NY Comic Con Retrospective: The Official Write-Up (Including Adorable Kid Pics)

Time to start counting down to next year’s New York Comic Con.  Every year, I wake up ridiculously early and travel incredible distances (Javits is a long walk from the train) to get the opportunity to attend the biggest gathering of geeks and nerds in the East Coast (actually, now in all of North America).  And every year, I end up yearning for more.

This years’ con was bigger than ever—151,000 attendees!  Take that San Deigo!  (Those cats only sold 130,000 this year; we win.)  Plus, NYCC’s producer’s ReedPOP put on an entire Super Week which included parties, signings and other fun events.  So geeks took over the entire dang city, baby

And each day of the con way poppin’!  I was talking to Greg Pak on Sunday and he put it perfectly, he stated that Friday felt like Saturday and Sunday felt like Saturday.  Even though there were more attendees than ever, I never felt like I was trapped or in danger of being crushed by the crowds, unlike past years on Saturdays.  This year, the isles flowed well.  I was happy for the creators because business was way up this year.  Artist’s Alley was constantly overflowing with fanboys and fangirls.

The best Kitty Pryde cosplay, ever! More heroes need that hat!

Normally, when the con nears its end, dealers will start dropping prices.  Because product sold well well until the last seconds of the con, I hardly heard any dealers screaming any insane deals.  I bought a Spider-Man belt for five bucks at the last moment, but almost everything was selling for full price.

The hustle for getting exclusives was out of control this year.  Most exclusives sold out within minutes.  I was able to attain the Bandai exclusives on Saturday, but, even though I was one of the first into the con on Sunday, Toy Tokyo sold out before I could get the Planet Arlia Vegeta POP.  Of course, most places set limits on exclusives sold each day, but that didn’t help much unless you had the super-expensive special access passes, and slept over.

Last year, Marvel took over the con with their Rocket Raccoon exclusive plush.  This year, their exclusives sucked.  Sure, they had another Rocket plush, but it was the same one from San Diego which looked like a bootleg of last year’s.  I bought the Groot mug and a gold 75^th anniversary shirt.  The shirt was cool but the mug was just a black mug with a sticker on it.  I regret wasting my money on it.  Hot exclusives are a great way to get a viral buzz throughout the con; Marvel dropped the ball.   I would have loved to see Marvel selling an exclusive dancing Groot toy (there was a shirt, but ehhhh) or anything MS. MARVEL!  C’mon Marvel, for real, for real, why didn’t you put out some Kamala Khan merch?  I would have bought it; half the con attendees would have bought it.

Sleeping baby Goku!

Between the big two, Marvel absolutely dominated the con.  DC, like last year, hid their booth far from the main floor.  Marvel had huge announcement after huge announcement, DC had one semi-sorta-cool one.  Marvel dropped the Secret Wars bomb.  Marvel announced many series starring female leads with female writers.  Marvel showed retailers footage from Age of Ultron.  Marvel showed retailers footage from Ant-Man.  Marvel showed Daredevil footage.  DC announced Wonder Woman ’77, a series based on the classic show.  Not that DC’s news isn’t exciting to a lot of fans, but Marvel retains its title of king of NYCC.  Scratch that, king of NY.  Have fun with the move to the West Coast in April DC.  Buh Bye.

As a press representative, internet on Saturday was a problem as usual.  But I had decent access the other days.  Props to The Mary Sue for their Geek Girl Lounge where there was free WiFi.  Many creators also stopped by their room to sign autographs and hang out, and there was even a performance by a geek-acapella group.

Reedpop took a much more active stance on harassment this year, also thanks to help from The Mary Sue.  There were huge “Coplay Is Not Consent” signs throughout the con, and hopefully everyone had much more positive experiences than past cons.

There was plenty of Cosplay each day.  Frozen’s Elsa was a big hit, but this year there were not enough Batwomen.  Man, DC dropped the ball on Batwoman this past year.  Last year, she was everywhere; this year there were hardly any Batwomen cosplays.  Of course, there were a million Deadpools and Harley Quinns.  Guardians was a big hit, especially Star Lord since he has the easiest costume to make. I started seeing some Spider-Gwens.  The cosplays that made me geek out the most were the Ms. Marvels.  Sunday was family day, which meant some of the cutest cosplays, ever.  I posted all my cosplay pics here, but this article will only feature superstars fewer than four feet tall. 

Panels were cool, but I have been to this con so many times that a lot of them become repetitive.  Even though many panel feature the same info and debates, they are so essential.  I love each panel on diversity and on how to create your own comics.  I remember how refreshing they were to me a few years back; they are so important to have now.  So I hope they continue to repeat these year after year, and I am happy they are such hits.  Of course, there were many exciting larger panels such as any by the big two, the many smaller press panels, the Powers panel, the Daredevil panel and many more.  This year, Reedpop had new policies for their main stage allowing it so folks couldn’t hog the seats the entire day.

Overall, this year’s con was a blast that was bigger than ever.  Only 360 days till next year’s con!