The 8th Annual Rhode Island Comic Con 2019 Was A Real Vacation

Between November 1-3, the Dunkin Donuts Center, Rhode Island Convention Center and Omni Providence Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island were hopping with excitement from Rhode Island Comic Con 2019. This was the event’s 8th year, and to celebrate, event holders Altered Reality Entertainment brought the Griswold family back together once again with a National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) reunion. This was just a tiny piece of the puzzle, however. Just look at what we found this year.

Check out our coverage from the 2017 and 2018 Rhode Island Comic Cons here and here.

Celebrities

There were a few celebrity highlights I’d like to mention. First of all, 2019 marks the last Rhode Island Comic Con that Sesame Street’s Carol Spinney will attend. He’s played Big Bird on the children’s program for over 50 years, and we will miss seeing him. To show their appreciation, Rhode Island Comic Con show runners Altered Reality Entertainment presented him with this cute as hell cake.

Like in previous years, the celebrities were spread out over all five floors of the Dunkin’ Donuts Center/Rhode Island Convention Center. There is a Rhode Island Comic Con app, but because of the fluctuating manner of the event, it was near impossible to pinpoint where on the map each celeb would be. They were constantly being moved according to length of autograph lines. However, it would have been nice to see a few modifiable white board maps of each floor, splaining where everyone was supposed to be with updates posted through Twitter/Facebook if someone had had to be moved. Attendees spent a lot of time searching the five floors, squeezing through people standing in the serpentine lines, which caused quite a bit of crowding and backups.

Speaking of standing in line, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to where someone’s line would go, so people had no idea of they were waiting in the right spot to meet the person on their bucket list. If you happened to be at the end of a line, there was sometimes a staff member standing there to direct you, although it was mostly to tell you that that particular line was capped off for one reason or another.

So many celebs, artists and voice actors attended Rhode Island Comic Con 2019, there’s no way I can list them all. Here’s a smattering of names and faces you might recognize.

• Robert Englund
• Alex Kingston
• Karl Urban
• Elijah Wood

• John Barrowman
• Corbin Bernsen
• Brian O’Halloran
• Daphne Zuniga
• Tom Berenger

• Robert Patrick
• Dave Bautista
• Patrick Renna
• Benedict Wong
• Lou Ferrigno

• Scott Ian
• From Game of Thrones: Alfie Allen, Kristian Nairn, Richard Brake, Tom Hopper
• From Jaws: Richard Dreyfus, Susan Backline
• From Stranger Things: Gaten Matarazzo, Alec Utgoff, Andrey Ivchenko, Francesca Reale, Gabriella Pizzolo

• From Star Trek: William Shatner, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Kate Mulgrew, Ethan Peck
• From National Lampoon’s Vacation: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron

• From Star Wars: Alan Harris, Bill Margreaves, Catherine Munroe, Chris Parsons, John Morton, Joonas Suotamo, Mark Dodson, Mike Quinn, Time Rose
• From Harry Potter: Evanna Lynch, James and Oliver Phelps, Bonnie Wright
• From The Office: Brian Baumgartner, Catherine Tate
• From Saved By The Bell: Mark-Paul Gosselar, Elizabeth Berkley
• From The Walking Dead: Steven Yeun, Emily Kinney, Alanna Masterson, Jeremy Palko

• From Sesame Street: Carol Spinney, Steve Whitmore
• From The Tick: Patrick Warburton, Griffin Newman,
• From Power Rangers: David Yost, Jason Faunt, Peter Serafinowicz, Steve Cardenas
• Professional wrestlers John Moxley FKA Dean Ambrose, Cowboy Bob Orton, D-Von Dudley, Demolition, Kurt Angle, Lex Luger, Lisa Maria Varon FKA Victoria, Mick Foley, Hollywood, The Royal Hawaiian

Panels

There were plenty of panels at Rhode Island Comic Con 2019. Unfortunately, some of their times overlapped, so there was no way to go to them all. Some of them had capped off lines, so even getting there 30 minutes early didn’t guarantee a spot in the room. There was a no photographing/videoing panels rule this year for everything that I went to… except Robert Englund. We could take pictures there. Woohoo! It was great hearing him talk about his initial meeting with the beautiful Heather Langenkamp and Johnny Depp in the makeup trailer while he was having burnt flesh prosthetics glued to his face. If only there was video…

