PRCC2024 Recap: Fans from all over the world join together in Puerto Rico to celebrate all things comics, anime and videogame

Since its humble beginnings in 2002, going by the name of Caribbean Sci-fi Odyssey and being held at the Santurce Y.M.C.A. The Puerto Rico Comic Convention has been growing every year since. This year in 2024 we were gratefully invited to cover the convention as press and our local P.R. Crusader Antonio “Mabs” Rodriguez spent 3 days at the largest fan convention in the Caribbean. Held in the largest convention center in Puerto Rico, the PRCC holds approximately 20,000 to 40,ooo people every year. Fans from all walks of life, backgrounds, and and ages come together to experience a convention filled to the brim with art, games, and thanks to the incredibly talented Puerto Ricans; tons and tons of fantastic cosplays.

This year the event was held during the “Holy Week” which meant that a lot of comic fans were already out of school and ready for a long weekend which made for a huge attendance. Whilst we were with the press and didn’t have to wait too long in the lines, the staff was very well equipped and standing in lines took like than 10-20 minutes even with hundreds of people in front of you. The main entrance was divided into groups and attendees were quickly guided to their respective lines to be checked for entry. Props were tagged properly to avoid injuries and selfie sticks were banned from the convention floor to avoid unnecessary mishaps. The overall organization of the staff was top notch and whilst there was an air of busyness, everyone was eager to talk to us and help guide us to where we needed to go to.

Once you enter the doors of the Convention Center you are greeted into a 3-floor lobby filled with thousands of people waiting for the doors to open to the convention floor. In this space, people could be seen mingling with each other or enjoying the various food vendors that were available. From your standard convention junk food like nachos, hot dogs, and pizzas, to healthier treats like acai bowls and smoothies, the PRCC offered something for everyone. The doors opened every day right on time with the first opening being on Friday at midday and the rest of the weekend opening bright and early at 9 am, every day when the doors opened, we were greeted by a host with a microphone who went over the standard rules and regulations of con behavior and gave us some words of encouragements to enjoy the con and make the most of our experience. One minor annoyance was that there weren’t any physical maps unless you printed your own, however, if you wanted to know more information about the con and where everything was located, you could enter a WhatsApp group that was handled by an AI who would answer your questions and direct you to a pdf with all the different exhibitors, the time slots of the special guests as well as the conferences that were being held during the show. While this was a great, modern way to handle questions from the myriad of attendees it lacked the human touch that could have been solved with a physical map or at the very least a few displays that detailed the events going on and where you were in relationship to the rest of the exhibition floor.

This year we had 4 major guest appearances; Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Mandalorian), Zach Aguilar (Demon Slayer, One Punch Man), Ross Marquand (Walking Dead, Avengers Infinity War), and Cameron Monaghan (Shameless, Gotham) as well as 2 major comic artists that were in the convention floor doing singing and drawing sketches during the weekend; Charles Soule (Daredevil, She-Hulk, Death of Wolverine, and various Star Wars books) and David Angelo Roman (Adult-Swim, Oni-Press, and Cryptozoic most noted for illustrating the covers of Rick and Morty). Whilst the heavy hitters were a little too out of reach for us (even as the press) we were able to score an awesome interview with David Angelo Roman, about his process illustrating covers for Rick and Mory and he even drew us an awesome sketch of AntonioMabs’s original character, Mr.Mabs.

The lines for autographs, photo ops, and the Q&A’s were endless with people often waiting in them for up to an hour. We were told we couldn’t enter to interview the heavy hitters, but it is quite fair considering that people were paying to get their photos taken and their official merch signed. Apart from these special events, we were also treated to a weekend-long screening of different animes courtesy of Crunchy Roll in a dedicated screening room that could hold hundreds of people’; whilst these rooms were mostly empty during the event they served as an oasis for attendees to relax, drink some water and sit down for a while before heading back out to conquer the convention floor. A similar dynamic took place during the special conferences being held in the smaller meeting rooms of which there were a total of 7 panels ranging from the history of comics in Puerto Rico, 2 fantastic game development panels by PRGDA, and live podcast recordings among other things. Whilst the panels were not highly frequented they were a nice change of pace from walking around the incredibly busy convention floor and offered some very interesting and valuable educational information for attendees looking to get into the industry. On top of this wonderful programming we also were treated to hour-long DJ sets every evening by local DJ, Otakusan as well as video game tournaments.

