A First Visit to New York ComicCon

What can I say? It was New York ComicCon.

Thank you and good night.

What?

More?

What more do you need to know?

Okay, picture a convention center the size of a small town nestled in the unflattering part of Manhattan. Now populate it with over 75,000 geeks of varying savory flavors. Not just comic book geeks. No, NYCC served up content for anime geeks, movie geeks, gamer geeks, toy geeks, cosplay geeks, and over-priced-convention-food geeks.

Truly something for everyone.


I went down early Friday with Reilly & Ray and, after picking up our pro badges, we got the sneak-preview experience where one could walk without being jostled. Such fond memories! They didn't last. Anyone who's worried about economy wouldn't know it from the amount of people that flooded the convention floor. Friday got very busy and Saturday was like a crowd scene in an old MGM movie. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be having a great time. I think I heard one angry exchange the entire time, and it was resolved without fists. Good on ya.

My main mission was to chat up fellow Small Press publishers and to scour Artists Alley for potential starving artist-types to exploit^H^H^H^H^H^H^H nurture. I'd say I was pretty successful in that. There were Small Press aplenty and loads of folks hawking their new creations. Also sprinkled in amongst the Artist Alley lines were folks whose names you've heard--Jim Lee, Jim Steranko, Bill Sienkiewicz, Bob Burden, Joe Staton, and Dick Ayers. Also on-hand at various locations were Neal Adams, George Perez, Marv Wolfman, and Peter David. NYCC is a great way to get some brief facetime with your favorite creators.

Near Artist Alley was the immense Dealers section. This was no mere comic book flea market experience. Sure, there were loads of comics. Enough comics that if gathered closer together they would form their own gravitational field. In addition to all that, though, were movies, costumes, collectibles, pulp magazines, books, games, and more T-shirts than people in attendance. Commerce was healthy. Robust, even.

Over in other parts of the convention floor, you could meet webcomic greats Gabe & Tycho of Penny Arcade, Scott Kurtz of PVP On-line, and Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza of Looking For Group. DC Comics had a huge display promoting the upcoming Watchmen movie (of which there was a special preview screened). Marvel and Dark Horse had their huge sections there as well. FOX had a kiosk promoting Dollhouse and the latest Futurama movie (which was also screened). As for video games, they took up quite a decent amount of space. RPGs, first-person shooters, flight sims, Warcraft, and Blue Dragon. Probably the most grand display was the one for the upcoming Ghostbusters game which looks like it's going to kick some ass.

I tried to get into Toy Alley, but that was just way too crowded.

Costumed types abounded. Halloween in February. The Joker was a popular costume--mostly Heath Ledger ones although there were a couple of classic Jokers and at least one Jack Nicholson version. Likewise I saw a few Harley Quinns. I saw one Dick Tracy, but heard there were three in all. A couple of Slave-Leias (of course!) and a few princess versions. Naughty nurses. Master Chief. Solid Snake. Several Green Lanterns. A lot of anime characters--later, driving past a McDonalds, I saw the entire case of Inuyasha standing on a sidewalk looking as if they just fell through some kind of dimensional warp. I don't recall seeing any Wolverines, but there were a a few Superman, Wonder Women, Hulks, and a dozen Rorschachs. Oh yeah, and Chewie! (insert roaring sound here)

Most of my own convention experience until now has been along the lines of nice sedate science fiction conventions--Worldcons mostly--which don't come close to the same numbers in attendance. I point this out because I don't feel I can speak with total authority when it comes to rating the event. Most people I've heard discuss NYCC have compared it favorably with the San Diego con before San Diego started to get out of control. I suppose that's a good thing. I wasn't very impressed with how NYCC handled the programming--almost as if they weren't expecting the numbers to show that did--or didn't care. The latter of the two is the least forgiveable. I missed out on a number of panels I wanted to sit in on simply because they filled up (or started) before their scheduled times. What up with that?

But the experience was not a loss. It was a gain. I had a lot of fun, met some great people, and am looking forward to the next one. A bigger place would be nice, but who are we kidding? It won't change that crowded feeling because more people will attend. I suppose that's a good thing. I am looking forward to the Small Press Expo in September. I think that might be more my speed.

So in sum...NYCC. Good. Very good. Great? eh. I think it's a matter of taste. I had a great time and will go again, but I'd like to see the programming run differently. And maybe a little less movie and gaming media and little more printed media.

Next week I'll be reviewing something from the Acquisition Pile gained while attending NYCC. That'll keep me going for a while.

Cheers!