Covid be damned, NYCC was last weekend and we went. I only got Saturday badges but that didn't stop me from seeing as much as I can in one day. We long missed comic-cons since we last visited in 2019 so it was great to finally feel whole again.
After waking with a terrible hangover, and eating some form of melted plastic that was hidden in my breakfast from an NYC diner, I headed over to NYCC. Entry was quick. First it was of to a covid vax card line, This was a jumbled mess of “go wherever, theres 500 tables”. They checked your vax card, gave you a wristband and you were off, easy peasy. There really wasn't any type of line to get in, we just scanned our badges and walked in, so kudos to the event staff for making crowds and entry pretty easy despite covid protocol.
Seeing as I was only there a day, I figured Ill just stick with the show floor and take in as much as I can in 8 hours. I started off in the middle and immediately made a b-line for one of the far walls to serpentine the entire room. I'd like to say the show floor is big... well it is, its huge, but it felt smaller than SDCC. This is probably since they split off Artists Alley to a different section. Most of the booths in NYCC are small sellers. While SDCC has its huge Hasbro, Lego or Sideshow Collectibles booths, NYCC has a few (Marvel, Walking Dead, Capcom), but mainly just small "stores". It's like a huge fair where you can buy anything related to comics or pop culture. Most booths are artists selling prints of their work or comics they put out themselves. These aren't artists who are in the industry so to speak, but are selling prints or work they did of their favorite characters or their own original unpublished comics. I was turned onto one specifically by other 4LIST staffers. His name was Mike Maydak. Go to his page and click on the "Venom" picture to see all his paintings (or check out his Facebook page). He commissions comic characters and puts his own really cool graffiti-esque spin on them. His work is incredible and I highly recommend checking him out, or looking for him at your local comic con next year. He frequents a few around the country. Here's a small sample of his work I picked up (click on images for larger view)
Walking the floor is basically most of the same. There's hundreds of booths and all are similar in that you'll find a lot of cool artwork or creativity on sale to buy, or for you just to admire. I did hear that NYCC surpassed SDCC in terms of total attendees. I will say walking around NYCC is similar to SDCC. it was pretty packed, but not as packed as SDCC. This could be thanks to Artists Alley being separated.
After walking the floor for a few hours while I tried to sweat out last nights debauchery, I hit the main lobbies to just wander and check out cosplay. For some reason it felt as if 75% of attendees were in cosplay at NYCC. MUCH more than SDCC. It may have just been the common areas filled with cosplayers all on display, but they were everywhere. Here's a few pictures I was able to snap off while not having a stroke from lack of fluids
Walking the Lobbies led us to get food. NYCC has a few layers to it and a few of these layers contain food courts. We were able to get some personal pizzas for a few hundred dollars that were surprisingly good. 2 Thumbs up to Javits center for its food quality. Living in Boston, I'm used to the utter worst event food you can imagine at the most expensive price you can imagine. Javits center at least raised the quality of the food to make the price more acceptable. The other major bonus of the Javits center?...BEER. nothing cures a hangover like some "hair of the dog". One of their high points is also one of their downfalls. Beer is sold in the food courts out of coolers, just like soda or Gatorade. Minors would simply lift beers and walk out. We watched one genius steal a bottle of beer only to have it fall from under his shirt, hit the ground and smash all over the place. As the kid took off security came over. I was told "this happens constantly". Might be a good idea to only serve it in plastic cups to someone with an I.D but what do I know. Lunch led back to the show floor for another 4 hours of sightseeing.
Overall NYCC was pretty great but did lack the massive expansive experience found at SDCC. Offsite events are nill if any. Think of it this way..... San Diego Comic Con is to 'Mark Wahlberg', as New York Comic Con is to his brother Donnie. SDCC has all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, while NYCC is more low key. It's still popular but its no blockbuster. Popular panels are scarce and limited to unknown or smaller movies and TV shows already in progress. There are some I wish I got a chance to see though.
With only one day under my belt at NYCC, its pretty tough to give you 4 great things about it. I spent Saturday on the show floor in hopes to see everything in the one day I was there. While I did see a lot of cool stuff. There aren't really 4 things I can throw at you that would be worth while.