This year unlike other years; felt very dedicated to artists and was incredibly refreshing to see the huge amount of talented individuals that were situated in the Artist Alleys, and the Arts and Crafts areas. Talented artists such as Goligoli, Betty Cristina, Marialefigavi, Nella andPendragon, Primordios, and TripletaStudios amongst many others were showcasing the best of their works, exhibiting fantastic merchandise such as handmade plushies, magic-inspired collectible figurines, and of course comics, stickers, and art prints. The prices were all quite reasonable and accessible for all walks of life, and even with a small budget, you could leave home with a treasure trove of original quality art. One thing that took me by surprise was how professional and cozy many of these booths were, with custom branding, wonderfully organized merch tables, and in the case of Primordios a backdrop that made you feel like you were in an ancient library perhaps inside the halls of Hogwarts.

These booths were not only made for selling but were set up by the artists to immerse you into their world and subsequently their artistry wholeheartedly.

Primordios had this to say about his experience during the event:

At the PRCOMICCON, I had the joy of connecting with people’s hearts as they delved into the magic of Primordios. It was amazing to see the organization, how my products resonated with attendees, and how they could experience the passion and excitement that I also feel for this universe.

We were also able to speak to Dayane Cruz aka Goligoli after the event wrapped up and she told us a bit about her time at the con:

In my experience, everything was chaotically incredible. This year, I was able to experience being a vendor at the event for the first time, and it was magical to see both sides of the coin. This event brings out the best in people; I could observe it from day one. I truly love the audience that attends these kinds of events.

On the convention floor were also present the talented tattoo artists from the local tattoo shop Moshui Tattoo & Coffee Shop, who were tattooing throughout the weekend anime, and comics-inspired designs and even had a surprise tattoo machine that you could try your luck at in hopes of getting an awesome affordable tattoo at a Comic-Con exclusive discount price to get tatted on you. We had the chance to interview Rafael aka @Engravingtheskin who told us that during the event people tend to crowd their booth so much so that last year he didn’t have a chance to look at the other exhibitors at all, thankfully this year Moshui tattoo brought 3 other artists that would help meet the demand of the attendees.

During Saturday, we were able to talk to Gwen4You a Puerto Rican cosplayer and influencer who was doing meet and greets during the whole weekend at the Nissan Puerto Rico booth. She told us that she was very excited to be at the event and was even more excited when she walked to the entrance and noticed that Nissan had taken a billboard out and displayed her picture advertising the Meet and Greets for everyone to see. A true achievement for a local cosplayer and no doubt something that shows us that when we love something so much, and we share it with the world and with others who love that same thing too, we too can achieve fantastic things.

We also had a chance to see the presence of big brand names such as Nissan, Malta India, Galletas Bimbos, and Monster Energy amongst other local stores like Titan Games, and Otakushop. The convention floor had a nice mix of big brands, local brands, independent artists, and solo-preneurs. However, not unlike previous years the “Comic” part of the convention leaves a little to be desired as most of the vendors are either selling anime-inspired products or video game-related merchandising.

During the event, it was my mission to find a Hellboy poster for my art studio but ala there were none to be found, and whilst this is rather sad it goes to show that as time passes and the line between comics, anime, and pop culture continues to merch with tv shows, videogames, and literature there might come a day where the “Comic Convention” is dropped completely to be supplanted with a Pop Culture Convention altogether. On this topic however, it is important to note that whilst there wasn’t a big presence of big-name comic publishers like Dark Horse or Marvel, the indie comic scene was thriving with several artists selling their self-published books, and to this effect, we must give a special shout-out to PanicoPress, and Mike Maydak who were successfully selling both comics and visual development books that where 100% original and self-published. My hopes are that as the years continue and the Con continues growing and bringing more artists and creators together, we will see an uprise in more self-published books and that by next year my haul of books will be 10x what I was able to pick up this year because at least 25% of booths will feature some kind of graphic story, thusly going back even if just slightly to the roots of what a Comic Convention used to be.

In conclusion, the PR Comicon is without a doubt a place for expression, creativity, and above all else a monument to geeks and fans of all things pop culture. It is fantastic to see things such as anime and comics take centerfold in popular culture when once it was something that people associated with nerdiness and an activity that was believed to be childish and borderline shameful. When events like this happen and you can see that the roots of geek culture run deep, you get a richer sense of freedom to be who you are and express yourself in a safe environment eager to welcome you into their community.