Flame Con, a two-day celebration of the queer community and diversity in comics, art, and pop culture, took over the Sheraton Times Square in New York City for its fourth year. This show – held August 18-19, 2018 – marked the first time that Flame Con was held in Manhattan, having previously taken place in Brooklyn. The 2017 show brought in more than 6,000 attendees over the course of the weekend, and made it clear that the convention had outgrown its space in Brooklyn… but if the mass of humanity that took over the Times Square venue is any indication, Flame Con may soon be seeking even more space.

The show is presented by Geeks OUT, a nonprofit organization that seeks to rally, promote and empower the queer geek community through organizing events, attending conventions, and coordinating queer spaces at various shows throughout the country. While Flame Con accordingly leans heavily into promoting the LGBT+ community and its creators, it also makes sure to lift up all communities that may feel somewhat marginalized or left out of a typical, mainstream comic or pop culture convention. It makes for one of the most diverse events I’ve ever attended in my more than 15 years of attending anime, comic, and video game conventions around the nation, and it was just a really great positive vibe that could be felt throughout accordingly.

Flame Con featured a ton of great comic guests this year, including Amy Reeder (Batwoman), Atla Hrafney (We’re Still Here), Dan Parent (Archie), Erin Nations (Gumballs), Hamish Steele (Pantheon), James Tynion IV (Detective Comics), Joamette Gil (Power and Magic: Immortal Souls), Julia Kaye (Up and Out), Kevin Wada (Scarlet Witch), Kris Anka (Star-Lord), Noelle Stevenson (Lumberjanes), Phil Jiminez (Astonishing X-Men), Steve Orlando (VIRGIL), and many others.

The schedule included a lot of interesting fan panel content, including “Square Enix and Beyond: A Study of Social Justice Issues in Final Fantasy and other RPGs,” “Robots and Ro-Butts: How We Learned to Love Robots,” “3D Printing and Cosplay,” “Steven Universe: Gay Space Rocks,” “Telling All-Ages Queer Stories,” “Correcting People Correctly,” and many more. There were also various performances, as well as cosplay contests, held on the show’s main stage.

Despite all of the solid content and great guests, Flame Con suffered from one massive problem – not enough space. Within the first hour of the show floor being open, the artist alley became so packed that it was essentially impossible to move through most of the aisles or to even see what many of the artists had for sale. This seemed to be the result of a combination of simply too many people in the room plus the fact that the tables themselves were too close together. I understand the desire to want to accommodate as many artists as possible in the space provided, but it’s a disservice to every single one of them who booked a table when attendees were noticeably skipping entire aisles because it was impossible to navigate them. It’s unfortunate; the show is otherwise a lot of fun, but the overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia caused by the critical mass of people present definitely impacted the overall enjoyment possible.

This wasn’t limited to just the artist alley (though that area certainly had it worse than anywhere else) – the rest of the show areas really weren’t much better. The gaming room (which had all of four video game setups available for over 5,000 people to enjoy) was perpetually crowded, the main event hall could only seat a couple dozen people, and the hallways were tight and oddly laid-out. It may be a consequence of this particular venue choice; even the bathrooms were laid out in such a way that I felt like I was navigating a funhouse. Hopefully the showrunners take some constructive criticism on this front and, moving forward, either attempt to make better use of what space they have available, or move again to a larger venue.

Despite the overwhelming crowds, Flame Con proved to be a solidly fun time, and it’s a convention I’d consider attending in the future. Its goals are great and the resulting show fills a niche that no other larger convention is really filling at the moment, and I hope Flame Con continues to see the success it’s enjoyed so far.

-Carrie Wood