NYCC: All The Awesomeness From Day 1 of NY COMIC CON!

Day one of NYCC was Galactusome!  That means it was really super-big awesome.  Get it, it was Galactus and awesome smooshed together.  Anyhoo, it freakin’ rocked.  I have no idea how anyone can only come for one day, attending for four days is still too little for me.  Every day but Thursday has been sold out, so many fans were only able to come yesterday… poor souls.

Even though Thursday was the “slow day”, it was still an absolute madhouse.  The Javits Center is so big it could be a city by itself.  Fanboys and Fangirls infiltrated the center and all the streets surrounding it.  Seriously, we ran NY.  Try hitting up a McDonalds anywhere in Manhattan without standing behind Batman, Catwoman, and a random dude dressed as Jake from Adventure Time.

If Thursday was the slow day, I fear Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Because of all the fans using the Wi-Fi and cell-phone reception, it was already hard to get a signal.  Even press was having a hard time connecting to the internet to put up articles (hence why I am writing this from home).  Part of the fun of Comic Con is trying to survive the show floor, and it was truly a war-zone to maneuver through the masses.  I still have not seen the Marvel booth because lines circled around and around (and around), leaving no space for anyone else.

I really wanted to get the NYCC-exclusive Stan “The Man” Lee POP! Vinyl figure that was selling for $25 at Crazy Cat Collectibles booth, #1555.  Upsettingly, it sold out within the first hour the show was open.  There was high demand for any exclusive merchandise and many booths sold out for the day.  Luckily, most booths have quotas for each day, so a new batch will be unleashed each morning!

I need this!

Panels for the first day were more low key than the other days.  Most of the big companies are holding their panels Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  From 12-3, there were many panels related to comics and education.  I loved these because my secret identity is as a Licensed Social Worker.  Other panels featured spotlights on different underrepresented demographics. I attended a woman in comics panel where I learned that 40% of attendees at the con were women, but they made up only around 6% of the spotlighted guests.  The NEW YORK TIMES OUT AND GEEKS OUT PRESENT LGBT AND ALLIES IN COMICS panel was a fun celebration of LGBT heroes and heroines.  The superstar panel featured Dan Parent, Daniel Ketchum, Greg Pak, Rich Bernatovech, and Marjorie Liu.  The panel discussed the progress the industry has made and the panelist’s hopes for the future.  The audience geeked out every time Hulkling and Wiccan were mentioned, yay!  It was awesome to hear that only a few years ago it was difficult to get editorial to allow a LGBT character to come out the closet, but today it is simply a natural progression of many characters, and treated as such by the high ups at the big two.

Artists alley is still the best place to meet creators.  You can wait in line for hours at the big booths or chit chat with huge names easily in artists alley.  I had a great time meeting Sara Pichelli and David Marquez.  Stop by, they are seriously super nice.

If you don’t hear from me it is because the geeks blew up the Wi-Fi.  Hope everyone attending has a blast the rest of the con.  Excelsior! (Can I use that as an ending, or do I now owe Stan a crap load of money?)

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Jay Deitcher, LMSW(@mrdeitcher) is an educator on comic history and runs successful Free Comic Book Day events yearly.  You can see a listing of his incredible articles at JayDeitcher.com.