Friday, November 1

• Staying Late at The Office
• Richard Dreyfus: A Legendary Career Retrospective
• Welcome to Freddy’s World: A Nightmare On Elm Street

Saturday, November 2

• Devil May Cry: This Is Not the Reboot
• Return to the Road With the Sons and the Mayans
• Catherine Tate: A Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Career
• A Trip Back with the Stars of Gotham World Building 101
• Saved By The Bell Reunion: A Trip Back to Bayside
• Robert Patrick: T2 and Beyond

• John Barrowman: A Hero, A Villain and a Hero Again
• The Bounty Hunters of Star Wars
• Captain’s Log: A Conversation With William Shatner
• Three’s the Charm: Stranger Things 3
• Beyond the Shire With Elijah Wood

Sunday, November 5

• Growing Up on Camera: Q&A With Christina Ricci
• Starship Captain, Activist & Writer: The Many Faces of George Takei
• Puppet Party: A Sunny Day in the Smallest State
• The Walking Dead: Life After the End (Video courtesy of the Vengali Network)
• Game of Thrones: One More Trip to Westeros
• Spider-Man, The Spider-Verse and Beyond!
• S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents in Rhode Island
• Avada Kedavra: Wizarding 101 in Harry Potter

 

Comic Book Artists

The comic book artists were plentiful as well. Here’s a few of them to wet your whistle.

• Bob Wiacek (X-Men, Star Wars, Iron Man)
• Buzz (Superman, Justice League, Vampirella, Justice Society of America)
• Casey Coller (Transformers, Optimus Prime, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, My Little Pony)
• Chris Campana (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Vampirella)
• Christopher Priest (Spider-Man, Venom, Spawn)
• Darryl Banks (Green Lantern, Captain America, X-Men, Superman, Justice Society of America)
• Elias Chatzoudis (Grimm Fairy Tales, GI Joe)
• Graham Nolan (Batman, Doom Patrol, The Phantom)
• Ian Chase Nichols (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Tick, Batman, GI Joe)
• Jan Duursema (Star Wars, X-Men, X-Factor, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)
• Joe Rubenstein (Superman, X-Men, Wolverine, Spider-Man)
• Michael Golden (Star Wars, X-Men, Batman)
• Mike Zeck (Spider-Man, Captain America, Punisher)
• Neal Adams (Batman, Superman, X-Men, Avengers)
• Renee Witterstaetter (She-Hulk, X-Files, Superman)
• Rick Leonardi (Spider-Man, X-Men)

Cosplay

The cosplay is one of my favorite parts of Rhode Island Comic Con, and this year was no exception. It’s mind-blowing to see some of these costumes, especially considering how much work (and money) goes into them. I can’t even pick what I want for breakfast, never mind a single character that I love enough to dive into like these dedicated fans.

The Crowd

There were so many people at Rhode Island Comic Con, that some of the panels (I’m looking at you, Stranger Things 3) needed special tickets. After the overflow from last year (they had to put all of the extra people in another ballroom and show the panel on a movie screen for them). I love that so many people wanted to see and listen to certain celebrities, and I’m not sure what else they could have done besides giving out the special tickets.

Set Pieces

The cosplay was great, but the permanent displays were really cool as well. There was an entire Star Wars section, life-sized dragons from How to Train Your Dragon, a giant Audrey II that was so big, you could sit in her mouth, and the Griswold Family Roadster. At least, I think the Roadster was there. I never managed to find it.

Merchandise

There were so many artists in the vendor area that they had their own alley. I want to send a shoutout to the guys over at Sensational Comics & Toys for taking the time to help me find the one random Funko (*ahem* Bob Ross *ahem*) I just had to have.

That about wraps up our coverage of the Rhode Island Comic Con 2019. Were you there? Did you take any awesome pics or meet any cool (or not so cool) celebs? Let us know in the comments!

Check out our trips to the 2017 and 2018 Rhode Island Comic Cons here and here. We hope we see you there next year!