One of the most comforting things about attending Oz Comic-Con is its predictability. My years of attendance have left me safe in the knowledge that once your ticket is scanned and you step into the cavernous exhibition hall, you’ll spend the next eight hours emptying the contents of your wallet, all while suffocatingly squeezed between a Hatsune Miku and a Spider-Man.

This year was no exception. Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre was, as usual, populated with vendors offering figurines, collectibles and comic books. Cosplayers of all ages perused the ever-popular Artist Alley, packed full of local, independent artists selling original prints and merchandise.

The Artist Alley is for many the main event of a convention. It’s also when the reliability and consistency of Oz Comic-Con works to its detriment. After a few conventions you’ll start to recognise most of the artists in attendance. Just a day at rival convention Supanova, or at Kaiga Convention’s pop-up Artist Alley events, will tell you that Australia is bursting at the seams with brilliant local artists looking to sell their work. In the last few years, I’ve also spoken with multiple artists about the exclusivity of being selected to sell at Oz Comic-Con as opposed to other Artist Alleys and I’ve always noticed a larger variety of incredible artists at other conventions. While Oz Comic-Con always manages to put together an excellent Artist Alley, an effort to expand out of their current scope would benefit everyone involved.

Other activities this year included community and collectible trading meetups, multiple stages hosting panels on writing, cosplay and art, a pop-up tattoo parlour, cosplay competitions and parades and a dedicated esports stage which briefly hosted our own Melbourne University Esports team. And of course, I’d be remiss not to mention the institution of the always-packed Just Dance stage. The inherent joy and absurdity of seeing Darth Vader do Rasputin for a crowd of cheering Genshin Impact cosplayers could never be overstated. Along with vendors and artists, another universal primary draw to comic cons is the featured guests. In recent years, Australian comic con guests haven’t seemed to pull tremendous crowds, seemingly due to the fact that we rarely host internationally “big names”. That being said, Oz Comic-Con enjoyed enormous success with their guest picks this year.

Eddie Perfect, Karis Oka and Elise McCann, the Australian cast of the recently opened Beetlejuice musical, participated in a Q&A panel that proved very popular. Catherine Tate and Brandon Rogers also drew respective impressive crowds, with fans outnumbering seats at both panels, both days. But it was Giancarlo Esposito, known for his roles in Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian and truly too many more to list who packed out the place on Sunday. I can safely say that in my years of attending Oz Comic-Con, these were some of the most impressive turnouts for guests I’ve ever seen. But with crowds flocking to the Main Stage, an issue quickly became apparent.

Oz Comic-Con’s stages (and accompanying seas of chairs) are set up in corners and crannies throughout the exhibition hall. But with this open-air setup, many attendees struggled to hear anything the interviewers or guests had to say. It felt like all the PA system did was add to an already overwhelming cacophony, joining the chatter of thousands and the music that always seems to blare from across the hall. The solution here is to follow in the footsteps of Supanova and hold panels and events in separate rooms, but this may require the convention to move from their prime spot in the CBD. It’s a change that organisers may be loath to enact, but if Oz Comic-Con are going to host big names, they need to accommodate the big crowds that come with them and at the very least make sure fans can hear the guests they’ve paid to hear (and sit down while they do it).

Big convention crowds are not, however, confined entirely to the Main Stage. When you buy a ticket to any comic con, you’re subscribing to a busy (and often claustrophobic and overwhelming) environment for a weekend. To an extent, crowds are simply unavoidable. But, while packed in like a sardine in Artist Alley, I could only think that more precautions and accommodations could be implemented to make the experience just slightly more bearable. Taming the hordes of con-goers in Artist Alley into one-way lanes may not be possible, but it’s difficult not to dream of it when there’s no end in sight to the crowd you’re drowning in. Additionally, water was only available marked up from food trucks or kiosks and rest areas are usually so packed that the walls end up lined with cosplayers sitting on the floor. It feels as though conventions are just getting busier each year, and further steps should be taken to accommodate increasing crowds for the comfort and safety of paying visitors.

Despite these issues, Oz Comic-Con consistently runs smoothly, this year included. Attendees will rarely struggle to find something to do and are unlikely to be blindsided by any run-of-the-mill technical or scheduling issues. That said, the convention is clearly only increasing in popularity, and with success and growth they need to put in place methods of making the convention more comfortable and accessible, especially given their rising ticket prices. However, as one of the two major Australian comic conventions, Oz Comic-Con is still worth your time and money, if you think you can handle the crowds.