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The Growing Pains Of Washington, DC's Awesome Con In 2016

Published Fri, 10 Jun 2016 12:05:19 -0500

By Devon Sanders

In its fourth year of existence, Washington, DC's Awesome Con has grown into one of premiere fandom convention; this year saw the convention grow in attendance hosting such fandom heavy-hitters such as Doctor Who's Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi and soon-to-retire Companion, Jenna Coleman. Also at Awesome Con were the legendary stars of Batman '66, Adam West and Burt Ward along with cast members of ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Brett Dalton and Elizabeth Henstridge.

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As the numbers for this year's surpassed those before, growing pains were evident as many had problems as the Capaldi/Coleman photo op was oversold and some who'd been issued tickets prior simply couldn't wait out the long lines and left in frustration. Con founder and organizer Ben Penrod immediately addressed the issue and next year should see massive improvements in communication between the events staff and con goers.

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On the comics side of this, Awesome Con welcomed for the first time, comics writers Mark Waid (Avengers) and Peter David (X-Factor). Had to the chance to briefly talk with both and they were incredibly gracious with their time and answers. Awesome Con is more of a celebration of geek fandoms but it was nice to see the convention continuing to up its comics profile.

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Awesome Con continues to be a showcase for DC area cosplayers and this year, as I expected, the Harley Quinn from the upcoming film, Suicide Squad was an easy favorite among cosplayers. Cosplay at Awesome Con was particularly impressive as, to me, it seemed more inspired than ever.

Little girls dressed as Iron Man and completely owned it. There were Captain Americas of all shapes sizes and colors and none of them were wrong. To me, that was the most fun thing, seeing the love people had for characters they were representing taken out into the greater world and proudly sharing it with others. Awesome Con is what fandom looks like in the real world and I'm absolutely looking forward to seeing what it brings in 2017.