At the New York Comic-Con...
My journey through the annals of urban geekdom
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Me putting on my best "emo" face. |
Comic book fandom returned to New York City in huge, brash fashion for the first time in about ten years this past weekend, at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan. If you lived in or were visiting New York City at the time, and were a fan of comics, scifi, fantasy, action figures, literature, or just good old fashioned alternative culture vouyerism, you were more than likely here with the rest of us. For the record, I fall into a little bit of each of those categories. What follows is my own personal pictorial account of my weekend, as well as the goings on at the convention, as best as I could muster with a goddamn 16 MB digital camera memory card (hold your pointing and laughing for after the show, please). There are highs, lows, moments where I'm reduced to a drooling idiot (odd that it was both Milla Jovovich AND Frank Miller who had that effect on me), and, yknow, a general good time. And yeah, I did a bit of SoulExodus shilling. It is, after all, the place for it. |
Friday
Compared to the weekend to follow, not a lot to be done here. This was primarily the day for all the exhibitors and such to pimp their own wares to each other. The convention wouldn't be open to the public till 4PM, and I think I arrived at something like 5 or 5:30. I'm perpetually late. I took some pics here and there of various con-goers (I really hope that's not a real word), some in costume, some not, and getting a feel for the place. The Javits Center is pretty damn big, and I got lost once or twice. Luckily, the $200 authentic light and sound lightsabers always point magnetic north. Never forget your survival training, folks.
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Not pictured: George Lucas's attorneys. |
I believe John Cassady was at a table in that crowd somewhere. I'm not sure, as that was as close as I got. Midtown Comics kept all their signers on tighter lockdown than the Rolling Stones...with comparable ticket availability. |
An overview of the front end of the convention. In hindsight, I should've photographed whatever the hell those guys on the right were looking at. I'm sure it would've been more interesting. |
The lego sculptures are a lot more impressive looking in person. The Transformers one (left) stood a solid 12 feet tall, and Batman, from the bottom of a huge ledge to the tip of the cowl ears, probably approached 16 feet. That's a lot of those little McDonald's happy meal playsets, children (damn, I just dated myself, didn't I?)
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I hope DC Comics don't mind these photos. I've had enough lawsuit threats for one year. |
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I spent the vast majority of the evening running errands here and there, seeing what's what, and buying a lot of crap.I'm not to be trusted with cash at an event like this, as time would prove. However, I did, by sheer luck, manage to get my hands on a certain bright green wristband that'd secure me a spot in line to meet one of my heroes. More on that in a sec. |
Saturday
| It didn't take long on Saturday for me to start meeting and greeting people. This one was probably the biggest surprise of the weekend. I had no intention of waiting on what I knew would be an insanely long line, so I kinda resigned myself to just seeing the panel discussions. To my surprise, who should I find giving interviews at his toy booth than... | ||
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Todd McFarlane.
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As the crowd around him quickly grew, I managed to snap a few pics, and get one with him as well, which was pretty cool. My only regret was not being able to slide in the copy of Spawn #100 I was carrying, for him to sign. Whoops. Although I'll be the first to admit that I don't agree with all of Todd's decisions and ideas, particularly in the field of comics, this is the man to whom I will always be in some debt, because his was the very first comic book I ever bought, back in 1991, at the tender age of eight, and then six years later, when I was about to give up on comics for good, it was Spawn that pulled me back in, and I never looked back. I shook his hand, and told him so. He seemed flattered. |
| The love-in continued not long after, at the table of one David Mack, who's wise words concerning being an aspiring artist and comic creator are typewritten and printed by me, and are hanging above my drawing table. I'd met him a few times before in Orlando, and I gotta say, as with those previous times, this guy attracts women to his convention tables like Courtney Love to a pill bottle. Quite remarkable. He took a SoulExodus flyer from me as well, and commented on Mathilda Tanner's SoulExo #3 cover (I had a print of it handy). He said it was "beautiful," and anyone who knows David Mack's work knows that's some compliment. |  |