Nov 18, 2017

Extra, Extra!! Rhode Island Comic Con from the inside!

As we stated before, Rhode Island Comic Con had a who`s who in the way of celebrities. There were cancellations as there are with any event and obviously it`s out of the control of the Con themselves. Reasoning for a cancellation can be anything from a travel issue to filming schedules among other reasons that could pop up as a surprise at last minute.

The demand was so big this year that they not only filled the Dunkin Donuts Center and the Convention Center, but they expanded for the first time into the attached OMNI Hotel. They took over their ball rooms at the OMNI and even added about 7 heated tents outside as well. The CELEB PHOTO OPS were all done in the tents which really made it a lot less crowded on the inside of the Dunk which was nice.

I caught up with former WWE Women`s champion Melina who was on hand all weekend. We spoke off camera about her involvement with Comic Cons and the fact that she is doing a ton of them these days. She said she`s officially a Con girl now and really loves doing them. Melina is super down to earth and always has been. She loves meeting her fans and really looks forward to these events. We also chatted about New England Fan Fest 5 which took place in the same room, so we bounced around some memories from that event that she appeared at in 2015 alongside John Morrison.

There was certainly no shortage of Cosplayers as we mentioned before. It was great to see everyone coming out dressed up for the big weekend!

The weekend had something for everyone, from autograph sessions and photo op sessions to Q&A panels and a huge Artist Alley. There were tons of vendors through out both arenas filled with great merchandise for sale. Some of the coolest moments are simply walking around and seeing all of the vintage toys for sale.

KIDS CON also seemed to be a big hit featuring artists, science demonstrations, face painting and tons more!

I also caught up with actor Andrew Cassese (Revenge of the Nerds). We spoke off camera about all things Comic Con. He mentioned that he sometimes reunites with another cast member from Revenge of the Nerds here and there but usually just 1 or 2 at a time. He also mentioned it had been about 5 years since he was apart of a full cast reunion, so he was super excited to see all his friends again at Rhode Island Comic Con. He mentioned in closing that Rhode Island Comic Con is his favorite Con that he`s ever been to. He had a great experience all weekend long and really enjoyed himself.

Had the pleasure of speaking off camera with Legendary artist of the Golden era, Allen Bellman. Allen has been so influential for many people over the years and obviously worked with another legend in Stan Lee. Allen is awesome with his fans, just watching his interactions with the fans was very enjoyable. He`s got a great sense of humor and even jokingly said to a fan "Come meet a legend". He has so much great work on display and still works till this day. He said "You the fans keep me out of the rocker". Allen at 91 years young, still has much to do and his passion is just as strong today as it was many years ago. We chatted about Canon cameras as i have one now and he always liked the canon brand as well. He said he used to have a canon and did some photography work back in the day as well.

It was a pleasure to also catch up with three other great artists including Neal Adams, Joe Sinnott and Arthur Suydum.

I chatted with actor Wallace Shawn off camera, who was a class act all the way. He really took the time with his fans and was so down to earth. I asked him out of all the projects he`s been apart of, which was his favorite. He said his favorite was actually the movie Clueless. He really enjoyed working on that project. Wallace had a non stop line almost the entire weekend right up until closing time on Sunday. I told him my personal favorite project of his was the made for TV movie, LIKE MY DAD. He was surprised that i owned that movie or even remembered it. He mentioned that too was one of his favorite projects and that he loved that movie.