up as Henchman 21 from The Venture Bros. I loved that costume, but I retired 21 a few years ago. This year, I went as…the Blob!

“NOTHING MOVES THE BLOB!”

Check out the Blob here if you need a reference point.

Now, I am not a small man (as you can plainly see). When I started cosplaying, I decided that I would not try to hide my size. I may be cripplingly self-conscious, but when it came to dressing up at comic conventions, I I knew I had to man up and pull off some awesome fat costumes. I wasn’t going to be the kind of fat guy who squeezed himself into a skin-tight spandex Batman costume as if I could hide my weight. Comic-Cons are a bunch of nerds being awesome nerds together, so I knew I wouldn’t face any problems or discrimination. And I didn’t! People at the Con loved my costume! They wanted pictures, they shook my hand, and one guy even congratulated me for going ‘old school’ with the costume design.

Plus, there were a bunch of other X-Men to pose with! Especially babes!

That Emma Frost girl literally squeed when she saw my costume

So, Comic-Con. I’ve been visiting the cons with a few of my friends for a few years now, and every one has been a blast. This year was no different. We all randomly decided to go to Boston this year in a random Facebook status, so we bought our tickets, gathered in Boston and went for one day on Saturday. One of my friends dressed up as the Black Cat, and she looked fantastic. Another one dressed up at the 10th Doctor. Why go to a comic-con and not dress up? Unless you’re my friend Katie, who is self-publishing her own comic this fall, and wanted to use the Con to network and learn more about the business.

I definitely wasn’t going to get any business done dressed like an X-Men villain.

Unless that business is picking up cute Con girls

The Con was held at the Boston Seaport, just a big room packed to the brim with vendors and creators. I don’t particularly care about celebrity guests, so screw those guys. I just liked walking around the Con and taking pictures of all the awesome people in costume. There were a few creators I met too, though I didn’t have much to say to them dressed like that. I shook the hand of Mike Mignola, the man who invented Hellboy, so that was pretty awesome. He didn’t seem particularly thrilled to have me lumbering over him. Still shook my hand, at least.

There wasn’t much to buy, so thankfully I didn’t spend too much money. I bought a superhero Uglydoll for my friend’s 1-year-old son, and I bought myself an Adventure Time scarf, so that’s neat. But no good comics or action figures. I’ve mostly reached the point in my fandom where I’ve already hunted down and bought all the back issues I want to own. And any action figures I want that I don’t yet own are usually too rare and expensive to worry about anyway. But it’s still fun to look and see what the vendors might have. Sometimes they sell old, classic action figures from the 80s and 90s. Or sometimes they’ve got a metric ton of modern, awesome action figures. Both are a treat to look through.

After walking around all day – and snagging one of the few cushioned seats for a good mid-afternoon rest – we saw two panels to end the Con. The Writing Comics panel was very helpful and informative, featuring Frank Tieri and Stephen Niles, the guy who wrote 30 Days of Night. They had a lot of good information about how to write comics and how to get into the industry, both of which I want to do. Frank Tieri is also a pretty funny guy, which is just cool. Then we went to the Female Creators panel, which didn’t talk at all about what it’s like to be a woman in the comics industry, but was still entertaining, as the three panelists discussed their careers and artistic techniques. You can learn so much at these panels, and the creators are always usually delightful.

It was a great trip. It was a great Con. Seriously, if you ever have the chance to go to a comic book convention, don’t hesitate. They are so much fun.

Except for the Little Horned Girl who seemingly stalked us throughout the day. No matter where we turned, there she was. And it might have seemed like she was just minding her own business, and it was all a coincidence, but trust me, she was up to no good. You are the devil, Little Horned Girl! Stay away from me!

Victory was mine in the end, when I captured her soul in this photograph

And now, I think the best way to end my Comic-Con recap is with a gallery of all my favorite cosplay costumes from Boston Comic-Con this year! Besides my own, of course.

Black Cat

Doctor Octopus

Lil’ Spider-Man

Joker and Batman

Prince Robot IV

Red Lantern Harley Quinn

Lil’ Poison Ivy

Rita Repulsa

Invisible Woman and Squirrel Girl

Wasp and Ant-Man

Zombie Stormtrooper

Calvin & Hobbes

Lady Connor

Twilight Sparkle Jedi

Poison Ivy

Mario and Luigi